Speaker 1: iHeart three d are for full exposure.
Speaker 2: Listen with headphones.
Speaker 3: Havoctown is a production of iHeart Podcasts and Grimm and
Speaker 3: Mild from Aaron Mankey Headphones recommended. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 4: The rumors, which had largely been unsubstantiated but had seemed
Speaker 4: to spread of their own accord, took on flights of
Speaker 4: incredible fancy. Mister Matthews was heard to have been speaking
Speaker 4: in tongues. The Johnston Boy went feral and was seen
Speaker 4: wallowing with the hogs. It was whispered around the mill
Speaker 4: that the devil himself had come to Abbystown and was
Speaker 4: slowly seeping into the cracks of our everyday lives. These
Speaker 4: were all things that could be dismissed as superstition children's tales,
Speaker 4: but today's events caused even the huh artist skeptic in
Speaker 4: Avestown to turn violently to it a horrible sort of
Speaker 4: belief that we were, at long last coming to the
Speaker 4: very end of days.
Speaker 1: Sylvia and I set out just after dawn on Saturday,
Speaker 1: deciding to keep to the back roads. I was in
Speaker 1: no rush to get to our destination. I found the
Speaker 1: whole thing rather silly, to be honest, rousing an academic
Speaker 1: from his dusty slumber to ask him to make sense
Speaker 1: of the dying man's words and a macabre little box
Speaker 1: of vampire hunting tools. Then I found everything a little
Speaker 1: silly in that moment. Nothing I could do would feel otherwise,
Speaker 1: And so, a foot and lighthearted, we took to the
Speaker 1: open road, swearing to kill time scenic overlooks and roadside
Speaker 1: apple stands on the way to bone up on a
Speaker 1: little family lore. Now, explain to me why you were
Speaker 1: at a lecture about the terror of Lake? What the
Speaker 1: terror of Lake?
Speaker 5: Me from a mega? Uh huh something like that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, m hm.
Speaker 5: It was when I was dating Patrick. He was in
Speaker 5: Ato all that weird shit. Yeah right, He watched every
Speaker 5: unsolved mystery show out there.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I didn't see the appeal.
Speaker 5: Of unsolved mysteries of Patrick. Yeah, well, he was away
Speaker 5: to pass the time. I wouldn't have gone to that
Speaker 5: thing myself, but Professor Bradshaw was very.
Speaker 1: Cool and very attractive, holy shit, yeah, and polite.
Speaker 5: He ended up talking to us for an hour after
Speaker 5: the lecture. Patrick wouldn't stop asking him questions. He's such
Speaker 5: a nerd.
Speaker 1: So what was the terror of like memphor.
Speaker 5: Of godm mama, frog of frog frog. I don't know,
Speaker 5: I don't know. It was so it was like an
Speaker 5: alligator with a cowhead. I don't I have no idea.
Speaker 5: It's not real anyway. But doctor Bradshaw is an expert
Speaker 5: in things that aren't.
Speaker 1: Real, like vampires. Like vampires, and this is a serious scholar.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just wait until you meet him.
Speaker 1: Whoa, Yeah, I haven't stepped into a college building since
Speaker 1: I dropped out.
Speaker 5: Oh what do I feel like I'm gonna get in trouble?
Speaker 1: I don't know, like should I have a whole pass
Speaker 1: or something?
Speaker 6: God damn adults.
Speaker 1: Here, let's go. Come on, kingsh don't be weird. You're
Speaker 1: being weird.
Speaker 5: You're being weird.
Speaker 1: She just walk normally. It's okay for us to be here.
Speaker 5: We are bringing an interesting artifact to an expert in
Speaker 5: the field.
Speaker 1: Okay, here it is well knock Oh.
Speaker 5: Yeah right, sorry, oh god.
Speaker 7: I'll do it.
Speaker 8: Okay, yeah, come in.
Speaker 5: Professor Bradshaw.
Speaker 2: That's me.
Speaker 5: Hi, Yeah, I'm Sylvie Marcus. We spoke on the phone.
Speaker 7: Oh yes, yeah, come in, come in. You can just
Speaker 7: call me Jeremy Jeremy.
