WEBVTT - SYSK's Halloween Scare Fest 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:11.120 Welcome to you stuff you should know from HowStuffWorks dot com. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:16.600 Hello everyone, Happy Halloween. That was Chuck there. 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.680 Not the wind, no, but it's it as windy outside 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:21.520 as you can tell, and rainy, and it's like kind 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:22.040 of spooky. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.360 Yes, but fortunately, Chuck, we have a nice fire going 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:26.320 here in our study. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:27.440 It is very nice in here. 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:29.400 We're both wearing our best smoking jacket. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.159 Yep, felt like the oak would work. You've done it 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:34.840 with the place. It's very nice. I feel very comfortable 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:39.640 and it feels like a room to read scary things in. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.400 Well, that's precisely what we're about to do, Chuck. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:44.159 Then we waited for a stormy night too, which I 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:45.479 think we've been waiting for like two weeks. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:46.560 Has been really lovely weather. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:48.560 Yeah. The timing could not be better. 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:49.120 It's perfect. 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:51.640 And I don't have to tell everyone this, but you 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:52.600 all know it's midnight. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.120 Oh, yes, so we if you hear the clock strike, 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.080 it is, Oh, there it goes. We're a little late. 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:02.800 I thought I wanted to start reading right at midnight, 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:03.840 but it's okay. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.600 We're still within the witching hour okay, which I don't 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.119 think is necessarily midnight, but it's still scary. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:10.880 Yeah, well, now we have to wait for this thing 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:19.200 to ding twelve times a noo. So are we gonna 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.680 do the one by Gertrude Atherton first? 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:27.720 I think we should. This is originally published by Old Gertrude, Yeah, 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.880 as The Twins Old Gertrude. Yeah, they called her, you 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:31.560 kind of have to. 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.559 She was nineteen when she wrote that, right, what her name. 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.559 Is Gertrude, so everybody called her Old Gert. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:37.160 Yeah. 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.679 She published a thing called The Twins. That was the 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.280 original name of this story, and I guess it didn't 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.880 take off because about ten years later she renamed it 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:46.839 The Striding Place. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:48.120 I like the Twins? 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.200 Do you sure? I did too, until I found out 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.240 that there is such a thing as an actual striding Place. Yeah. 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:59.160 It's a real part in a real river in real life. Yeah, 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.080 the War River right in Yorkshire. 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:04.800 Yeah, this is uh, the waterfall kind of takes center 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:05.920 stage here at the end of the story. 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.520 Yeah, it's like boilet, it's a it's a we won't 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.240 but I just want to explain because I did a 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.000 little extra research, even on the Halloween story episode. Yeah, 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.839 this river comes to a point where it's about as 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.400 wide as a large stride. So apparently it beckons people 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.560 just go ahead and jump. No reason to go walk 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.800 to the bridge above or the bridge below, just jump over. Yeah, 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:29.919 but it's also a very treacherous spot in the river. 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.640 So Chuck, you want to start reading this one or 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:34.520 do you want me to? It's up to you. I 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:36.800 say we trade off because we have two stories this year. 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.320 We didn't we didn't tell everybody yet. Oh yeah, we're 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.119 doing two stories this year. Yeah, these are great. 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:42.840 They were a little. 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.560 Shorter, so we thought we'd double it up. I've had 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.200 a little kangnac. I think I feel primed and ready 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:48.440 to go. 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:49.720 We've had a lot of kangyac. 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.080 That's right, all right, So shall we set go in here? 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.160 Has everyone dim the lights at home? 0:02:58.480 --> 0:02:58.760 Yes? 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.680 If you're like I'm subway or something, then you. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.040 Should close your eyes safe. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:03.919 That's for another time. 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:05.120 Close your eyes very tightly. 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:06.000 Okay. 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:14.920 The Striding Place by Gertrude Atherton. Weagle continental and detached, 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.000 tired of early grouse shooting, to stand propped against the 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.840 side fence while his host workmen routed up the birds 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.120 and long poles and drove them towards the waiting guns 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.320 made him feel himself a parody on the ancestors who 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.080 had roamed the moors and forests of this west, riding 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.680 of Yorkshire, and hot pursuit of game worth the killing. 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.640 But when in England and August, he always accepted whatever 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.680 proffered for the season, and invited his host to shoot 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.320 pheasants on his estates in the south. The amusements of life, 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.160 he argued, should be accepted with the same philosophy as 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:45.640 its ills. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:47.440 It had been a bad day. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.280 A heavy rain had made them more so spongy that 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:51.920 it fairly sprang beneath the feet. 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:52.880 Whether or not the. 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.280 Grouse had haunts of their own, wherein they were immune 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.000 from rheumatism, the bag had been small. The women, too, 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.120 were an unusual dull lot, the exception of a new 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.800 minded debutante who bothered Weagle at dinner by demanding the 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.040 verbal restoration of the vague paintings on the vaulted roof 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.320 above them. But it was no one of these things 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:13.560 that sat on Miagal's mind, as when the other men 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:15.160 went up to bed, he let himself out of the 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.480 castle and sauntered down to the river. His intimate friend, 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.200 the companion of his boyhood, the chum of his college days, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.640 his fellow traveler in many Lands, the man for whom 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.760 he possessed stronger affection than for all men, had mysteriously 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.919 disappeared two days ago, and his track might have sprung 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.400 to the upper air for all trace he had left 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.040 behind him. He had been a guest on the adjoining 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.840 estate during the past week, shooting with fervor of the 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:45.080 true sportsman, making love in the intervals to Adeline Cavan, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.640 and apparently in the best of spirits. As far as 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.480 was known, there was nothing to lower his mental mercury, 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.839 for his rent roll was a large one. Miss Cavan 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.120 blushed whenever he looked at her, and being one of 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.360 the best shots in England, he was never happier than 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.520 in August. The suicide theory was preposterous, all agreed, and 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.680 there was this little reason to believe him murdered. Nevertheless, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:08.760 he had walked out of the march Abbey two nights 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.600 ago without hat or overcoat, and had not been seen 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.080 since the country was being patrolled night and day. One 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.599 hundred keepers and workmen were beating the woods and poking 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.920 the bogs on the moors, but as yet not so 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.760 much as a handkerchief had been found. So this guy's 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.320 best buddy is missing. 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:28.440 Yeah, and it's really kind of weighing on his mind. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.680 It's bestie and he's he's hunting grouse and he's bored 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:32.480 out of his mind. 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.560 Yeah. It sounds like, yeah, well his mind is elsewhere. 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.560 Well, lady Geez going on and on about the painting, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:41.360 the debute hunt. Yeah, do you blame him? 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:47.640 Yeah? Okay, you're ready for more. Yeah. Weigel did not 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.560 believe for a moment that Wyatt Gifford was dead, and 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.000 although it was impossible not to be affected by the 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.920 general uneasiness, he was disposed to be more angry than frightened. 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:01.320 At Cambridge, Gifford had been an incorrigible, practical joker, and 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.159 by no means had outgrown the habit. It would be 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.039 like him to cut across the country in his evening clothes, 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.039 boreed a cattle train and amuse himself touching up the 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:15.039 picture of the sensation and west riding. However, Weagle's affection 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.160 for his friend was too deep to companion with tranquility 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.400 in the present state of doubt, and instead of going 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.839 to bed early with the other men, he determined to 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.040 walk until ready for sleep. He went down to the 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.800 river and followed the path through the woods. There was 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.760 no moon, but the stars sprinkled their cold light upon 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.839 the pretty belt of water flowing placidly past wood in 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:40.320 ruin between green masses of overhanging rocks, where sloping banks 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.120 tangled with tree and shrub leaping occasionally over stones with 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.600 the harsh notes of an angry scold to recover its equanimity. 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.440 The moment the way was clear again, it was very 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.720 dark in the depths where Weagle trod. He smiled as 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.760 he recalled a remark of Gifford's in English. 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:58.799 Wood is like a good many other things in life, 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.159 very promising a distance, but a hollow mockery. When you 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.120 get within, you see daylight on both sides, and the 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.440 sun freckles the very bracken. Our woods need the light 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.320 to make them seem what they ought to be, what 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:14.000 they once were before our ancestors descendants demanded so much 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.680 more money in these so much more various days. 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:21.880 Weigel strolled along, smoking and thinking of his friend, his pranks, 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.280 many of which had done more credit to his imagination 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.320 than this, and recalling conversations that had lasted the night through, 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.800 just before the end of the London season, they had 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.920 walked the streets one hot night after a party discussing 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.240 the various theories of the soul's destiny. That afternoon they 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.800 had met at the coffin of a college friend whose 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.640 mind had been blank for the past three years. Some 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.040 months previously they had called at the asylum to see him. 