WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: "The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:11.520 Cool Zone Media book Club book Club, book Club, book Club, 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:16.880 book Club Club. It's the Cool Zone Media book Club 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:22.360 Spooky Month Edition. I mean, mister Margaret Kildre, the Cool 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.759 Zonned Media book Club is the only book club where 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:26.639 you don't have to do the reading because I do 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.520 it for you. There's other book clubs where people to 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.479 probably do the reading for you. But did I do 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:39.640 the reading for you? No, someone else did. Anyway, this 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.839 month on book Club, I'm gonna read spooky stories and 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.720 this spooky story is another one I'm excited about because 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.360 this one, I'm convinced this is where the Predator comes from. 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.000 It never even occurred to me that the movie Predator 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:59.080 had like a precursor, but I think I've found it, 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.320 and you know, maybe other people have other ideas, like 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.800 the people who made Predator. I don't know whatever, I 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.399 just find this story interesting. This story is called The 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.759 Damned Thing and it was written in eighteen ninety eight 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.800 by Ambrose Bierce. Who's Ambrose Bierce? You might ask, Well, 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.319 if you lived in eighteen ninety eight, you would have 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.200 known who Ambrose Bierce is, because, like a lot of 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.960 the people that we cover, famous fickle and doesn't always last. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:34.120 Ambrose Bierce was like kind of the contemporary of Edgar 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.920 Allan Poe and like one of the great spooky story 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:41.480 writers of American history. But he's not talked about as 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.440 much today, which is a shame, because he spent five 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.880 years fighting against slavery. In fact, when this kid was 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.320 a kid and he was only fifteen years old, he 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.520 went and worked at an abolitionist newspaper, and then when 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.760 the war broke out, he went and fought. But he 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.280 spent most of the of his life being like, hey, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.440 war is pretty terrible. He wasn't like, oh, man, glory, 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.880 that stuff's cool, you know. And he went on to 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:15.000 influence just about everyone. And then in terms of spooky stories, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.680 in the year nineteen thirteen, he wrote a letter to 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.400 a friend saying he was like gonna go to Mexico 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.840 to see the Mexican Revolution. And then he disappeared, and 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.560 no one's ever heard from him since. And realistically he 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.240 probably died somehow in that conflict. He was in his 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:39.840 early seventies, But who knows. Maybe he's a vampire. I 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:45.160 think everyone's a vampire. This story, the damned thing, it 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.600 is from eighteen ninety eight. I already told you that 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:54.200 split into four sections. One by the light of the 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.600 tallow candle, which had been placed on one end of 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.680 a rough table, a man was reading something written in 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.040 a book. It was an old account book, greatly worn, 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.640 and the writing was not apparently very legible, for the 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.000 man sometimes held the page close to the flame of 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.240 the candle to get a stronger light upon it. The 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.480 shadow of the book then would throw into obscurity a 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.200 half of the room, darkening a number of faces and figures. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:25.000 For besides the reader, eight other men were present. Seven 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.959 of them sat against the rough log walls, silent and motionless, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.960 and the room, being small, not very far from the table. 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.080 By extending an arm, any one of them could have 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.920 touched the eph man, who lay on the table, face upward, 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.400 partly covered by a sheet, his arms at his sides. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.200 He was dead. The man with the book was not 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.440 reading aloud, and no one spoke. All seemed to be 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.920 waiting for something to occur. The dead man only was 0:03:54.960 --> 0:04:00.240 without expectation from the blank darkness outside came in the 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.360 aperture that served for a window, all the ever unfamiliar 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.400 noises of night in the wilderness. The long, nameless note 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.640 of a distant coyote, the stilly, pulsing thrill of tireless 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:17.520 insects and trees, strange cries of night birds so different 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.839 from those of the birds of the day, the drone 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.200 of great blundering beetles, and all that mysterious chorus of 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:29.360 small sounds that seem always to have been half heard 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.040 when they have suddenly ceased, as if conscious of an indiscretion. 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.320 But nothing of all of this was noted in that company. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.360 Its members were not over much addicted to the idle 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.760 interest in matters of no practical importance that was obvious 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.279 in every line of their rugged faces, obvious even in 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.479 the dim light of the small candle. They were evidently 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:57.279 men of the vicinity, farmers and woodmen. The person reading 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.920 was a trifle different. One would have said of him 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.400 that he was of the world worldly, albeit there was 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:05.719 a hint in his attire which attested to a certain 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:10.320 fellowship with the organisms of his environment. His coat would 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.920 hardly have passed muster in San Francisco, his foot gear 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.120 was not of urban origin. The hat that lay by 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.800 him on the floor he was the only one uncovered, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.920 was such that, if one had considered it an article 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.520 of mere personal dormant, he would have missed its meaning. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.719 In countenance, the man was rather prepossessing, with just a 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.599 hint of sternness, though that he may have assumed or 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.080 cultivated as is appropriate to one in authority. For he 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.440 was a coroner. It was by virtue of his office 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.200 that he had possession of the book in which he 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.440 was reading. It had been found among the dead men's 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.160 effects in his cabin, where the inquest was now taking place. 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.760 When the coroner had finished reading, he put the book 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.599 into his breast pocket. At that moment, the door was 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.000 pushed open and a young man entered. He clearly was 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.120 not of mountain berth and breeding. He was clad as 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:05.200 those who dwell in cities. His clothing was dusty, however, 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.599 as from travel, he had in fact been writing hard 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:12.560 to attend the inquest. The coroner nodded. No one else 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.120 greeted him. We have waited for you, said the coroner. 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.080 It is necessary to have done with this business tonight. 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.840 The young man smiled. I'm very sorry to have kept you, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.760 he said. I went away not to evade your summons, 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:27.839 but to post to my newspaper an account of what 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.800 I suppose I am called back to relate. The coroner smiled. 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:34.960 The account that you posted to your newspaper, he said, 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.839 differs probably from that which you will give here under oath. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.240 That replied the other, rather hotly and with a visible flush, 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.640 is as you choose. I used manifold paper and have 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.360 a copy of what I sent. It was not written 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:53.320 as news, for it is incredible, but as fiction it 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.159 may go as a part of my testimony under oath. 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:01.360 But you say it is incredible, that is nothing to you, sir, 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:06.040 if I also swear that it is true. The coroner 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.520 was apparently not greatly affected by the young man's manifest resentment. 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.640 He was silent for some moments, his eyes upon the floor. 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.880 The men about the sides of the cabin talked in whispers, 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.640 but seldom withdrew their gaze from the face of the corpse. Presently, 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:23.000 the coroner lifted his eyes and said, we will resume 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:28.160 the inquest. The men removed their hats. The witness was sworn. 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.720 What is your name, the coroner asked, William Harker, age 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:38.760 twenty seven. You knew the deceased Hugh Morgan, Yes, you 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.640 were with him when he died near him. How did 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.200 that happen? Your your presence, I mean, I was visiting 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.920 him at this place to shoot and fish. A part 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.840 of my purpose, however, was to study him and his odd, 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.840 solitary way of life. He seemed a good model for 0:07:54.880 --> 0:08:00.000 a character in fiction. I sometimes write stories, I sometimes read, though, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:05.640 thank you stories in general, not yours. Some of the 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:09.920 jurors laughed against a somber background. Humor shows high lights, 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.120 soldiers in the intervals of battle laugh easily, and a 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:17.520 jest in the death chamber conquers by surprise. Relate the 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.880 circumstances of this man's death, said the coroner. You may 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:26.040 use any notes or memoranda that you please. The witness understood. 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.400 Pulling a manuscript from his breast pocket, he held it 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.040 near the candle and turning the leaves until he found 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.720 the passage he wanted. He began to read, and what 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.640 he read was these ads. That's not what he read. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.320 But here's some ads anyway, whether you want them or not. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:09:01.600 And we're back two. The sun had hardly risen when 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.080 we left the house. We were looking for quail, each 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.080 with a shot gun, but we had only one dog. 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.320 Morgan said that our best ground was beyond a certain 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.839 ridge that he pointed out, and we crossed it by 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:15.920 a trail through the chapparral. On the other side was 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:20.520 a comparatively level ground thickly covered with wild oats. As 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:22.839 we emerged from the chapparral, Morgan was but a few 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.160 yards in advance. Suddenly we heard, at a little distance 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.880 to our right and partly in front, a noise as 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.800 of some animal thrashing about in the bushes, which we 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:37.240 could see were violently agitated. We've started a deer, said I. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.600 I wish we had brought a rifle. Morgan, who had 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.280 stopped and was intently watching the agitated chaparral, said nothing, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.640 but he had cocked both barrels of his gun and 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.679 was holding it in readiness to aim. I thought him 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.480 a trifle excited, which surprised me, for he had a 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.680 reputation for exceptional coolness, even in moments of sudden and 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.800 imminent peril. Oh, come, I said, you are not going 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.480 to fill up a deer with quail shot, are you still? 