Speaker 5: Oh uh, this is current Abbs. She is the one
Speaker 5: I was telling you about.
Speaker 7: Yes, and I assume that this is.
Speaker 5: The yeah, the vampire kid.
Speaker 8: Wow?
Speaker 1: May I oh, yeah, of course?
Speaker 8: Oh wow, wow.
Speaker 7: You do not see a lot of these in the wild.
Speaker 1: Have you seen others?
Speaker 7: I actually did. They're more common in New England than
Speaker 7: you'd think due to the vampire panic.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Oh is this the letter? Uh? Yes, it's
Speaker 1: from Wow.
Speaker 7: Yes, this is from Josiah Abvis. Wait a minute, so
Speaker 7: that makes you his great great great Oh is it
Speaker 7: great granddaughter?
Speaker 8: Is that right?
Speaker 1: You've heard of Josiah.
Speaker 7: The mad Preacher, the most prolific vampire hunter of them all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sorry, there's a lot to unpack in that statement.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: This is just this is very exciting for me.
Speaker 8: Okay.
Speaker 7: I'm assuming that, based on the gobsmacked look on your
Speaker 7: face right now, that you are unfamiliar with the New
Speaker 7: England vampire panic.
Speaker 5: Yeah, let's pretend we're not familiar.
Speaker 8: Okay.
Speaker 7: Well, there were a number of tuberculosis outbreaks in the
Speaker 7: region and throughout the nineteenth century, and it was common
Speaker 7: for the disease, of course, to spread through families due
Speaker 7: to the close quarters. So someone would die and then
Speaker 7: be buried, and then shortly thereafter another member of the
Speaker 7: family would get ill. And because many people at that
Speaker 7: time were very let's say, superstitious, it was believed that
Speaker 7: these subsequent illnesses were because the dead were coming back
Speaker 7: and stealing the life force of their still living family members.
Speaker 7: And so it led to no small amount of mayhem
Speaker 7: and paranoia and bodies being you know, as you do,
Speaker 7: exhumed and relieved their hearts.
Speaker 5: Jesus.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that was one thing. But then Abbystown was a
Speaker 7: whole another animal, how so, well, a couple of things.
Speaker 7: For one, the symptoms reported in that epidemic were just,
Speaker 7: you know, totally different from tuberculosis. Tuberculosis takes a long
Speaker 7: time to kill, right, It's victims slowly waste away. That's
Speaker 7: why they gave it the nickname consumption. But the illnesses
Speaker 7: in Abstown, whatever that was, it was something else. Like
Speaker 7: victims experienced disorientation and fever, and then they flew into
Speaker 7: these sudden, violent rages and finally they would bleed from
Speaker 7: the eyes and the nose and even the pores. It
Speaker 7: was like a terrifying, terrible way to go. I think
Speaker 7: it more closely resembled I don't know, like pose red
Speaker 7: death or something more so than TB Oh, God, is
Speaker 7: everything all right, Sylvie?
Speaker 5: Yeah, we've seen something like that recently this week.
Speaker 7: Well, let's hope it's something else.
Speaker 8: I guess.
Speaker 7: On the upside, there have been advances in medicine since
Speaker 7: the early nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: You said there were a couple of differences. What was
Speaker 1: the other?
Speaker 7: Turns out that there was a very interesting account written
Speaker 7: of the Abbystown Panic in Morgan Perkins A Terrible thirst,
Speaker 7: which is it's about the panic. Hold on, It's a
Speaker 7: diary written by none other than Ah.
Speaker 1: Look here, the diary of Demris Abbess.
Speaker 7: Shit, that's what I said when I first read it.
Speaker 1: I didn't know there'd been a diary.
Speaker 7: Well, it was probably confiscated when they arrested Josiah. It
Speaker 7: was found decades ago when the old Coop's County Courthouse
Speaker 7: in Lancaster was retired, and it made its way into
Speaker 7: this publisher's hands. There are plenty of written accounts of
Speaker 7: the larger Vampire panic, but besides a mention of it
Speaker 7: here and there in Larger tech next, the Abbistown Panic
Speaker 7: has very little in the way of any first hand accounts.
