Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's me Josh. Happy Halloween. Uh, we just
Speaker 1: wanted to give you guys the heads up that Jerry
Speaker 1: went all out with this Halloween episode and there is
Speaker 1: a moment of surprisingly graphic violence. Is brief and it's quick,
Speaker 1: but we just wanted to give a heads up to
Speaker 1: all the people who are sensitive to violence and all
Speaker 1: the parents. So at any rate, on with the show.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff. You should know a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radios, How Stuff Works, And welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles w Spooktacular Bryant. I think
Speaker 1: I would have had something better than that. And there's
Speaker 1: Jerry over there. She's spooky all year round. So nothing
Speaker 1: nothing different here, nothing different. How you do. I'm great.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to get our Halloween read on. It's exciting.
Speaker 1: This is how many years in a row? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think it goes back to something
Speaker 1: like two thousand and ten, maybe, I think. And uh,
Speaker 1: we don't want to pat ourselves in the back too much,
Speaker 1: but we have made great efforts everyone to keep the
Speaker 1: Halloween and Christmas episodes ad free at great peril. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a constant clashing of swords against
Speaker 1: our shields and saying back back Huskies, and we've we've
Speaker 1: done a good job with it so far. That's right.
Speaker 1: So we are you won't hear any ads on this
Speaker 1: episode because that really kills the buzz of the mood.
Speaker 1: You will hear those in our we're doing a shorty
Speaker 1: Halloween reading. In fact, I think that came out just
Speaker 1: prior to this one, and uh, we didn't fight that battle,
Speaker 1: so sorry about that. Hopefully that was a nice little
Speaker 1: warm up for this one though. Yeah, just get your primed.
Speaker 1: And this year, Chuck, we're doing one by an amazing
Speaker 1: author who hasn't been dead for a hundred and fifty years.
Speaker 1: Philip K. Dick, that's right, who wrote Do Androids Dream
Speaker 1: of Electric Sheep, which became Blade Runner, um A Scanner Darkly,
Speaker 1: all sorts of amazing stuff, right, Uh, Minority Report, I think,
Speaker 1: and this one. He also wrote a bunch of short
Speaker 1: stories and this one I found was like in the
Speaker 1: public domain, so I said, let's do Philip K. Dick.
Speaker 1: That's right, he said, heck, yes, let's do Philip K. Dick,
Speaker 1: because we don't want to get sued by the Dick foundation. No,
Speaker 1: so we wanted to make sure that everyone knows this
Speaker 1: is public domain. That's right. So, uh do you want
Speaker 1: to get started? Uh? Yeah, who's We haven't discussed order
Speaker 1: anything usually freewheel it. Do you have this thing segmented out?
Speaker 1: Or you just want to knock me over the head
Speaker 1: when I've gotten too far, I think we'll be able
Speaker 1: to tell. And if not, you know, we'll just edit
Speaker 1: out the roughness about that. Who's going to start? I'll start? Okay,
Speaker 1: you're ready. I like the story, by the way. I
Speaker 1: love it. It's good. By the way, This is The
Speaker 1: Hanging Stranger by Phil up k Dick. At five o'clock,
Speaker 1: ed Lewis washed up, tossed on his hat and coat,
Speaker 1: got his car out, and headed across town towards his
Speaker 1: TV sales store. He was tired. His back and shoulders
Speaker 1: ached from digging dirt out of the basement and wheeling
Speaker 1: it into the backyard, but for a forty year old man,
Speaker 1: he had done okay. Janet could get a new vase
Speaker 1: with the money he saved, and he liked the idea
Speaker 1: of repairing the foundations himself. It was getting dark. The
Speaker 1: setting sun cast long rays over the scurrying commuters, tired
Speaker 1: and grim faced women loaded down with bundles and packages,
Speaker 1: students swarming home from the university, mixing with clerks and
Speaker 1: businessmen and drab secretaries. He stopped his packard for a
Speaker 1: red light and then started it up again. The store
Speaker 1: had been open without him. He arrived just in time
Speaker 1: to spell the help for dinner, go over the records
Speaker 1: of the day, maybe even close a couple of sales himself.
Speaker 1: He drove slow. He passed the small square of green
Speaker 1: in the center of the street, the town park. There
Speaker 1: were no parking places in front of Lois TV Sales
Speaker 1: and Service. He cursed under his breath and swung the
Speaker 1: car in a U turn. Again, he passed the little
Speaker 1: square of green with its lonely drinking fountain and bench
Speaker 1: and single lamp post. From the lamp post, something was hanging,
Speaker 1: a shapeless, dark bundle, swinging a little with the wind,
Speaker 1: like a dummy of some sort. Lois rolled down his
Speaker 1: window and peered out. What the hell was it? A
Speaker 1: display of some kind. Sometimes the Chamber of Commerce put
Speaker 1: up displays in the square. Again, he made a U
Speaker 1: turn and brought his car around. He passed the park
Speaker 1: and concentrated on the dark bundle. It wasn't a dummy,
Speaker 1: and if it was a display, it was a strange kind.
Speaker 1: The hackles on his neck rose and he swallowed uneasily.