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.840 He did not reply, but catching a sight of his 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.680 face as he turned it slightly toward me, I was 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.120 struck by the pallor of it. Then I understood that 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.719 we had serious business on hand, and my first conjecture 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.880 was that we had jumped a grizzly I advanced to 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.480 Morgan's side, cocking my piece as I moved. The bushes 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.120 were now quiet and the sounds had ceased, but Morgan 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.719 was as attentive to the place as before. What is it? 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.560 What the devil is it? I asked that damned thing, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.439 he replied, without turning his head. His voice was husky 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.800 and unnatural. He trembled visibly. I was about to speak 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.120 further when I observed the wild oats near the place 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.840 of the disturbance moving in the most inexplicable way I 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.400 can hardly describe it. It seemed as if they were 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.120 stirred by a streak of wind which not only bent it, 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.520 but pressed it down, crushed it so that it did 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.800 not rise. And this movement was slowly prolonging itself towards us. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.480 Nothing that I had ever seen had affected me so 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:07.080 strangely as this unfamiliar and unaccountable phenomena. Yet I am 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.520 unable to recall any sense of fear. I remember and 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.800 tell it here because singularly enough I recollected it. Then, 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.040 that once in looking carelessly out of an open window, 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.520 I momentarily mistook a small tree close at hand for 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:22.679 one of a group of larger trees at a little 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.760 distance away. It looked the same size as the others, 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.480 but being more distinctly and sharply defined in mass and detail, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.280 seemed out of harmony with them. It was a mere 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.400 falsification of the law of aerial perspective. But it startled, 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:40.720 almost terrified me. We so rely on the orderly operation 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.080 of familiar natural laws that any seeming suspension of them 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:47.480 is noted as a menace to our safety, a warning 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.280 of unthinkable calamity. So now the apparently causeless movement of 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.959 the herbage and the slow, undeviating approach of the line 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:59.960 of disturbance were distinctly disquieting. My companion appeared actually frightened, 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.560 and I could hardly credit my senses when I saw 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:05.480 him suddenly throw his gun to his shoulders and fire 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.080 both barrels at the agitated grass. Before the smoke of 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.360 the discharge it cleared away, I heard a loud, savage cry, 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.440 a scream like that of a wild animal, and flinging 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.280 his gun upon the ground, Morgan sprang away and ran 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.960 swiftly from the spot. At the same instant, I was 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.840 thrown violently to the ground by the impact of something 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.560 unseen in the smoke, some soft, heavy substance that seemed 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.480 thrown against me with great force. Before I could get 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.000 upon my feet and recover my gun, which seemed to 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.160 have been struck from my hands, I heard Morgan crying 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.040 out as if in mortal agony, and mingling with his 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.680 cries were such hoarse, savage sounds as one hears from 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:51.040 fighting dogs. Inexpressibly terrified, I struggled to my feet and 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.319 looked in the direction of Morgan's retreat, and may Heaven 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.920 and Mercy spare me from another sight like that. At 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.280 a distance of less than thirty yards, was my friend 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.680 down upon one knee, his head thrown back at a 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.520 frightful angle, hatless, his long hair and disorder, and his 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.200 whole body and violent movement from side to side, backward 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.160 and forward. His right arm was lifted and seemed to 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.280 lack the hand, at least I could see none. The 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.720 other arm was invisible. At times, as my memory now 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.120 reports this extraordinary scene, I could discern but a part 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.199 of his body. It was as if he had been 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.480 partly blotted out, I cannot otherwise express it. Then a 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.520 shifting of his position would bring it all into view again. 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.440 All this must have occurred within a few seconds. Yet 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.000 in that time Morgan assumed all the postures of a 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.840 determined wrestler, vanquished by superior weight and strength. I saw 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.840 nothing but him in him, not always distinctly. During the 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.240 entire incident, his shouts and curses were heard, as if 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.080 through an enveloping uproar of such sounds of rage and 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.720 fury as I have never heard from the throat of 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.839 man or brute. For a moment only I stood irresolute. Then, 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.560 throwing down my gun, I ran forward to my friend's assistance. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.120 I had a vague belief that he was suffering from 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.920 a fit or some form of convulsion. Before I could 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:17.280 reach his side, he was down and quiet. All sounds 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.640 had ceased. But with a feeling of such horror as 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.200 even these awful events had not inspired, I now saw 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:28.280 the same mysterious movement of the wild oats prolonging itself 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.200 from the trampled area about the prostrate man toward the 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.560 edge of the wood. It was only when I had 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.480 reached the wood that I was able to withdraw my 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:43.520 eyes and look at my companion. He was dead. Three. 