Speaker 7: And this one, boy, let me tell you. It's all
Speaker 7: the more chilling because of how it abruptly.
Speaker 1: Ends, because the good Reverend murdered her.
Speaker 7: Yeah, along with a woman by the name of Sophia Havoc,
Speaker 7: the wife of a wealthy merchant.
Speaker 1: Jury. Yes, we live in Havoc, formerly Abbistown. My family
Speaker 1: is quite famous there for its misdeeds. Small town and all.
Speaker 7: You don't have to tell me.
Speaker 1: Hey, do you mind if I borrow this book?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 5: I promise to bring it back and I'll buy you
Speaker 5: a drink.
Speaker 7: That's not strictly necessary. I h okay, sure, yeah, take
Speaker 7: the book and I would love to talk to you
Speaker 7: further about your family laws time.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, although I'm afraid I can't really give you
Speaker 1: much more than legend and myth.
Speaker 7: Well, from personal experience, I found that sometimes that's where
Speaker 7: the truth lies.
Speaker 5: So so, so what did you think?
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, it's a lot to absorb.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, at least now you've got the diary.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, well, well what.
Speaker 5: Well freaking Reid to Carinne.
Speaker 1: We have a long drive home. Oh yeah, okay, out loud,
Speaker 1: no shit, fine, okay, first entry, there we go. Sixth
Speaker 1: of September eighteen seventeen. Wow, Noah and Father Josiah have
Speaker 1: laid the final stone at the front step of the
Speaker 1: new church, and Father Josiah invited Noah to consecrate the
Speaker 1: church with the Lord prayer.
Speaker 5: I can tell this is going to be exciting.
Speaker 1: Hush. Eighth of September eighteen seventeen, an exciting day, all right.
Speaker 1: The congregation gathered in the new church building for the
Speaker 1: very first time, with Father Josiah to side.
Speaker 4: Speaking after reading from first Tinnity, Father spoke about the
Speaker 4: importance of continuing the tradition of reading scripture aloud, and
Speaker 4: the congregation nodded quietly, content in the knowledge that they
Speaker 4: were in the hands of the wisest of shepherds.
Speaker 6: Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
Speaker 6: As people moved eastward, they found a plane in Shinar
Speaker 6: and settled there, and they said to each other, come,
Speaker 6: let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick
Speaker 6: instead of stone, and tar for mortar. And then they said, come,
Speaker 6: let us build ourselves a city with a tower that
Speaker 6: reaches to the heavens.
Speaker 4: A tall, wiry figure opened the door to the church then,
Speaker 4: and the cold rain and wind of September entered behind him,
Speaker 4: as if he had brought with him the first chill
Speaker 4: of the coming season, vanquishing the long summer. At last,
Speaker 4: he wore the black of mourning, and his bright eyes
Speaker 4: shone as he took in the house of worship the congregation,
Speaker 4: the pastor, to whom he gave a nod and a
Speaker 4: gesture of his hand that the man should continue. I
Speaker 4: would come to find out later that this was the
Speaker 4: merchant jury Havoc, who was building his home up the
Speaker 4: hill from the village.
Speaker 6: Yes, please come in. You know the rest of the story.
Speaker 6: The people of Chennard built their great tower, and the
Speaker 6: Lord Almighty saw their hubris and saw fit to punish
Speaker 6: them with his mighty hand. It is hubris that we
Speaker 6: speak of to day, a poison that fasters.
Speaker 7: In the s.
Speaker 4: It was in the reception line after Father Josiah's sermon
Speaker 4: that we met him officially for the first time. He
Speaker 4: stood at the very back of the line and kept
Speaker 4: his eyes on the ground until he reached the great door.
Speaker 4: When finally he looked up and met my eyes. They
Speaker 4: were set deep and were dark and sharp. They nearly
Speaker 4: stopped my heart for a moment. They so thoroughly seemed
Speaker 4: to find the center of me. But before I could
Speaker 4: find another breath, he was upon us.
Speaker 9: Reverend Others, I apologize for interrupting your sermon, sir.
Speaker 6: Now do not be the Lord brought you in his
Speaker 6: own time. Where do I have the pleasure of addressing.