Speaker 1: Sweat slid out on his face and hands. It was
Speaker 1: a body, a human body. Han, that's you, buddy, all right,
Speaker 1: So TV salesman, I'm really glad his wife is gonna
Speaker 1: be able to buy that new vase. Sure. I thought
Speaker 1: that was a weird detail too, because he's digging out
Speaker 1: the foundation of his house, which I think is is
Speaker 1: that a red herring? We'll find out. We'll find out.
Speaker 1: Look at it, Lloyd snapped, Come on out here. Don
Speaker 1: Ferguson came slowly out of the store, buttoning his pin
Speaker 1: striped coat with dignity. This is a big deal, Ed.
Speaker 1: I can't just leave the guy standing there, see it,
Speaker 1: Ed pointed into the gathering gloom, the lamp post jutted
Speaker 1: up against the sky, the post and the bundle swinging
Speaker 1: from it. There it is. How the hell long has
Speaker 1: it been there? His voice rose excitedly. What's wrong with everybody?
Speaker 1: They just walk on past? Don Ferguson lit a cigarette. Slowly,
Speaker 1: take it easy, old man, there must be a good reason,
Speaker 1: or it wouldn't be there. A reason, kind of a reason.
Speaker 1: Ferguson shrugged, like the time the traffic Safety Council put
Speaker 1: that wrecked buick there, some sort of civic thing. How
Speaker 1: would I know, Geez, Ferguson's uptight. Yeah, yeah, a little uptight.
Speaker 1: Shir Jack Potter from the shoe shop joined them. What's up, boys,
Speaker 1: there's a body hanging from the lamp post. Lloy said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to call the cops, and they must know
Speaker 1: about it, Potter said, or otherwise it wouldn't be there.
Speaker 1: I got to get back in. Ferguson headed back into
Speaker 1: the store. Business before Pleasure Lois began to get hysterical.
Speaker 1: You see it, You see it hanging there, A man's body,
Speaker 1: a dead man. Sure, Ed, I saw it this afternoon
Speaker 1: when I went out for coffee. You mean it's been
Speaker 1: there all afternoon? Sure, what's the matter? Potter glanced at
Speaker 1: his watch. Have to run see you later, ed. Potter
Speaker 1: hurried off, joining the flow of people moving along the sidewalk,
Speaker 1: men and women passing by the park. A few glanced up,
Speaker 1: curious at the dark bundle, and then went on. Nobody
Speaker 1: stopped nobody paid any attention. Very good check. That was
Speaker 1: really good. Yeah, apparently no one is concerned about this
Speaker 1: person hanging there, but ed Llois, which is a little
Speaker 1: weird if you think about it. I'm going nuts, Lowis whispered.
Speaker 1: He made his way to the curb and crossed out
Speaker 1: into traffic. Among the cars, horns honked angrily at him.
Speaker 1: He gained the curb and stepped up onto the little
Speaker 1: square of green. The man had been middle aged. His
Speaker 1: clothing was ripped and torn, a gray suit, splashed and
Speaker 1: caked with dried mud. A stranger. Lewis had never seen
Speaker 1: him before, not a local man. His face was partly
Speaker 1: turned away, and in the evening win he spun a little,
Speaker 1: turning gently silently. His skin was gouged and cut, red, gashes,
Speaker 1: deep scratches of congealed blood. A pair of steel rimmed
Speaker 1: glasses hung from one ear, dangling foolishly. His eyes bulged,
Speaker 1: his mouth was open, tongue thick and ugly blue. For
Speaker 1: heaven's sake, Llois muttered, sickened. He pushed down his nausea
Speaker 1: and made his way back to the sidewalk. He was
Speaker 1: shaking all over with revulsion and fear. Why, who was
Speaker 1: the man, why was he hanging there? What did it mean?
Speaker 1: And why didn't anybody notice? He bumped into a small
Speaker 1: man hurrying along the sidewalk. Watch it, the man grated,
Speaker 1: Oh it's you. Ed, Ed nodded dazedly, Hello, Jenkins, what's
Speaker 1: the matter. The stationary clerk caught Ed's arm. You look
Speaker 1: sick the body there in the park. Sure, Ed Jenkins
Speaker 1: led him into the alcove of Loys TV Sales and Service.
Speaker 1: Take it easy, Margaret Henderson, from the jewelry store joined them.
Speaker 1: Something wrong. Ed's not feeling well? Lois yanked himself free.
Speaker 1: How can you stand here? Don't you see it? For
Speaker 1: God's sake, what's he talking about? Margaret asked nervously. The body,
Speaker 1: Edge shouted the body hanging there? More people collected. Is
Speaker 1: he sick? Is Ed? Lloys? You okay? Yet? The body?
Speaker 1: Lloys screamed, Struggling to get past them, hands caught at him.
Speaker 1: He tore loose, Let me go the police, Get the police.
Speaker 1: Ed better, get a doctor. He must be sick or drunk.
Speaker 1: Loys fought his way through the people. He stumbled and
Speaker 1: half fell through a blur. He saw rows of faces,
Speaker 1: curious concerned, anxious men and women halting to see what
Speaker 1: the disturbance was. He fought past them towards his store.
Speaker 1: He could see Ferguson inside talking to a man showing
Speaker 1: him an Emerson TV set, Pete Foley in the back
Speaker 1: of the service counter setting up a new fil COO.
