WEBVTT - The Empty House 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.239 Brought to you by the all new twenty fourteen Toyota Corolla. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:14.080 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from HowStuffWorks dot com. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.680 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:21.640 Charles w Chuck Bryan. It's very spooky, It's Halloween, it's. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.239 This is the holiday episode, Christmas Holiday episode or my 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:26.040 favorite two of the year. 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.600 Yes, oh yeah, it's a tradition. Now I love tradition. Yeah, custom, Yeah. 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:32.199 You want to explain what we do each Halloween in 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:33.199 case people aren't in the know. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.640 We like to read a scary story for Halloween. The 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:43.040 first few years we read public domain scary stories HP Lovecraft, 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:44.360 Edgrell and Poe. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:45.480 Yeah so Chuck. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.440 If you remember last year we held a horror fiction contest. 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.440 Yeah yeah, and we came up with the winner. There 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:54.440 was a sweet sixteen you can actually go read them 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:56.480 on stuff youshould Know dot com. All sixteen of them 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.200 are awesome. And then we had like a leg wrestling 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.200 competition and the guy who came out on top was 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.000 Brett s Arnold with his really awesome story signed forever 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:06.399 and Ever. 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.400 Yeah, thank you, strong Leg. Josh. 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.200 I didn't like wrestle I just watched Oh that was 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.680 me and Tracy. Yeah you don't remember. This is awkward, 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.720 it's crazy, like Tracy was really fast. Yeah, and she 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:23.000 was strangely agitated too, like she really had something against you. Anyway, 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.160 Brette s Arnold one signed Forever and Ever. If you 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.800 haven't heard that, go back and listen to. It's very creepy. 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.679 Jerry did some excellent sound design. And then but this 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.479 year we are not holding another contest that way. 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.800 No, No, even though it was great, that was a 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:38.640 lot of reading. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.000 That's right. And then this year we're back at it 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:45.840 reading a very scary short story from the early twentieth 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:51.080 century written by a writer named Algernon Blackwood who was fantastic. 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.360 Yeah. You get a name like Algernon Blackwood and you 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:55.640 were born to write short story horror. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.560 Exactly, or you're gonna found some like a church of 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:58.720 Satan or something like that. 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.240 Yeah, he probably tried both. He's a good writer, yeah. 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:03.680 More positive than you'd think. 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:05.920 Yeah, and this is a good one. Just to set 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.760 it up, it's about a haunted house and a couple 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.440 of people venturing through this haunted house. Yeah, and it's 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:13.320 creepy as age. 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.560 It is so we're gonna get to it. Jerry's gonna 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.800 lay down the sound design and we're going to scare 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.240 the socks off of you. Happy Halloween to you guys. 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:23.880 Turn the lights down, and here we go with the 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.240 Empty House by Algernon Blackwood. 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.600 Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.120 once their character for evil. In the case of the latter, 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.720 no particular feature need betray them. They may boast an 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.200 open countenance and an ingenuous smile, and yet a little 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.480 of their company leaves the unalterable conviction that there is 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.920 something radically amiss with their being, that they are evil 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.760 Willie Nil. They seem to communicate an atmosphere of secret 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:06.000 and wicked thoughts, which makes those in their immediate neighborhood 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.640 shrink from them, as from a thing diseased. And perhaps 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.000 with houses, the same principle as operative. And it is 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.240 the aroma of evil deeds committed under a particular roof, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.440 long after the evil doers have passed away, that makes 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.720 the goose flesh come and the hair rise. Something of 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.280 the original passion of the evil doer, and of the 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.280 horror felt by his victim enters the heart of the 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.600 innocent watcher, and he becomes suddenly conscious of tingling nerves, 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.160 creeping skin, and a chilling of the blood. He is 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.320 terror stricken without apparent cause. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.680 There was manifestly nothing in the external appearance of this 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.480 particular house to bear out the tales of the horror 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.400 that was said to reign within. It was neither lonely 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.440 nor enkempt. It stood crowded into a corner of the 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.720 square and looked exactly like the houses on either side 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.680 of it. The same number of windows as its neighbors, 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.240 the same balcony overlooking the gardens, the same white steps 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.680 leading up to the heavy black front door, and in 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:09.800 the rear there was the same narrow strip of green 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.560 with neat box borders running up to the wall that 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.360 divided it from the backs of the adjoining houses. Apparently too, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.240 the number of the chimney pots on the roof was 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.200 the same, the breadth and angle of the eaves, and 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.560 even the height of the dirty area railings. And yet 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.720 this house in the square that seemed precisely similar to 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.880 its fifty ugly neighbors, was a matter of fact, entirely different, 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.120 horribly different. Wherein lay this marked invisible difference is impossible 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.200 to say. It cannot be ascribed wholly to the imagination, 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:43.000 because persons who had spent some time in the house, 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.320 knowing nothing of the facts, had declared positively that certain 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.600 rooms were so disagreeable they would rather die than enter 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.640 them again, and that the atmosphere of the whole house 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.800 produced in them symptoms of a genuine terror. While the 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.480 series of innocent tenants who had tried to live in 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.000 it had been forced to DeCamp at the shortest possible notice, 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.600 was indeed little less than a scandal of the town. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.159 When Shorthouse arrived to pay a week end visit to 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.719 his aunt Julia and her house on the seafront at 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.320 the other end of the town, he found her charged 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.400 to the brim with mystery and excitement. He had only 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.400 received her telegram that morning, and he had come anticipating boredom. 