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.280 The corner rose from his seat and stood beside the 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.120 dead man. Lifting an edge of the sheet, he pulled 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.000 it away, exposing the entire body altogether naked and showing 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.600 in the candle light a clay like yellow. It had, however, 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:02.120 broad maculations of bluish black ob caused by extravasted blood 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.600 from contusions. The chests and sides looked as if they 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.280 had been beaten with a bludgeon. There were dreadful lacerations. 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:13.760 The skin was torn in strips and shreds. The coroner 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:15.760 moved round to the end of the table and undid 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.960 a silk handkerchief which had been passed under the chin 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.280 and knotted up at the top of the head. When 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.840 the handkerchief was drawn away, it exposed what had been 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.920 the throat. Some of the jurors, who had risen to 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.360 get a better view, repented their curiosity and turned away 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:34.080 their faces. Witness Harker went to the open window and 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:38.080 leaned out across the sill, faint and sick, dropping the 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.800 handkerchief upon the dead man's neck. The corner stepped to 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.760 an angle of the room and from a pile of clothing, 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.600 produced one garment after another, each of which he held 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.440 up for a moment of inspection. All were torn and 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.440 stiff with blood. The jurors did not make a closer inspection. 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.040 They seemed rather uninterested. They had, in truth, seen all 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.200 this before, the only thing that was new to them 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:05.280 being Harker's testimony. Gentlemen, the coroner said, we have no 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.000 more evidence. I think your duty has been already explained 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:10.800 to you. If there is nothing you wish to ask, 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:15.760 you may go outside and consider your verdict. The foreman rose, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:20.800 a tall, bearded man of sixty coarsely clad. I should 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.640 like to ask one question, mister coroner, He said, what 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:29.800 asylum did this your last witness escape from? Mister Harker 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.400 said the coroner, gravely and tranquility. What asylum did you 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:38.360 last escape? Harker flushed Crimson again, but said nothing. The 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.360 seven jurors rose and solemnly filed out of the cabin. 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.360 If you have done insulting me, sir, said Harker, as 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:47.480 soon as he and the officer were left alone with 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:51.760 the dead man. I suppose I'm at liberty to go. Yes. 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.280 Harker started to leave, but paused with his hand on 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.160 the door latch. The habit of his profession was strong 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.240 in him, stronger than his sense of personal dignity. He 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.120 turned about and said, the book that you have there, 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.840 I recognize it as Morgan's diary. You seem greatly interested 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.159 in it. You read in it while I was testifying. 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.200 May I see it? The public would like the book? 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.880 Will cut no figure in this matter, replied the official, 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.320 slipping it into his coat pocket. All the entries in 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:25.359 it were made before the writer's death. As Harker passed 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:27.320 out of the house, the jury re entered and stood 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.240 about the table on which the now covered corpse showed 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:34.560 under the sheet with sharp definition. The foreman seated himself 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.439 near the candle, produced from his breast pocket a pencil 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.760 on a scrap of paper, and wrote rather laboriously the 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:45.480 following verdict, which, with various degrees of effort, all signed. 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.400 We the jury, do find the remains come to their 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.080 death at the hands of a mountain lion. But some 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:57.480 of us thinks all the same they had fits. You 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:59.880 too might have a fit if you don't take advantage 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:03.960 of all of the opportunities made to you by our advertisers. 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:20.560 Whom we love dearly and un ironically, and we're back four. 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.240 In the diary of the late Hugh Morgan are certain 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:30.239 interesting entries, having possibly a scientific value, as suggestions. At 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.520 the inquest upon his body, the book was not put 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.679 in evidence. Possibly the coroner thought it not worthwhile to 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.520 confuse the jury. The date of the first of the 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.159 entries mentioned cannot be ascertained. The upper right part of 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.080 the leaf is torn away. The part of the entry 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:50.200 remaining is as follows would run in a half circle, 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.639 keeping his head turned always towards the center, and again 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:57.400 he would stand still, barking furiously. At last he ran 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:59.440 away into the brush as fast as he could go. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.199 I thought at first that he had gone mad, but 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.840 on returning to the house, found no other alteration in 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.119 his manner than what was obviously due to fear of punishment? 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.280 Can a dog see with his nose do odors impress 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.560 some olfactory center with images of the thing emitting them? 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.480 September second, Looking at the stars last night, as they 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.680 rose above the crest of the ridge east of the house, 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:27.080 I observed them successively disappear from left to right. Each 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:30.040 was eclipsed, but an instant and only a few at 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.200 the same time, but along the entire length of the ridge, 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.359 all that were within a degree or two of the 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.359 crest were blotted out. It was as if something had 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.040 passed along between me and them, but I could not 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:43.199 see it, and the stars were not thick enough to 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:49.280 define its outline. Ugh, I don't like this. Several weeks 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:51.960 entries are missing, three leaves being torn from the book. 