Speaker 1: Lloys shouted at them frantically. His voice was lost in
Speaker 1: the roar of traffic and the murmuring around him. Do something,
Speaker 1: he screamed, don't stand there, do something. Something's wrong, something's happened,
Speaker 1: things are going on. The crowd melted respectfully for the
Speaker 1: two heavy set cops moving efficiently towards Lois Man. No
Speaker 1: one's listening to Lois. He's also losing his bananas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as they say, I think I would have handled a
Speaker 1: little differently. But what would you have done? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not judging it. Llois. Alright, alright, So
Speaker 1: the cops are approaching. Here, here we come. Name the
Speaker 1: cop with the notebook, murmured Lois. He mopped his head wearily.
Speaker 1: Edward CLIs, listen to me back there, address, the cop demanded.
Speaker 1: The police car moved swiftly through traffic, shooting among the
Speaker 1: cars and busses. Lois sagged against the seat, exhausted and confused.
Speaker 1: He took a deep, shuddering breath. Eight Hurst Road, that's
Speaker 1: here in Pikeville. That's right. Lis pulled himself up with
Speaker 1: a violent effort. Listen to me back there in the square,
Speaker 1: hanging from the lamp post. Where where are you today?
Speaker 1: The cop behind the wheel demanded where. Leois echoed, You
Speaker 1: weren't in your shop. Where are you? No, he shook
Speaker 1: his head. No, I was at home, down in the basement,
Speaker 1: in the basement, digging a new foundation, getting out the
Speaker 1: dirt to poor submit frame. Why what has this got
Speaker 1: to do with Was anybody else down there with you? No?
Speaker 1: My wife was downtown, my kids were at school. Lois
Speaker 1: looked from one heavy set cop to the other. Hope
Speaker 1: flickered across his face. Wild, hope you mean because I
Speaker 1: was down there, I missed the explanation. I didn't get
Speaker 1: in on it like everybody else. After a pause, the
Speaker 1: cop with the notebook said, that's right, you missed the explanation.
Speaker 1: Then it's official. The body is is supposed to be
Speaker 1: hanging there. It's supposed to be hanging there for everybody
Speaker 1: to see. Ed, Lloys grinned weekly good lord. I guess
Speaker 1: I sort of went off the deep end. I thought
Speaker 1: maybe something had happened, you know, something like the Ku
Speaker 1: Klux Klan, some kind of violence, communist or fascist taking over.
Speaker 1: He why his face with his breast, pocket handkerchief, his
Speaker 1: hands shaking. I'm glad to know what's on the level.
Speaker 1: It's on the level. The police car was getting near
Speaker 1: the Hall of Justice. The sun had set, the streets
Speaker 1: were gloomy and dark. The lights had not yet come on.
Speaker 1: I feel better, Lloys said. I was pretty excited there
Speaker 1: for a minute. I guess I got all stirred up.
Speaker 1: Now that I understand, there's no need to take me in,
Speaker 1: is there? The two cops said, nothing very nice. You're ready? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's eating up. I know you're a tough act to follow,
Speaker 1: but here I go. I should be back at my store.
Speaker 1: The boys haven't had dinner. I'm all right now. No
Speaker 1: more trouble, is there any need of This won't take long.
Speaker 1: The cop behind the wheel interrupted a short process, only
Speaker 1: a few minutes. I hope it's short, Lloys muttered. The
Speaker 1: car slowed down for a stoplight. I guess I sort
Speaker 1: of disturbed the peace funny getting excited like that, and
Speaker 1: Loy's yanked the door open and he sprawled out into
Speaker 1: the street and rolled to his feet. Cars were moving
Speaker 1: all around him, gaining speed as the light change. Loyce
Speaker 1: leaped onto the curb and raced among the people, burrowing
Speaker 1: into the swarming crowds. Behind him, he heard sounds, shouts,
Speaker 1: people running. They weren't cops. He'd realize that right away.
Speaker 1: He knew every cop in Pike Bill. A man couldn't
Speaker 1: own a store, operate a business in a small town
Speaker 1: for twenty five years without getting to know all the cops.
Speaker 1: They weren't cops, and there hadn't been any explanation Potter
Speaker 1: Ferguson Jenkins. None of them knew why it was there.
Speaker 1: They didn't know, and they didn't care. That was the
Speaker 1: strange part. Lloyd stucked into a hardware store. He raced
Speaker 1: toward the back, past the startled clerks and customers, into
Speaker 1: the shipping room and through the back door. He tripped
Speaker 1: over a garbage camp and ran up a flight of
Speaker 1: concrete steps. He climbed over a fence and jumped down
Speaker 1: on the other side, gasping and panting. There was no
Speaker 1: sound behind him. He had gotten away. I think it's
Speaker 1: back to you, man, all right. So he made a
Speaker 1: run for it, he did, and now he's kind of
Speaker 1: safe for the moment. For the moment. He was at
Speaker 1: the entrance of an alley, dark and strewn with boards
Speaker 1: and ruined boxes and tires. He could see the street
Speaker 1: at the far end. A street light wavered and came
Speaker 1: on men and women stores, neon signs. Cars. Into his
Speaker 1: right the police station. He was close, terribly close, past
Speaker 1: the loading platform of a grocery store, rose the white
Speaker 1: concrete side of the Hall of Justice, barred windows, the
Speaker 1: police antenna, a great concrete wall rising up in the darkness,
Speaker 1: A bad place for him to be near. He was
Speaker 1: too close. He had to keep moving, get farther away
Speaker 1: from them. Them loys moved cautiously down the alley. Beyond
Speaker 1: the police station was the City Hall, the old fashioned
Speaker 1: yellow structure of wood and gilded brass and broad cement steps.