Speaker 9: My name is Jury Havoc. I came to the country
Speaker 9: from London by way of Boston Harbor and recently begun construction.
Speaker 2: Just north of here.
Speaker 6: And what is your business, sir?
Speaker 2: I'm in the shipping business. Sir. My farmers a fleet
Speaker 2: harbored throughout the world.
Speaker 6: You're a long way from the ocean, young man. You
Speaker 6: have court me out.
Speaker 2: I have come here to take good country.
Speaker 9: My bride has been suffering from an illness, and I
Speaker 9: believe that this part of the world would do her good.
Speaker 2: I'm not a man to ignore the call.
Speaker 9: Of opportunity, especially when it also involves the health of
Speaker 9: those I love.
Speaker 6: Well. We welcome you into our town and into our congregation,
Speaker 6: and your wife as well. Please wish missus Havoc well
Speaker 6: for us. We will pray for her full recovery.
Speaker 2: I thank you. And this is your family.
Speaker 6: Yes, this is my son Noah.
Speaker 8: A pleasure mister Havoc, and this is.
Speaker 6: His wife, missus Abbess madam.
Speaker 4: A pleasure, A pleasure is mine, sir, well, i'm.
Speaker 2: As bidiodieu abssis.
Speaker 9: Construction on my house is well underway and requires my eye.
Speaker 6: Yes, we are baggerly watched from afar. It looks to
Speaker 6: be quite large. Have you a family to match it?
Speaker 2: I'm afraid that it is just so fair, and I.
Speaker 6: I see well. I am sure the town will appreciate
Speaker 6: the business you bring.
Speaker 9: I pry myself on creating honest work for on his men.
Speaker 6: Good. We look forward to welcoming you into the fold.
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you. A good day to you will.
Speaker 6: And to you services begin at seven a m sharp, sir, I.
Speaker 2: Shall try to remember.
Speaker 4: I watched him walk north toward the wood, toward the
Speaker 4: timbers of the great house, rising above it on the hillside,
Speaker 4: builders swarming upon it as ants on spilt sugar. And
Speaker 4: then I witnessed Father Josiah's face move through a series
Speaker 4: of desperate emotions, confusion, curiosity, a quiet anger, all before
Speaker 4: going blank, as if a great hand swept across the
Speaker 4: table of his mind. I do wonder what he was thinking.
Speaker 4: I do know that he immediately distrusted jury havoc because
Speaker 4: Father Abbess trusted No.
Speaker 1: One.
Speaker 4: Twelfth of September eighteen seventeen ill Omens. Noah and Father
Speaker 4: Abbess have been busy with the new Church. As the
Speaker 4: Lord's business is never done. Noah insisted that the boys
Speaker 4: be tutored in maths and scripture so that church business
Speaker 4: may be passed on to them in the future. Though
Speaker 4: I miss the boys during the day, I know that
Speaker 4: this is best. It allows me more time focused on
Speaker 4: the house. In the course of cleaning ash from the
Speaker 4: hearth this morning, I knocked the kettle and bent the
Speaker 4: kettle hook so that it could no longer do its duty,
Speaker 4: and so it was off to the blacksmith to repair it.
Speaker 4: Good day, mister.
Speaker 8: Smith, Ah, missus Abbess, Good day.
Speaker 4: Ah. I seem to have bent this kettle hook while
Speaker 4: cleaning the heart this morning. I wonder if you have
Speaker 4: the time to set it straight.
Speaker 8: Well, just let me give it a look.
Speaker 6: Ah.
Speaker 8: Yes, I can take care of this straight away.
Speaker 4: Ah, thank you, sir.
Speaker 8: Fine sermon that the reverend gave the other day.
Speaker 1: It was one of his finest.
Speaker 8: The new church is a beauty, yes.
Speaker 4: And may I say the iron work on the doors
Speaker 4: is perhaps one of its finest features.
Speaker 8: Oh well, well, thank you.
Speaker 10: It was then that it happened a scream across the street.
Speaker 10: The devil, the young man, my own Williams h perhaps ten,
Speaker 10: had set up on Missus Harris, fists flying, knocking over
Speaker 10: chicken crates on the market's edge.
Speaker 4: Two men pulled him off, and my blood ran cold.