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:57.119 September twenty seventh. It has been about here again. I 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.760 find evidences of its presence every day. I watched again 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.040 all of last night in the same cover, got in 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.600 hand double charged with buckshot. In the morning, the fresh 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.959 footprints were there as before. Yet I would have sworn 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:13.280 that I did not sleep. Indeed, I hardly sleep at all. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.200 It is terrible, insupportable. If these amazing experiences are real, 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.520 I shall go mad. If they are fanciful, I am 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:26.800 mad already. October third, I shall not go. It shall 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.160 not drive me away. No, this is my house, my land. 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.679 God hates a coward. October fifth, I can stand it 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:37.920 no longer. I have invited Harker to pass a few 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.399 weeks with me. He has a level head, I can 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:44.880 judge from his manner if he thinks me mad. October seventh, 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.359 I have the solution to the problem. It came to 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.359 me last night suddenly, as if by revelation. How simple, 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:56.000 how terribly simple. There are sounds that we cannot hear. 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:58.920 At either end of the scale are notes that stir, 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.760 no chord of that a perfect instrument the human ear. 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:06.240 They are too high or too grave. I have observed 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.560 a flock of blackbirds occupying an entire tree top, the 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:13.480 tops of several trees, and all in full song. Suddenly, 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.280 in a moment, at absolutely the same instant, all spring 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.639 into the air and fly away. How they could not 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.840 all see one another, whole tree tops intervened. At no 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:25.679 point could a leader have been visible to all. There 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.440 must have been a signal warning or command, high and 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.600 shrill above the din, but by me unheard. I have 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.720 observed too, the same simultaneous flight when all were silent, 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.400 among not only blackbirds, but other birds, quail, for example, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:43.359 widely separated by bushes, even on opposite sides of a hill. 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.440 It is known to seamen that a school of whales 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.439 basking or sporting on the surface of the ocean miles apart, 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:53.800 with the convexity of the earth between them will sometimes 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.600 dive at the same instant, all gone out of sight 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.320 in a moment the signal has been sounded too grave 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.840 for the ear of the sailor at the masthead and 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.480 his comrades on the deck, who nevertheless feel its vibrations 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.080 in the ship as the stones of a cathedral are 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.199 stirred by the base of the organ. As with sounds, 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.360 so with colors. At each end of the solar spectrum, 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:18.440 the chemist can detect the presence of what are known 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:23.080 as actinic rays. They represent colors integral colors in the 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.639 composition of light which we are unable to discern. The 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.919 human eye is an imperfect instrument. Its range is but 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.400 a few octaves of the real chromatic scale. I am 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:38.679 not mad. There are colors that we cannot see. Ah, 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:42.639 God help me. The damned thing is of such a color. 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:48.000 The end. Okay, I like that story. I say this 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:49.719 every time. I like that story for a bunch of reasons. 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.200 But it's true. I like the story for a bunch 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:54.159 of reasons. I really like the way it plays with 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:58.359 all of these different omniscient narrator. And then there's the 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:03.560 account from the writer, and then there's the journal, like 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:06.440 all crammed into a pretty short story, but in a 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:08.439 way that flows well for me. It doesn't make it 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:11.480 like spookier, but it makes it more fun or interesting. 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.080 This is the story actually gets classified as science fiction 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:16.720 as much as it gets classified as anything else, like 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.479 a ghost story. But at the same time it plays 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:24.640 with something that people who live in the woods understand, 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:28.600 which is that there's just often this sense that there's 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.439 just something there, you know, and the whole like the 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:35.520 dog barking at nothing and the stars went out for 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:39.480 a moment and all those things. Those are experiences I've 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:41.880 had and I don't actually think there's a damned thing 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:45.639 in the woods it's going to get me, and you know, honestly, 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:49.000 like I don't know. It also like gets at this 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:51.320 idea of like camouflage, right, it talks about the one 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:54.880 tree that looked like the other trees and I don't 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:57.879 know anyway, I just like that story and I like 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:02.040 that the author fought whole ass word and slavery and 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:06.560 you know, was pretty interesting. So I hope you like 0:24:06.600 --> 0:24:10.920 it too, and if not, maybe you'll like next weeks. 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:13.240 And if you did like this week's, maybe you'll like 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:17.360 next weeks on cool Zone Media book Club. Also, I'm 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:21.199 on tour right now. I'm reading fables out. If you 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:23.560