Speaker 1: He could see the endless rows of offices, dark windows,
Speaker 1: the cedars and beds of flowers on each side of
Speaker 1: the entrance, and something else. Above the City Hall was
Speaker 1: a patch of darkness, a cone of gloom, denser than
Speaker 1: the surrounding night, a prism of black that spread out
Speaker 1: and was lost into the sky. Weird, I know, very weird.
Speaker 1: He listened. Good God, he could hear something, something that
Speaker 1: made him struggle frantically to close his ears, his mind
Speaker 1: to shut out the sound. A buzzing, a distant, muted hum,
Speaker 1: like a great swarm of bees. Oh boy, things are
Speaker 1: getting bad. It is. Whenever you see a cone of
Speaker 1: gloom denser than the surrounding night, that's not a good sign.
Speaker 1: All right, go ahead. Bloys gazed up, rigid with horror,
Speaker 1: the splotch of darkness hanging over City Hall, darkness so
Speaker 1: thick it seemed almost solid in the vortex. Something moved,
Speaker 1: flickering shapes, things descending from the sky, pausing momentarily above
Speaker 1: the City Hall, fluttering over it in a dense swarm,
Speaker 1: and then dropping silently on to the roof. Shapes, fluttering
Speaker 1: shapes from the sky from the crack of darkness that
Speaker 1: hung above him. He was seeing them for a long time.
Speaker 1: Lois watched, crouched behind a sagging fence in a pool
Speaker 1: of scummy water. They were landing, coming down in groups,
Speaker 1: landing on the roof of the City Hall and disappearing inside.
Speaker 1: They had wings, like giant insects of some kind. They
Speaker 1: flew and fluttered and came to rest, and then crawled
Speaker 1: crab fashioned sideways across the roof and into the building.
Speaker 1: He was sickened and fascinated. Cold night wind loo around him,
Speaker 1: and he shuddered. He was tired days with shock. On
Speaker 1: the front steps of the City Hall, where men standing here,
Speaker 1: and there groups of men coming out of the building
Speaker 1: and halting for a moment before going on. Were there
Speaker 1: more of them? It didn't seem possible. What he saw
Speaker 1: descending from the black chasm weren't men. They were alien
Speaker 1: from some other world, some other dimension, sliding through the slit,
Speaker 1: this break in the shell of the universe, entering through
Speaker 1: this gap, winged insects from another realm of being. That's
Speaker 1: me hitting the tennis ball back to you. This is
Speaker 1: uh is getting pretty scary. I think so too. I mean,
Speaker 1: now we've got winged insect aliens coming from a chasm
Speaker 1: in the sky onto city Hall, or do we just
Speaker 1: have a man losing his mind. That's a really good question, Chuck.
Speaker 1: Let's explore that further. On the steps of the city Hall,
Speaker 1: group of men broke up. A few moved toward a
Speaker 1: waiting car. One of the remaining shapes started to re
Speaker 1: enter the city hall. It changed its mind and turned
Speaker 1: to follow the others. Loy's closed his eyes in horror.
Speaker 1: Since is reeled. He hung on tight, clutching at the
Speaker 1: sagging fence. The shape, the man shape, had abruptly fluttered
Speaker 1: up and flapped after the others. It flew to the
Speaker 1: sidewalk and came to rest among them. Pseudo men imitation men,
Speaker 1: insects with ability to disguise themselves as men, like other
Speaker 1: insects familiar to earth protective coloration mimicry. Loys pulled himself away.
Speaker 1: He got slowly to his feet. It was night. The
Speaker 1: alley was totally dark, but maybe they could see in
Speaker 1: the dark. Maybe darkness made no difference to them. He
Speaker 1: left the alley cautiously and moved out onto the street.
Speaker 1: Men and women flowed past, but not so many. Now
Speaker 1: At the bus stops stood waiting groups. A huge bus
Speaker 1: lumbering along the street, its lights flashing in the evening gloom.
Speaker 1: Loys moved forward. He pushed his way among those waiting,
Speaker 1: and when the bus halted, he boarded it and took
Speaker 1: a seat in the rear by the door. A moment later,
Speaker 1: the bus moved into life and rumbled down the street.
Speaker 1: Loys relaxed a little. He studied the people around him, dull,
Speaker 1: tired faces, people going home from work, quite ordinary faces.
Speaker 1: None of them paid any attention to him. All sat quietly,
Speaker 1: sunk down in their seats, jiggling with the motion of
Speaker 1: the bus. The man sitting next to him unfolded a newspaper.
Speaker 1: He began to read the sports section, his lips moving.