Speaker 4: The boy was wild eyed, and blood poured from his
Speaker 4: mouth as he raved.
Speaker 7: He crossed me ries.
Speaker 2: He cut me with the heart, the old witch.
Speaker 9: Don't light them from your stolle.
Speaker 2: Two wounds and get the boy to jail.
Speaker 4: Tell me, good God. I had seen the boy about.
Speaker 4: His father owned a farm nearby and regularly brought the
Speaker 4: boy to market. He seemed a good child, dautiful quiet.
Speaker 4: He had come quite mad and did not stop shouting
Speaker 4: until he was cuffed across the temple, putting him out.
Speaker 4: I ran into the church as quickly as I could.
Speaker 4: Noah and Father Josiah were deep in conversation when I arrived.
Speaker 2: Good Heavens to marry school.
Speaker 4: What is this Missus Harris attacked at market by the
Speaker 4: chandler boy?
Speaker 6: Is all right?
Speaker 1: You bit her face?
Speaker 4: There was quite a lot of.
Speaker 6: Blood Noah go and fetch the boy's father. I'm going
Speaker 6: to go to Missus Harris's side. Are you well, daughter, Yes, sir,
Speaker 6: we will return.
Speaker 4: They have not returned this evening, thirteenth of September eighteen seventeen.
Speaker 4: Father Abbess and Noah returned early this morning, and both
Speaker 4: men were rattled by their experiences. Father Abbess in particular
Speaker 4: seemed troubled, though would not speak of it, and retired
Speaker 4: to his room. Noah spoke at greater length, explaining the situation.
Speaker 4: First a visit to Missus Harris's to pray with the
Speaker 4: family and speak to our town's physician, Doctor Bright, who
Speaker 4: attended the white mark on the cheek, was angry, but
Speaker 4: Noah promised me not as terrible as I'd imagine. After
Speaker 4: seeing the attack, the good doctor was able to easily
Speaker 4: staunch the blood and applied a healing poultice. Afterward, Father
Speaker 4: Abbess had joined Noah to see into the matter of
Speaker 4: the boy who had attacked, and met with his father,
Speaker 4: mister Satterwhite, who owned a small farm on the west
Speaker 4: of the village. The boy, Nathaniel, was still in the
Speaker 4: jail and had calmed himself somewhat In the words of
Speaker 4: the jailer, Constable John Fellows, who had himself suffered a
Speaker 4: small bite in getting the boy situated in the cell
Speaker 4: under lock and key. Nathaniel himself had a high fever
Speaker 4: and had begun to bleed from the eyes and nose.
Speaker 4: He even, Noah said, with a shudder, seemed to swept
Speaker 4: blood from his purse. His father was in a terrible state.
Speaker 4: He said that a son who was normally of a
Speaker 4: sweet disposition, had begun to act strangely in the previous days,
Speaker 4: until finally in a fit of rage, turning over the
Speaker 4: family's table and running out of the house. The next
Speaker 4: he was seen was in the market in the attack
Speaker 4: on Missus Harris, which I have described. Noah described the
Speaker 4: boy's demeanor when they first entered calm, but watching his
Speaker 4: visitors through the bars with a wary eye. He remained
Speaker 4: that way, quiet and watchful as they spoke to him
Speaker 4: about what had caused his behavior. Father ABIs told him
Speaker 4: that it was only Christian to make full apology, and
Speaker 4: advised him that he may be able to avoid trial
Speaker 4: if he showed himself to be penitent. He began to
Speaker 4: pray over the boy. It was then that had happened.
Speaker 4: Nathaniel bolted upright and began screaming curses, said Father Abbess,
Speaker 4: flecks of blood in his foamy spittle flying from his lips.
Speaker 4: He set upon the bars with the sort of madness
Speaker 4: that Noah described as inhuman, even infernal. They spent the
Speaker 4: night in a back and forth, father praying in the boy,
Speaker 4: cursing him his ancestors and progeny. It took weary hours
Speaker 4: and all of Father's strength to match the boy's fury
Speaker 4: with God's love, but in the end it was fruitless.