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.880 His expression had been senile, his face imprinted with the 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.280 record of debauchery. In death. The face was placid, intelligent, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.720 without ignoble a lineation the face of the man they 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.400 had known at college. Weigel and Gifford had had no 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.800 time to comment there, and the afternoon and evening were full, 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.360 But coming forth from the House of Festivity together they 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.480 had reverted almost at once to the topic I cherish 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:13.000 the theory. 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.040 Gifford had said that the soul sometimes lingers in the 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.320 body after death during madness. Of course, it is an 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.800 impotent prisoner, albeit a conscious one. Fancy its agony and 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.880 its horror. What more natural than that, when the life's 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.800 spark goes out, the tortured souls should take possession of 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.160 the vacant skull and triumph once more. For a few hours, 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.440 while old friends look their last. It has had time 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.480 to repent, while compelled to crouch and behold the result 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.880 of its work, and it has shrived itself into a 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.160 state of comparative purity. If I had my way, I 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.839 should stay inside my bones until the coffin had gone 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.080 into its niche, that I might obviate for my poor comrade, 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.040 the tragic impersonality of death. And I should like to 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.280 see justice done to it as it were, to see 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.640 lowered among its ancestors, with the ceremony and solemnity that 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.800 are its do I'm afraid that if I dissevered myself 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.520 too quickly, I should yield to curiosity and hasten to 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:07.160 investigate the mysteries of space. 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.840 You believe in the soul is an independent entity, then 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.040 that it and the vital principle are not one and 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:14.480 the same. 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.839 Is that a lady, No, that's a legal that's legal. 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.280 Absolutely. The body and soul are twins. 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:27.840 Life comrades, sometimes friends, sometimes enemies, but always loyal. In 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.760 the last instance, Someday, when I am tired of the world, 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.800 I shall go to India and become a Mahatma, solely 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.080 for the pleasure of receiving proof during life of this 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:37.439 independent relationship. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.240 Suppose you are not sealed up properly and returned after 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.520 one of your astral flights to find your earthly part 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.760 unfit for habitation. It is an experiment. I don't think 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.959 I should care to try, unless even juggling with soul 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:54.360 and fleshead. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:58.040 Paul, that would not be an uninteresting predicament. I should 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.920 rather enjoy experimenting with broken machine. The high, wild roar 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.240 of water smoked suddenly upon Weagle's ear, and checked his memories. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.480 He left the wood and walked out on the huge 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:11.319 slippery stones which nearly closed the river wharf at this point, 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.720 and watched the waters boil down into the narrow paths 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.400 with their furious, untiring energy. The black quiet of the 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.319 woods rose high on either side. The stars seemed colder 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.360 and whiter just above. On either hand, the perspective of 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.559 the river might have run into a rayless cavern. There 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.240 was no lonelier spot in England, nor one which had 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.040 the right to claim so many ghosts if ghosts there were, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:39.160 all right, man, So he basically was like, I can't sleep, 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:40.439 I'm going to go look for my friend. 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.000 Yeah, he's thinking a lot. He's thinking about his good 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:44.040 friend Wyatt Gifford. 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.880 Yeah, he's thinking of walking along the river. He's thinking 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.280 about why God tortured him with that voice. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.600 Yeah, he didn't like his voice, but it's not he's. 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:56.160 Not in the best of way right now. No, all right, 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:57.920 are you ready to continue, sir? 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:59.120 I'm prepared? You ready? 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.520 Yeah? 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.679 Weigel was not a coward, but he recalled uncomfortably the 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:07.840 tales of those that had been done to death in 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:12.400 the strid. Wordsworth's boy of Egremond had been disposed of 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:16.720 by the practical Whittaker, but countless others, more venturesome than wise, 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.200 had gone down into that narrow, boiling course, never to 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.959 appear in the still pool a few yards beyond below 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.200 the great rocks which formed the walls of the strid, 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.680 was believed to be a natural vault, unto whose shelves 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.160 the dead were drawn. The spot had an ugly fascination. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:38.160 Weigel stood, visioning skeletons, uncoffined and green, the home of 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.200 the eyeless things that had devoured all that had covered 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.800 and filled that rattling symbol of man's mortality. Then fell 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.520 to wondering if anyone had attempted to leap the strid 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.800 of late. It was covered with slime. He had never 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.800 seen it look so treacherous. He shuddered and turned away, 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:58.000 impelled despite his manhood to flee the spot. As he 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.760 did so, something tossing in the foam below the fall, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.040 something as white yet independent of it, caught his eye 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.960 and arrested his step. Then he saw that it was 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.600 describing a contrary motion to the rushing water, an upward 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:15.360 backward motion. Weigel stood rigid, breathless. He fancied he heard 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.320 the crackling of his hair. Was that a hand? It 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.000 thrust itself higher above the boiling foam, turned sideways, and 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.840 four frantic fingers were distinctly visible against the black rock beyond. 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.520 Weegle's superstitious terror left him. A man was there, struggling 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.840 to free himself from the suction beneath the strid swept down, 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.160 doubtless but a moment before his arrival. Perhaps as he 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.960 stood with him back to the current. He stepped as 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.520 close to the edge as he dared. The hand doubled, 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.679 as if in eprocation, shaking savagely in the face that 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.760 force which leads its creatures to a mutable low, then 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.920 spread wide again clutching, expanding, crying for help as audibly 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.120 as the human voice. Weigle dashed to the nearest street, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.800 dragged and twisted off a branch with his strong arms, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.920 and returned as swiftly to the strip. The hand was 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.640 in the same place, still gesticulating as wildly. The body 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.040 was undoubtedly caught in the rocks below, perhaps already halfway 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.640 along one of those hideous shelves. Weegel let himself down 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.560 upon a lower rock, braced his shoulder against the mask 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.800 beside him, and then, leaning out over the water, thrust 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.520 the branch into the hand. The fingers clutched it convulsively. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.160 Weegel tugged powerfully, his own feet dragged perilously near the edge. 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.320 For a moment he produced no impression. Then an arm 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:32.640 shot above the waters. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:34.800 The blood sprang to Eagle's head. 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.000 He was choked with the impression that the striad had 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.040 him in a roaring hold, and he saw nothing. Then 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.199 the mist cleared, the hand and arm were nearer, although 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.840 the rest of the body was still concealed by the foam. 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.680 Eagle peered out with distended eyes. The meager light revealed 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.960 in the cuff SLINKs of a peculiar device. The fingers 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.720 clutching the branch were as familiar. Weagle forgot the slippery stones, 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.680 the terrible death if he stepped too far. He pulled 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.160 with pass will, and muscle muscles flung themselves into the 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.800 hot light of his brain, trooping rapidly upon each other's heels, 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.680 as if in the thought of the drowning. Most of 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.760 the pleasures of his life, good and bad, were identified 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.760 in some way with this friend. Scenes of college, days 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.800 of travel where they had deliberately sought adventure and stood 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.920 between one another and death upon more occasions than one. 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.000 Of hours of delightful companionship, among the treasures of art 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.600 and others in the pursuit of pleasure flashed like the 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.800 changing particles of a kaleidoscope. Weagle had loved several women, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.320 but he would have flouted in these moments the thought 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.600 that he ever had loved any woman as he loved 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.920 Wyatt Gifford. There were so many charming women in the world, 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.000 and in the thirty two years of his life, he 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.840 had never known another man to whom he had cared 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:46.440 to give his intimate friendship. 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.080 So, Chuck, it sounds like he's pretty certain this is Wyatt. Yeah, 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.240 his long lost buddy. He's in the foamy waterfall and 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.160 he's trying to save him. Yeah, so this is getting intent. 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.440 It's getting super intense, and it sounds like he really 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.280 likes this guy in es, like he really wants to 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:03.920 save his friend. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:04.360 Sure. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.800 He threw himself on his face. His wrist were cracking, 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.840 the skin was torn from his hands. The fingers still 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.280 gripped the stick. There was life in them. Yet suddenly 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.760 something gave way. The hand swung about, tearing the branch 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.200 from Eagle's grasp. The body had been liberated and flung outward, 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.040 though still submerged by the foam and spray. Eagle scrambled 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.480 to his feet and sprang along the rocks, knowing that 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.040 the danger from suction was over and that Gifford must 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.680 be carried straight to the quiet pool. Gifford was a 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.880 fish in the water and could live under it longer 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.840 than most men. If he survived this, it would not 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.440 be the first time that his pluck and science had 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:43.480 saved them from drowning. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.480 Weigel reached the pool, a man in his evening clothes 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.680 floated on it. His face turned towards a projecting rock 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.000 over which his arm had fallen upholding the body. The 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.640 hand that had held the branch hung limply over the rock, 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:01.120 its white reflection visible in the black water. Weigle plunged 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:03.880 into the shallow pool, lifted Gifford in his arms, and 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.720 returned to the bank. He laid the body down and 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:08.800 threw off his coat, that he might be the freer 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.240 to practice the methods of resuscitation. He was glad of 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.280 the moment's respite, the valiant life, and the man might 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.160 have been exhausted in that last struggle, he had not 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.600 dared to look at his face, to put his ear 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.720 to the heart. The hesitation lasted but a moment. There 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.320 was no time to lose. He turned to his prostrate friend. 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.400 As he did so, something strange and disagreeable smote his senses. 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.560 For a half moment, he did not appreciate its nature. 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:39.520 Then his teeth clacked together, his feet, his outstretched arms 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.680 pointed towards the woods. But he sprang to the side 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.360 of the man and bent down and peered into his face. 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:57.960 There was no face, man, that was scary stuff. 0:16:58.000 --> 0:16:59.800 That's creepy. No face. 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:04.040 Yeah, and the guy was struggling helping himself up. Yeah, 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.760 clearly dead. Yeah, like they had spoken about previously in 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:09.000 the short story. Yeah. 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.040 And also you know he I think he was talking 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.520 about the soul and the twins, like maybe this was 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:15.280 his soul or something. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:15.719 I don't know. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.959 Yeah, I mean these guys were clearly related. Yeah, Gertrude 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:23.640 said at least so that was the striving Place by 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.480 Gertrude Atherton, and that was one of two. Yeah. 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.720 She said that that was her favorite one she ever wrote. 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.720 And so I can't disagree. 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.119 Nice going, Gert, the old Gert, So chuck with's her. 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.840 What's the next selection in our cozy, scary, creepy study 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:40.800 the next. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.439 By the way, I appreciate the Halloween candy put out. 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:43.520 That's a nice touch. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.080 I know. I sprung for the full size once. Forget 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:47.240 that fun size crud. 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.040 It's a little weird to eat Reese's pieces while I'm all. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.480 Creeped out, but they're still delicious. 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:54.520 It's still delicious. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.880 So this one's called The Pale Man by Julius Long 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:00.399 and it is from Weird Tales, Volume twenty four, issue 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.359 number three. Weird Tales was a pulp rag a Chicago 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.920 started in nineteen twenty three and has had several iterations 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.680 over the years, including a modern one. You can still 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:13.679 I think by it's something called weird Tales. 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:15.600 You know, it's been shut down here and there over 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:16.000 the years. 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:17.399 Well, I know, I don't know if that's where he 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.200 got to start, but he definitely supplied a lot of stories. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.680 HP Lovecraft, Yeah, weird tales. Totally love weird tales. 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:25.439 Yeah, I kind of missed the old days like this. 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:26.920 I mean, I know you have stuff like this on. 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:28.800 The internet now, but it's kind of neat to be 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.920 able to buy a little pulp thing for ten cents, 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:32.560 you know, back in the nineteen twenties. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:36.040 Like I did. Alrighty, So this is The Pale. 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:39.560 Man by Julius Long, with the subtitle A queer little 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.639 tale about the eccentric behavior of a strange guest in 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:43.520 a country hotel. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.200 Nice kind of describes it perfectly. There. 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:51.760 All right, ready, has everyone got the lights? Do very important? 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:53.880 Remember close your eyes on the subway. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:55.680 And get your brandy and your Resi's pieces up. 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.560 And chuff Juffy Reese's pieces India Brandy. 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.959 That might be nice. All right, here we go. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.960 I have not yet met the man in number two twelve. 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.080 I do not even know his name. He never patronizes 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.960 the hotel restaurant, and he does not use the lobby. 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.320 On the three occasions when we passed each other by, 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.520 we did not speak, although we nodded in a semi cordial, 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.160 non committal way. I should like very much to make 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.080 his acquaintance. It is lonesome in this dreary place. With 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.280 the exception of the age lady down the corridor, the 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.399 only permanent guests are the man in number two twelve 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:35.120 and myself. However, I should not complain for this utter quiet. 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.480 It is precisely what the doctor prescribed. I wonder if 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.359 the man in number two twelve, too, has come. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.960 Here for a rest. He is so very pale. 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:45.560 Yet I cannot believe that he is ill, for his 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.480 paleness is not of a sickly cast, but rather wholesome 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.320