Speaker 1: An ordinary man, blue suit tie, a businessman or a salesman,
Speaker 1: on his way home to his wife and family. Cross
Speaker 1: the aisle. A young woman perhaps twenty, dark eyes and hair,
Speaker 1: a package on her lap, nyelons and heels, red coat
Speaker 1: and white Angora sweater, gazing absently ahead of her. A
Speaker 1: high school boy why in jeans and black jacket. A great,
Speaker 1: triple chinned woman with an immense shopping bag loaded with
Speaker 1: packages and parcels, her face dim with weariness. Ordinary people,
Speaker 1: the kind that rode the bus every evening, going home
Speaker 1: to their families to dinner. Well, you can make riding
Speaker 1: the bus home to dinner sounds sinister check. Going home
Speaker 1: with their minds, dead controlled, filmed over with the mask
Speaker 1: of an alien being that had appeared and taken possession
Speaker 1: of them, their town, their lives. Himself too, except that
Speaker 1: he had happened to be deep in his cellar instead
Speaker 1: of in the store. Somehow he had been overlooked. They
Speaker 1: had missed him. Their control wasn't perfect, foolproof. Maybe there
Speaker 1: were others. Hope flickered in Loi's They weren't omnipotent. They
Speaker 1: had made a mistake, not gotten control of him. Their net,
Speaker 1: their field of control, had passed over him. He had
Speaker 1: emerged from his cellar as he had gone down. Apparently
Speaker 1: their power zone was limited. A few seats down the aisle,
Speaker 1: a man was watching him. Lois broke off his chain
Speaker 1: of thought. A slender man with dark hair and a
Speaker 1: small mustache, well dressed, brown suit, shiny shoes, a book
Speaker 1: between his small hands. He was watching Loyce, studying him intently.
Speaker 1: He quickly turned away. Lois tensed one of them or
Speaker 1: another they had missed. The man was watching him again, small,
Speaker 1: dark eyes, alive and clever, shrewd, A man too shrewd
Speaker 1: for them, or one of the things, an alien insect
Speaker 1: from beyond the bus halted. An elderly man got on
Speaker 1: slowly and dropped his token into the box. He moved
Speaker 1: down the aisle and took a seat opposite Lois. The
Speaker 1: elderly man caught the sharp eyed man's gaze for a
Speaker 1: split second. Something passed between them, a look rich with meaning.
Speaker 1: Lois got to his feet. The bus was moving. He
Speaker 1: ran to the door one stepped down into the well.
Speaker 1: He yanked the emergency door release. The rubber door swung open. Hey,
Speaker 1: the driver shouted, jamming on his brakes. What the hell?
Speaker 1: I just wanted to keep reading until I got to say, Hell,
Speaker 1: you don't need you to take over? Okay? Lloys squirmed through.
Speaker 1: The bus was slowing down. Houses on all sides, a
Speaker 1: residential district, lawns and tall apartment buildings behind him, the
Speaker 1: bright eyed man had leapt up. The elderly man was
Speaker 1: also on his feet. They were coming after him. Leis leaped.
Speaker 1: He hit the pavement with terrific force and rolled against
Speaker 1: the curb. Pain lapped over him, pain and a vast
Speaker 1: tide of blackness. Desperately, he fought it off. He struggled
Speaker 1: to his knees and then slid down again. The bus
Speaker 1: had stopped. People were getting off. Lois groped around, his
Speaker 1: fingers closed over something, a rock lying in the gutter.
Speaker 1: He crawled to his feet, grunting with pain. A shape
Speaker 1: loomed before him, a man, the bright eyed man with
Speaker 1: a book. Lois kicked. The man gasped and fell. Lois
Speaker 1: brought the rock down. The man screamed and tried to
Speaker 1: roll away. Stop, for God's sakes, listen. He struck again,
Speaker 1: hideous crunching sound. The man's voice cut off and dissolved
Speaker 1: in a bubbling wail. Leois scrambled up and back. The
Speaker 1: others were there now, all around him. He ran awkwardly
Speaker 1: down the sidewalk up a driveway. None of them followed him.
Speaker 1: They had stopped and were bending over the inert body
Speaker 1: of the man with the book, the bright eyed man
Speaker 1: who had come after him. Had he made a mistake,
Speaker 1: But it was too late to worry about that. He
Speaker 1: had to get out away from them, out of Pikeville,
Speaker 1: beyond the crack of darkness, the rent between their world
Speaker 1: and his. He really shakes off a possible murder pretty easy.
Speaker 1: Do you like to worry about that? That's in my past?
Speaker 1: Happened ten seconds ago. I got to move forward, and
Speaker 1: Janet Looys backed away nervously. What is it? What ed?
Speaker 1: Lloys slammed the door behind him and came into the
Speaker 1: living room, pulled down the shades quick. Janet moved toward
Speaker 1: the window. But do as I say. Who else is
Speaker 1: here beside you? Nobody? Just the twins. They're upstairs in
Speaker 1: their room. What happened? You look so strange? Why are
Speaker 1: you home? Do you like the new vase? I pointed,
Speaker 1: with the money we saved, find the foundation work you did,
Speaker 1: and locked the front door. He prowled around the house
Speaker 1: into the kitchen. From the drawer under the sink, he
Speaker 1: slit out the big butcher knife and ran his finger
Speaker 1: along it. Sharp, plenty sharp. He returned to the living room.