Speaker 4: The boy dropped in the early hours, dead in the
Speaker 4: middle of the floor. They had lost him. Noah believes
Speaker 4: that the devil is at work in Abbstown, and it
Speaker 4: is up to us, the family who gave the town
Speaker 4: its name, to fight it.
Speaker 5: That feels eerily familiar. Yeah, do you think that and
Speaker 5: Jimbo and the axe guy are related?
Speaker 1: I mean, it seems.
Speaker 5: Absurd, does it? Keep reading?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Okay. Fifteenth of September eighteen seventeen, the news has
Speaker 1: not been good. Both Missus Harris and Constable Fellows have
Speaker 1: fallen ill. Both have suffered from fevers and strange bleeding.
Speaker 1: Both have exhibited signs of the type of volatility that
Speaker 1: plagued poor Nathaniel, though neither so far have become violent.
Speaker 1: Doctor Bright has given both a tincture of medicinal herbs
Speaker 1: and cod liver oil, And to mister Fellows, who has
Speaker 1: a stronger constitution, he has applied leeches for the purposes
Speaker 1: of bleeding. We pray throughout the day for their full recovery.
Speaker 1: There are whispers in the town of great evil settling
Speaker 1: in with us. It is for this reason that Father Abas.
Speaker 4: Addressed the congregation on the matter in today's service.
Speaker 6: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
Speaker 6: will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will
Speaker 6: say to the Lord my refuge and my fortress, my
Speaker 6: God in whom I trust, for he will deliver you
Speaker 6: from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
Speaker 6: He will cover you with his pinions, and under his
Speaker 6: wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield
Speaker 6: and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night,
Speaker 6: nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence
Speaker 6: that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
Speaker 6: I have had many in this congregation who have come
Speaker 6: to me with their worries in the matter of Nathaniel
Speaker 6: Satterwhite and his illness. It is true that his end
Speaker 6: was violent and terrible. It is true that there is
Speaker 6: evil on the land and here in Abistown. But it
Speaker 6: is also true that the Lord is our shepherd. We
Speaker 6: must remain vigilant, yes, but we must also retain our
Speaker 6: faith as our strongest defense. Redouble your prayers. The Lord
Speaker 6: will strengthen the walls of your home against evil. Do
Speaker 6: not walk in fear, my friends. Put your faith in him,
Speaker 6: and his light will banish the darkness. Let us pray,
Speaker 6: Oh God, may your spirit speak in me, that I
Speaker 6: may speak to you.
Speaker 4: But in private. His faith is taking a more practical form.
Speaker 4: Under cover of night, Father ABIs and Noah have traveled
Speaker 4: to be afflicted for three nights. They have gone quickly
Speaker 4: in the darkness so as not to arouse alarm in
Speaker 4: the village. They go not to pray, but to fight
Speaker 4: for alverst. They shout and taunt whatever demon has entered
Speaker 4: the poor victims, and the demon fights back, hurling epithets
Speaker 4: most obscene and cursing the Lord. No one comes more
Speaker 4: exhausted shaken. I fear he is losing faith. Seventeenth of September,
Speaker 4: after days of affliction, Constable Fellows passed eighteenth of September.
Speaker 4: Missus Harris has passed. Twenty second of September. Another case
Speaker 4: of the blood fever and resulting possession, this time in
Speaker 4: a young girl, Annabel Leary, who had no known contact
Speaker 4: with any of the three previous victims. Walking into town
Speaker 4: yesterday morning to purchase flower, I heard the whispers. They
Speaker 4: say that the devil walks in Aristow. You could sense
Speaker 4: the simmer and services this morning.
Speaker 6: Visit, Oh Lord, we beseech thee this habitation and creature
Speaker 6: of thine, and remove far away from him all the
Speaker 6: snares and assaults of the devil. Led by angels Michael,
Speaker 6: Raphael and Gabriel. Dwell therein to preserve it in peace
Speaker 6: and from all unclean spirits. And let thy blessing be
Speaker 6: always upon.
Speaker 4: Us, Master Rabbits, what is being done?
Speaker 6: My friend? We are communing with our father, ask of him.
Speaker 4: Three and died, and my Annabel is biting and scratching
Speaker 4: like an animal.
