1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: Thirteen days of Halloween is a production of I heart radio, 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: Blumhouse television and grim and mild from Aaron mankey headphones recommended. 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: Listener discretion advised. Good evening, friend, I have something very 4 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: special to show you, and the full impact of this 5 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: particular place can only be felt on a cloudless night 6 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: such as this. No need to change your nightwear is 7 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: quite fitting for our destination. Come now, the heavens wait. 8 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: Once again, we must ride in our trusty elevator, this 9 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: time to the very top. Watch your step. Tonight we 10 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: are going to see one of the architect's greatest achievements. 11 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: You see, the design of this grand structure did not 12 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: spring into his head unbidden. He ached to build his 13 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: magnum opus, but sadly he was without inspiration until a 14 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: late night journey to lad observatory, were he and a 15 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: writer of some distinction together saw something in the stars, 16 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: a pattern, a celestial plan that only he could comprehend. 17 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: You See, the stars spoke to our architect and he 18 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: responded with this place. Again your step, brace yourself for 19 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: the universe. This is the great observatory, an exact replica 20 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: of the facility where the architect had his empiphany, with 21 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: minor adjustments here and there. This was the earliest part 22 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: of Hawthorn manner to be built, and the plans for 23 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,080 Speaker 1: the rest did not solidify until he further decipher to 24 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: heaven's secrets. Please gaze into the telescope. How clear the 25 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: stars are from here? Yes, directly above us. Do you 26 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: see the constellations of Malacoda, Acino and Barbariccia? Who Shapes 27 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: the architect used in plotting the house's course, a house 28 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: built to stretch the confines of space and time? Hello, 29 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: who goes there? Ah, why am I not surprised to 30 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: find you up here on such a night? Be Your 31 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: dear and listen closely. We grow ever closer to our goal, 32 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: the door. Remember you, remember you. To carry on. I 33 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: shall fetch the Astrolabe. The magic of science is that 34 00:02:54,160 --> 00:03:00,679 Speaker 1: it creates order from a parent chaos. This telescope captures photons, 35 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: particles of light but have traveled billions of miles over 36 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: billions of years, and transcribes them into a picture on 37 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: a piece of glass you could hold in your hand. 38 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: Your cell phone receives data encoded in radio waves and 39 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: translates it into voices, images, symphony. Order from apparent chaos, 40 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: where chaos really just means enough data points that we 41 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,399 Speaker 1: can't make sense of it. And some of sciences most 42 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: effective magic is more biological than you'd care to think. 43 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: Maybe you've heard that your body is filled with microscopic organisms, 44 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: that they outnumber your own selves. It's true. Most of 45 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: them live in your guts. There are nine point eight 46 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: million microbes common to the human microbiome, identified sequence modified. 47 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: Their combined genetic sequence is thirty times as long as 48 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: the genomes of the humans who contain them. And with 49 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: these microbes, science has programmed solutions to an astonishing number 50 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: of human problems. Maybe you didn't know the bugs in 51 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: your gut train your immune system, touch your central nerves. 52 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: The actions and byproducts of the creatures living inside you 53 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: can control digestion in diabetes, heart disease, your body shape, 54 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: your mental health, and on and on. You can solve 55 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: any of these things by taking one pillar or another. 56 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: I take these for acne, to others for anxiety, but 57 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: my parents were always uncomfortable talking about the anxiety part. 58 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: One Night I was dog sitting for them and their 59 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: fundraiser gala another chance for them to impress the sort 60 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: of voters who only donate to the poor when they 61 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: get an exclusive dinner out of it. I'd backed off 62 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: els a crap called. I told them so that night. 63 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: I really meant that. The couch called and a literal 64 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: eternity of streaming video potential. Besides, their dog, little johnny, 65 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: would poop in the closet if you left him alone 66 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: for more than three consecutive hours. My intense hope for 67 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: no one at the gala to let slip to my 68 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: parents that I just accepted an internship with the public 69 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: defense office was basically ruining everything I tried to watch. 70 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: The first vaguely suspicious thing I remember was a deep 71 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: rumbling in my gut, like a video game controller when 72 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: your character takes a hit and another and another, a 73 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: whole Combo. But I figured it was arrant gala anxiety 74 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: or that the leftover tie curry had been finishing was 75 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 1: a couple of days too old. Either way, I was 76 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: actively ignoring it when Johnny parked up, jumped off his 77 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: couch and quick clacked off down the Hardwood Hall toward 78 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: the center of the House, and that was suspicious prime 79 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: closet territory. So I followed. I found him sniffing at 80 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: the crack to the lower level door. He barked at 81 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: it once, as if experimenting with the sound. Then he 82 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: shifted to a growl. My stomach shifted to the rumble, 83 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: back but sharp this time, cramps snaking between my hips. 84 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: That's when the smell hit me. Above the normal cellar 85 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: must and sea salt twinge of that house, something sweet 86 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 1: and thick I couldn't define, and the sound rushing so 87 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: low I thought it was my heart beat in my 88 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: ears until I realized it was the pipes. It was 89 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: the house's blood, not mine, roiling through those pipes like 90 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: the whole place was a shell I'd held up to 91 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: my ear and my guts. I'd heard of colonies acting 92 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: odd getting gassy before, but this hurt. I felt my 93 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: skin crawling and when I looked down there was a shape, shapes, 94 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: pushing my shirt outward and pulling, puckering down. It felt 95 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: like to the bone, snatching the fabric away. I watched 96 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: the flesh of my belly forming a moving image, ripples 97 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: like smoke. A cold flush exploded from the base of 98 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: my spine up to my brain, more hopeless than I'd 99 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: ever felt before. The pills and without knowing that I'd 100 00:07:53,440 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: started running. Have you ever us time while you were driving, 101 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road? 102 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: Then you realize half an hour is past and you 103 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: don't remember any of it. Somehow the meat of you 104 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: functioned to drive the car while you were somewhere else. 105 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: That's what it felt like when I came back to myself. 106 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: I was standing on the front lawn of my parents house, 107 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: the grass cold under my feet and Johnny's fur soft 108 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: as he squirmed against my arms. There was a street 109 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: light at the end of the driveway, pulsing brighter than 110 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: dimmer than brighter, perfectly in time with my still twisting insides, 111 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: and at my back the blistering heat of my parents 112 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: house burning. Maybe I did hear something, a woff of ignition, 113 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: that draw of breath of fire takes when it's catching hold, 114 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: but all I remember is the sound my guts turning over. 115 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: It felt more like instinct, but I don't think it 116 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,599 Speaker 1: was mine. I guess it depends on how much you 117 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: consider what lives inside of me to be me. Have 118 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: you heard of that thought experiment? Theseus's paradox, you know. 119 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: Is a ship still the same ship if you've replaced 120 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: every part of it. What if our initial blueprint isn't 121 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: really us? How much needs to be added before we 122 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: become ourselves? Does part of the mind, or whatever you 123 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: want to call it, live in the gaps of that blueprint? 124 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: They never did find an arsonist, the accelerant. It wasn't 125 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: man made. It was more like a bio fuel. It 126 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,559 Speaker 1: was in the pipes, you know. They used micropes to 127 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: make that stuff too. Maybe it was all an accident, 128 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:11,199 Speaker 1: meaningless chaos. But what if I was responsible? What if 129 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 1: they were responsible? This symbiotic colony of creatures inside me, 130 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: that army? Were they responding to something? Were they protecting me, 131 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 1: or were they angry at me? I don't know. I'm 132 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 1: afraid of what might happen if I keep feeding them 133 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: these but not as afraid of what might happen if 134 00:10:42,520 --> 00:11:19,719 Speaker 1: I don't. M M Ah, something's wrong. I I apologize 135 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: for stepping away. Oh, you look exhausted. Perhaps you should 136 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: leave the stars to us for the evening and get 137 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: some sleep. This is an astrolabe. Oh, I know it 138 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: seems a little outdated to you such a thing, but 139 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: there is something about it. The architect used this very 140 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: tool to chart and measure the stars. That lends our 141 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: little exploration a sort of symmetry, wouldn't you say? Tonight 142 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,080 Speaker 1: I will beat the stars and all the night of 143 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: the ascension, we too will know where the door is located. 144 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 1: So many secrets hiding out there in the chasms between Gods. 145 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: You Sho would rest, my friend, great things are in 146 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:08,199 Speaker 1: store for us. Tomorrow. We will meet in the architect's 147 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: personal chambers. Are Answers. We will undoubtedly find them there. 148 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: For now at you. Thirteen days of Halloween was created 149 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: by Matt Frederick and Alex Williams and executive produced by 150 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 1: Aaron Manky, starring Keegan Michael Key as the caretaker. Today's 151 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: story was written and performed by Lauren Vogelbaum and directed 152 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: by Matt Frederick, additional writing and script supervision from Nicholas Dakowski, 153 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,199 Speaker 1: with editing and sound designed by Josh thane. Only two 154 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: days remain. Tomorrow, another story. Children worshiped danger and love 155 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: mystery most of all. We were eleven years old that Halloween, 156 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,560 Speaker 1: so we decided we would visit the witch house for ourselves. Remember, 157 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: we like you, news stories. We like you. We're brave 158 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: and no matter where we went every street. Let us, 159 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: like you, to this place and the things beneath it. 160 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: Thirteen days of Halloween is a production of I heart radio, 161 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,959 Speaker 1: Blumhouse television and Grimm and mild from Aaron Mankey. For 162 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart radio, visit the I heart 163 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,959 Speaker 1: radio APP, apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your 164 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 1: favorite shows, and learn more about thirteen days of Halloween 165 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: at Grimm and mild dot com.