Speaker 1: Listen to me, he said, I don't have much time.
Speaker 1: They know I escaped, and they'll be looking for me. Escaped.
Speaker 1: Janet's face twisted with bewilderment and fear. Who the town
Speaker 1: has been taken over. They're in control. I've got it
Speaker 1: pretty well figured out. They started at the top at
Speaker 1: the city hall, in police department. What they did with
Speaker 1: the real humans? They what are you talking about? We've
Speaker 1: been invaded? From some other universe, some other dimension. Their insects,
Speaker 1: mimicry and more power to control our minds, your mind,
Speaker 1: my mind, their entrances here. I think this is the
Speaker 1: role you were born to play. Thank you, Janet Leois,
Speaker 1: Janet Leois. Their entance is here in Pikeville. They've taken
Speaker 1: over all of you, the whole town except me. We're
Speaker 1: up against an incredibly powerful enemy. But they have their limitations.
Speaker 1: That's our hope. They're limited, they can make mistakes. Janet
Speaker 1: shook her head. I don't understand ed. You must be insane. Insane, No,
Speaker 1: just lucky. If I hadn't been down in the basement,
Speaker 1: i'd be like all the rest of you. Lois peered
Speaker 1: around the window, but I can't stand here talking. Get
Speaker 1: your coat, my coat. We're getting out of here, out
Speaker 1: of Pikesville. We've got to help to fight this thing.
Speaker 1: They can be beaten. They're not infallible. It's going to
Speaker 1: be close, but we may make it if we hurry.
Speaker 1: Come on, he grabbed her arm roughly, Get your coat
Speaker 1: and call the twins. We're all leaving. Don't stop to pack.
Speaker 1: There's no time for that. White faced, his wife moved
Speaker 1: toward the closet and got down her coat. Where are
Speaker 1: we going? Ed pulled open the desk drawer and spilled
Speaker 1: the contents out onto the floor. He grabbed up a
Speaker 1: road map and spread it open. To have all the
Speaker 1: highways covered, of course, but there's a back road to
Speaker 1: oak growth. I got onto it once. It's practically abandoned.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll forget about it. The old ranch road. Good lord,
Speaker 1: it's completely closed. Nobody's supposed to drive over it, I know.
Speaker 1: Ed thrust the map grimly in his coat. That's our
Speaker 1: best chance. Now call down the twins and let's get going.
Speaker 1: Your collar is full of gas, isn't it. Janet was dazed.
Speaker 1: Should I keep going? Oh man, keep going? The chevy?
Speaker 1: I d n Philip yesterday afternoon. Janet moved towards the stairs,
Speaker 1: and I call the twins. Ed unlocked the front door
Speaker 1: and peered out. Nothing stirred, no sign of life. All right,
Speaker 1: so far, come on downstairs, Janet called, in the wavering voice.
Speaker 1: We're going out for a while. Now let me do
Speaker 1: a different one for Tommy. Now. Tommy's voice came. Hurry up, ed, bark,
Speaker 1: get down here, both of you. Tommy appeared at the stairs,
Speaker 1: I'm just doing my homework. We're starting fractions. Miss Parker says.
Speaker 1: If we don't get this done, you can forget about fractions.
Speaker 1: Ed grabbed his son as he came down the stairs
Speaker 1: and propelled him toward the door. Where's Jim, he's coming.
Speaker 1: Jim started slowly down the stairs. What's up, dirt, We're
Speaker 1: going for a ride, a ride where Ed turned to Janet.
Speaker 1: We'll leave all the lights on and the TV set.
Speaker 1: Go turn it on. He pushed her towards the set
Speaker 1: so they'll think are still. He heard the buzz and
Speaker 1: dropped instantly. The long butcher knife out sickened. He saw
Speaker 1: it coming down the stairs at him, wings, a blur
Speaker 1: of motion as it aimed itself. It still bore a
Speaker 1: vague resemblance to Jimmy. It was small, a baby one.
Speaker 1: A brief glimpse the thing hurtling at him, cold, multi
Speaker 1: lensed inhuman eyes, wings, bodies still clothed in the yellow
Speaker 1: T shirt and jeans, the mimic outline still stamped on it,
Speaker 1: a strange half turn of its body as it reached him.
Speaker 1: What was it doing? A stinger? Lois stabbed wildly at it.
Speaker 1: It retreated buzzing frantically, Lois rolled and crawled toward the door.
Speaker 1: Tommy and Janet stood still as statues, faces blank, watching
Speaker 1: without expression. Lois stabbed again. This time the knife connected.
Speaker 1: The thing shrieked and faltered. It bounced against the wall
Speaker 1: and fluttered down. Something lapped through his mind, a wall
Speaker 1: of force energy, an alien mind probing in to him.
Speaker 1: He was suddenly paralyzed. The mind entered his own, touched
Speaker 1: against him, briefly, shockingly and utter, alien presence settling over him,
Speaker 1: and then it flickered out. As the thing collapsed in
Speaker 1: a broken heap on the rug. It was dead. He
Speaker 1: turned it over with his foot. It was an insect,
Speaker 1: a fly of some kind, yellow T shirt, jeans, his son, Jimmy.