Speaker 9: Calm, calm, She raids all night, saying more of things
Speaker 9: about her mother.
Speaker 4: Even you have been unable to save her.
Speaker 6: With your prayer, mister Leary, you will listen. I have
Speaker 6: called on other men of God throughout the region, have
Speaker 6: sent missives near and far, so far as writing to
Speaker 6: England for consul on the matter. Doctor Bright, Noah and
Speaker 6: I are working in tandem to discover the true root
Speaker 6: of his sickness and cut it out entirely. We will
Speaker 6: continue the fight. I have been told that many believe
Speaker 6: that the devil is in Abbistown.
Speaker 5: It's Jerry Havoc.
Speaker 6: Now, mister Havoc is not here to defend himself. We
Speaker 6: will not cast dispersions, but the devil is here. While
Speaker 6: doctor Bright works to cure the symptoms of this sickness,
Speaker 6: my boy Noah joins me each night and pushing back
Speaker 6: against him. We will cut him out of Abbistown. We
Speaker 6: will send him back to Hell. But I need your help.
Speaker 6: I call for curfew self imposed. Of course, we are
Speaker 6: free men, but we must be on our guard. We
Speaker 6: must be responsible for our own families. So at sundown,
Speaker 6: go indoors, lock yourself away, sit at your tables or
Speaker 6: around the hearth, and fathers, read aloud from your family Bible.
Speaker 6: It matters not where you're start, though the beginning is
Speaker 6: as good as any place. Put all of your heart
Speaker 6: into these recitations, and wives, make sure that the children
Speaker 6: pay heed to them. Do not open your door to
Speaker 6: the devil. He will be all too happy to come in.
Speaker 4: The mood was greatly changed after the service. The congregants
Speaker 4: treated Father Josiah with a certain awe that surpassed even
Speaker 4: the normal respect shown him for his station. It seemed
Speaker 4: roundly agreed upon. A curfew was in order, and families
Speaker 4: rushed home to do the day's business ahead of sunset,
Speaker 4: leaving Father Abbess and Noah to close the church. The
Speaker 4: boys and I waited for them, as we did each Sunday,
Speaker 4: in the churchyard, where they could play amongst the tombstones
Speaker 4: and I could sit with my thoughts. My parents are
Speaker 4: buried in the Abbastown churchyard, as well as my brother,
Speaker 4: who died in childbirth. I frequently visit with them, But
Speaker 4: to day I was drawn to a fresh new grave,
Speaker 4: that of poor Nathaniel Satterwhite, taken so soon and so
Speaker 4: violently from his father. As I walked up, I noticed
Speaker 4: something strange the dirt. It had been disturbed, No, no,
Speaker 4: not disturbed. It looked as though much of it had
Speaker 4: been scattered, and there was a deep diffit in the
Speaker 4: center of the grave, as if someone had been digging.
Speaker 4: I called out to Noah, who was just exiting the
Speaker 4: back door of the church with Father Abbis right behind,
Speaker 4: to lock up.
Speaker 5: Noah, what is it, dear, Come and look both of you.
Speaker 4: Here Nathaniel's grave. It looks to have been desecrated.
Speaker 6: Noah, fetch two shovels from the caretaker shed. Do not
Speaker 6: allow he or anyone else to know why you're taking them.
Speaker 4: Yes, Father, shall I take the boys home?
Speaker 6: No? No, stay here and tucked away out of sight
Speaker 6: behind the church. But I need for you to keep
Speaker 6: watch and to let us know if anyone approaches. I
Speaker 6: do not want a single soul within our congregation to
Speaker 6: witness their pastor digging up a former member. Don't allow
Speaker 6: the boys to get too close.
Speaker 4: Noah returned, and they began to dig. Both men were
Speaker 4: hale and hearty, and they struck the wooden lid shortly well.
Speaker 6: In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose.
Speaker 8: Hum Eh, God have mercy.
Speaker 4: The boy lay in his coffin in just the position
Speaker 4: that he had been laid to rest arms crossed over
Speaker 4: his chest. But his features he had been wasted by
Speaker 4: his illness. I had been told. His eyes sunken, and
Speaker 4: his skin wan He was nearly skeletal, but the body
Speaker 4: that lay in the grave retained that flush of youth
Speaker 4: in the cheeks, and his lips were ruby red. He
Speaker 4: could have been sleeping. He looked so horribly alive. Not
Speaker 4: a one of us moved for a long moment until
Speaker 4: Father Abbess, still standing in the grave, inclined his head
Speaker 4: toward Noah.
Speaker 6: Noah, hand me your knife, Yes, sir, thank you, look away, demurse.
Speaker 4: But I could not. I watched as he bent low
Speaker 4: until he was right above Nathaniel's prone form. I watched
Speaker 4: as he whispered a quiet prayer over the boy, and
Speaker 4: I watched as he slowly brought the knife up, clasped
Speaker 4: the handle between both hands, looked up to the blank
Speaker 4: white autumn sky in search of God's grace. Take a
Speaker 4: deep breath. Enter ha oh shit, sh shut up, shut.
Speaker 7: Up, shut up?
Speaker 5: What who is it?
Speaker 1: It's dree what yeah, answer it dummy, right, okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hello, Hello, it's his career.
Speaker 1: Mister Havoc. To what do I owe the pleasure?
Speaker 11: Well? I show no if I'm remembering this correctly or
Speaker 11: if I imagined it, But I do believe that we
Speaker 11: agreed to meet up.
Speaker 1: I think I recall something of that nature.
Speaker 11: Wonderful. Yeah, how'd you like to come by the house,
Speaker 11: say tomorrow night, and having some updates made to the
Speaker 11: place where I could actually use a second opinion.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, that's not too forward.
Speaker 9: I promise something not going to emerge you in the bathtub.
Speaker 9: I'd like to put that chapter of our family shared
Speaker 9: history behind us.
Speaker 1: Yes, Oh that sounds great. I'll bring up a bottle
Speaker 1: of wine.
Speaker 11: Oh, no need, no need, and I'm well stocked up
Speaker 11: on wine. And yeah, tomorrow night, unless that's too short.
Speaker 1: Notice, that's perfect.
Speaker 11: Wonderful, great, And you know where it is.
Speaker 1: Big house on the hill, the famous one as the place.
Speaker 1: I think I'll be able to find it.
Speaker 6: See that.
Speaker 5: Hot Damn I've always wondered what the inside of that
Speaker 5: place looks like.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess i'll report back to you.
Speaker 5: You better get pictures.
Speaker 1: You are so weird.
Speaker 5: Now where were we?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 1: I think my great grandfather was about to stab a corpse.
Speaker 5: Oh, Like I said, I love story time.
Speaker 3: Havoctown was created by me. Aaron Manky. The show was
Speaker 3: written and directed by Nicholas Takowski. This episode was edited
Speaker 3: and sound designed by Nomes Griffin, starring Jewels st Eight
Speaker 3: as Corene Abbas, James Callus as Jerry Havoc, Felicia Day
Speaker 3: as Sylvie, Harris Ray Wise as Josiah Abbas, Crystal Lee
Speaker 3: as Demeris, Daniel Ernesto A known as Noah Abbas, and
Speaker 3: Misha Collins as Professor Jeremy Bradshaw, with additional voice acting
Speaker 3: from Gina Rikeike Dick Terhun, Jack Lafferty, Stephen Manley, Darren Heemes,
Speaker 3: Daniel Avi Sarkis, and Aaron Mankey. This season is directed
Speaker 3: by Nicholas Takowski, with assistant directors Sarah Klein and Jake Diamond,
Speaker 3: casting by Sunday Bowling CSA and Meg Mormon CSA. Production
Speaker 3: coordinator Wayna Calderon. Our theme song was created by Chris
Speaker 3: Childs Executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick,
Speaker 3: with supervising producer Rima Lkali and producers Nomes Griffin and
Speaker 3: Jesse Funk. Havoctown is set in the Bridgewater Audio Universe,
Speaker 3: which includes the hit fiction podcasts Ridgewater and Consumed. Learn
Speaker 3: more about both shows, as well as Havoctown at grimandmild
Speaker 3: dot com, and find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting
Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 3: your favorite shows