Speaker 1: He closed his mind tight. It was too late to
Speaker 1: think about that. Savagely, he scooped up his knife and
Speaker 1: headed toward the door. Janet and Tommy stood stone still,
Speaker 1: neither of them moving. The car was out. He'd never
Speaker 1: get through. They'd be waiting for him. It was ten
Speaker 1: miles on foot, ten long miles over rough ground, gullies
Speaker 1: and open fields and hills of uncut forest. He'd have
Speaker 1: to go alone. Lois opened the door. For a brief second,
Speaker 1: he looked back at his wife and son. Then he
Speaker 1: slammed the door behind him and raced down the porch steps. Man,
Speaker 1: it is really quick to kill and move on, all right,
Speaker 1: Too late for that. Let's move yep, stab and forget,
Speaker 1: stab and forget um okay. A moment later he was
Speaker 1: on his way, hurrying swiftly through the darkness towards the
Speaker 1: edge of town. The early morning sunlight was blinding. Lois halted,
Speaker 1: gasping for breath, swaying back and forth. Sweat ran down
Speaker 1: in his eyes. His clothing was torn, shredded by the
Speaker 1: brush and thorns through which he had crawled ten miles
Speaker 1: on his hands and knees, crawling creeping through the night.
Speaker 1: His shoes were mud kicked. He was scratched and limping,
Speaker 1: utterly exhausted. But ahead of him lay oak growth. He
Speaker 1: took a deep breath and started down the hill. Twice,
Speaker 1: he stumbled and fell, picking himself up and trudging on.
Speaker 1: His ears rang. Everything receded and wavered, but he was there.
Speaker 1: He had gotten out away from Pikeville. A farmer in
Speaker 1: a field gaped at him. From my house. A young
Speaker 1: woman watched in wonder. Leois reached the road and turned
Speaker 1: onto it. Ahead of him was a gas station and
Speaker 1: a drive in, a couple of trucks, some chickens pecking
Speaker 1: in the dirt, a dog tied with a string. The
Speaker 1: white clad attendant watched suspiciously as he dragged himself up
Speaker 1: to the station. Thank god he caught ahold of the wall.
Speaker 1: I didn't think I was going to make it. They
Speaker 1: followed me most of the way. I could hear them buzzing, buzzing,
Speaker 1: and flitting around behind me. What happened? The intendant demanded,
Speaker 1: you in a wreck? Hold up? Leis shook his head weirdly.
Speaker 1: They have the whole town, the city hall, and the
Speaker 1: police station. They hung a man from the lamp post,
Speaker 1: and that was the first thing I saw. They got
Speaker 1: all the roads blocked. I saw them hovering over the
Speaker 1: cars coming in about four this morning. I got beyond them.
Speaker 1: I knew it right away. I could feel them leave,
Speaker 1: and then the sun came up. The attendant licked his
Speaker 1: lips nervously. You're out of your head. I better get
Speaker 1: a doctor. Give me and oh, crow voice gasped. He
Speaker 1: sank down on the gravel. We've got to get started
Speaker 1: cleaning them out. Gotta get started right away, onto you chuckers.
Speaker 1: He kept a tape recorder going all the time he talked.
Speaker 1: When he had finished, the commissioner snapped off the recorder
Speaker 1: and got to his feet. He stood for a moment,
Speaker 1: deep in thought. Finally he got out his cigarettes and
Speaker 1: lit up slowly, a frown on his beefy face. You
Speaker 1: don't believe me, Lois said. The commissioner offered him a cigarette.
Speaker 1: Vois pushed it impatiently. Away, suit yourself. The commissioner moved
Speaker 1: over to the window and stood for a time looking
Speaker 1: out at the town of Oak Grove. I believe you,
Speaker 1: he said, abruptly, voice act. Thank god, so you got away.
Speaker 1: The commissioner shook his head. You were down in your
Speaker 1: cellar instead of at work. A freak chance. One in
Speaker 1: a million. Boy sipped some of the black coffee they
Speaker 1: had brought him. I have a theory, he murmured. What
Speaker 1: is it about them? Who they are? They take over
Speaker 1: one area at a time, starting at the top the
Speaker 1: highest level of authority, working down from there in a
Speaker 1: widening circle. When they're firmly in control, they go on
Speaker 1: to the next town. They spread slowly very gradually. I
Speaker 1: think it's been going on for a long time. EDGs
Speaker 1: really filling in the blanks. Heredney, he really is. He's
Speaker 1: got it all figured out a long time, thousands of years.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's new. Why do you say that.
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, a picture they showed us
Speaker 1: in Bible League, a religious picture, an old print the
Speaker 1: enemy gods defeated by Jehovah, Molok be els Abu, moab
Speaker 1: Baalin ash tar Off, Chuck. I think you just raised
Speaker 1: a bunch of demons. So they were all represented by figures.
Speaker 1: Lais looked up at the commissioner. B l Zebub was
Speaker 1: represented as a giant fly. Don't don't do. The commissioner
Speaker 1: grunted an old struggle. Don't don't do. They've been defeated.
Speaker 1: The Bible is an account of their defeats. They make gains,
Speaker 1: but finally they're defeated. Why defeated? They can't get everyone
Speaker 1: if they didn't get me, and they never got the Hebrews.
Speaker 1: The Hebrews carried the message to the whole world, the
Speaker 1: realization of the danger. The two men on the bus,
Speaker 1: I think they understood had escaped like I did. He
Speaker 1: clinched his fists. I killed one of them. I made
Speaker 1: a mistake. I was afraid to take a chance. The
Speaker 1: commissioner nodded, Yes, they undoubtedly had escaped, as you did
Speaker 1: freak accidents, but the rest of the town was firmly
Speaker 1: in control. He turned from the window. Well, mister Loys,
Speaker 1: you seem to have figured everything out. Not everything. The
Speaker 1: hanging man, the dead man hanging from the lamp post.
Speaker 1: I don't understand that. Why Why did they deliberately hang
Speaker 1: him there? That would seem simple. The commissioner smiled faintly. Bait.
Speaker 1: Lloyd stiffened, his heart stopped beating. Bait, What do you
Speaker 1: mean to draw you out? Make you declare yourself, so
Speaker 1: they'd know who was under control and who had escaped.
Speaker 1: Vois recoiled with horror. Then they expected failures, They anticipated
Speaker 1: he broke off. They were ready with a trap, and
Speaker 1: you showed yourself. You reacted, you made yourself known. The
Speaker 1: commissioner abruptly moved toward the door. Come along, Lois. There's
Speaker 1: a lot to do. We must get moving. There's no
Speaker 1: time to waste. Lloys started slowly to his feet, numbed,
Speaker 1: and the man who was the man I never saw
Speaker 1: him before. He wasn't a local man. He was a stranger,
Speaker 1: all muddy and dirty, his face cut slashed. There was
Speaker 1: a strange look on the Commissioner's face as he answered maybe,
Speaker 1: He said softly, you'll understand that too. Come along with me,
Speaker 1: Mr Loys. He held the door open, his eyes gleaming.
Speaker 1: Loys caught a glimpse of the street in front of
Speaker 1: the police station. Policeman, a platform of some sort, a
Speaker 1: telephone pole, and a rope. Right this way, the commissioner said,
Speaker 1: smiling coldly, All right, I think we know what's happening,
Speaker 1: and take us home. As the sun set, the vice
Speaker 1: president of the Oak Grove Merchants Bank came up out
Speaker 1: of the vault through the heavy time. Locks, put on
Speaker 1: his hat and coat, and hurried outside onto the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: Only a few people were there, hurrying home to dinner.
Speaker 1: Good night, the guard said, locking the door after him.
Speaker 1: Good night. Clarence Mason murmured. He started along the street
Speaker 1: toward his car. He was tired. He had been working
Speaker 1: all day down in the vault, examining the layout of
Speaker 1: the safety deposit boxes to see if there was room
Speaker 1: for another tier. He was glad to be finished. At
Speaker 1: the corner, he halted. The street lights had not yet
Speaker 1: come on. The street was dim. Everything was vague. He
Speaker 1: looked around and froze. From the telephone pole in front
Speaker 1: of the police station, something large and shapeless hung. It
Speaker 1: moved a little with the wind. What the hell was it?
Speaker 1: Mason approached it warily. He wanted to get home. He
Speaker 1: was tired and hungry. He thought of his wife, his kids,
Speaker 1: a hot meal on the dinner table. But there was
Speaker 1: something about the dark bundle, something ominous and ugly. The
Speaker 1: light was bad. He couldn't tell what it was, yet
Speaker 1: it drew him on, made a move closer for a
Speaker 1: better look. The shapeless thing made him uneasy. He was
Speaker 1: frightened by it, frightened and fascinated. And the strange part
Speaker 1: was that nobody else seemed to notice it. All right,
Speaker 1: that's the Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick. Pretty good.
Speaker 1: Whether he was insane or not. I think the end
Speaker 1: proves that he was quite sane, and that he would
Speaker 1: just be the next victim. The bank manager. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Lewis was the next victim. He's part of a chain
Speaker 1: of bait, so I think he was saying, but he
Speaker 1: definitely killed another non possessed person with a rock. But
Speaker 1: I think though, because as he wasn't insane that his
Speaker 1: son was a human fly like the Cramp said, yeah,
Speaker 1: because he was. He was not insane, so what he
Speaker 1: saw was real, which means that him seeing his sun
Speaker 1: flying around trying to sting him it was real. All right,
Speaker 1: what's your take? It was that what you said? Okay, see,
Speaker 1: this is why we get along so well, Chuck. I
Speaker 1: gotta see this thing visually. Somebody needs to make this
Speaker 1: into a short film. It would be a pretty good one,
Speaker 1: I think, And it's public dommain. I'm just saying, well,
Speaker 1: thank you very much everybody. Happy Halloween to you. Hopefully
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this. Sure it wasn't fact based. It was
Speaker 1: a little more fictitious than usual, but it is, after all,
Speaker 1: Halloween out there, yes for sure. Uh, And enjoy your
Speaker 1: trick or treating and your Halloween parties and bobbing for apples,
Speaker 1: and happy Halloween to everybody. Go enjoy this one of
Speaker 1: the most greatest Hall of Days of all time. Stuff
Speaker 1: you should know is a production of iHeart Radios. How
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit
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