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:25.960 But the moment he touched her hand and kissed her 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.039 apple skin wrinkled cheek, he caught the first wave of 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.920 her electrical condition. The impression deepened when he learned that 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.400 there were to be no other visitors, and that he 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.400 had been telegraphed for with a very special object. Something 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.599 was in the wind, and the something would doubtless bear fruit. 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:47.000 For this elderly spinster, Aunt with a mania for psychical research, 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.200 had brains as well as willpower, and by hook er 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.919 by crook she usually managed to accomplish her ends. The 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.520 revelation was made soon after tea, when she sidled close 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.000 up to him as they paced slowly along the sea 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.640 front in the dusk. I've got the keys, she announced, 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.960 in a delighted yet half awesome voice, got them till Monday. 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:09.880 The keys of the bathing machine, or. 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.279 He asked, innocently, looking from the sea to the town. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.240 Nothing brought her so quickly to the point as feigning 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.080 stupidity Neither. She whispered, I've got the keys of the 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.039 haunted house in the square, and I'm going there to night. 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.559 Shorthouse was conscious of the slightest possible tremor down his back. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.919 He dropped his teasing tone. Something in her voice and 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.240 manner thrilled him. She was in earnest. 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:35.360 But you can't go alone. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.640 He began, That's why I wired for you, she said, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:39.320 with decision. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.800 He turned to look at her. The ugly line enigmatical 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:45.560 face was alive with excitement. There was the glow of 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.680 genuine enthusiasm round it like a halo. The eye shone. 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.360 He caught another wave of her excitement, and a second trimmer, 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.880 more marked than the first, accompanied it. Thanks Aunt, Julia, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:56.760 he said politely. 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.800 Thanks awfully, I should not dare to go quite alone. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:01.960 She went on, raising her voice. 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.680 But with you, I should enjoy it immensely. You're afraid 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:05.440 of nothing, I know. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:10.640 Thanks so much, he said again. Here is anything likely 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:11.120 to happen. 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.120 A great deal has happened, she whispered, though it's been 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.440 most cleverly hushed up. Three tenants have come and gone 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.640 in the last few months, and the house is said 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:22.000 to be empty for good now. 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:26.000 In spite of himself, Shorthouse became interested. His aunt was 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:27.240 so very much in earnest. 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.360 The house is very old, indeed, she went on. And 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.720 the story, an unpleasant one, dates a long way back. 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.040 It has to do with a murder committed by a 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.240 jealous stableman who had some affair with the servant in 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:42.280 the house. One night, he managed to secrete himself in 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.760 the cellar, and when everyone was asleep, he crept upstairs 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.360 to the servants quarters, chased the girl down to the 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.200 next landing, and before anyone could come to the rescue. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.800 Threw her bodily over the banisters into. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.720 The hall below, and the stableman was. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.680 Caught, I believe, and hanged for murder. But it all 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.680 happened this century ago, and I've not been able to 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.760 get more details of this story. Shorthouse now felt his 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:09.080 interest thoroughly aroused, but though he was not particularly nervous 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.440 for himself, he hesitated a little on his aunt's account. 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:16.600 On one condition, he said, at length, nothing will prevent 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.120 my going. She said firmly, But I may as well 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:20.240 hear your condition. 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.560 That you guarantee your power of self control if anything 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:28.520 really horrible happens. I mean that you are sure you 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:29.560 won't get too. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.640 Frightened, Jim, she said scornfully. I'm not young, I know, 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.000 nor are my nerves. But with you I should be 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.600 afraid of nothing in the world. This, of course settled it. 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.280 For Shorthouse had no pretensions to being other than a 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.200 very ordinary young man, and an appeal to his vanity 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:50.160 was irresistible. He agreed to go instinctively. By a sort 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.920 of subconscious preparation. He kept himself and his forces well 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:57.520 in hand the whole evening, compelling an accumulative reserve of 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:01.280 control by that nameless inward process of gradually putting all 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.480 the emotions away and turning the key upon them, a 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.240 process difficult to describe, but wonderfully effective, as all men 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:10.760 who have lived through severe trials of the inner man 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:15.280 well understand. Later it stood him in good stead. But 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:17.920 it was not until half past ten, when they stood 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.600 in the hall well, in the glare of friendly lamps, 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.360 and still surrounded by comforting human influences, that he had 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.280 to make the first call upon this store of collected strength. 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.120 For once the door was closed and he saw the deserted, 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.360 silent streets stretching away white in the moonlight before them, 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.079 it came to him clearly that the real test that 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.240 night would be in dealing with two fears instead of one. 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:42.920 He would have to carry his aunt's fear as well 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.720 as his own, And as he glanced down at her 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.920 sphinklike countenance and realized that it might assume no pleasant 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.080 aspect in a rush of real terror, he felt satisfied 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.840 with only one thing in the whole adventure, that he 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.480 had confidence in his own will and power to stand 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:00.040 against any shock that might be. 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.480 Okay. Little recap here got a dude and his aunt 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.199 checking out this haunted house that she has the keys to. Yep, 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.239 apparently a guy killed a lady. 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:10.720 There years before, a century ago. 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:15.160 And it sounds like this Shorthouse guy is handsome and brave. Yes, 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.319 and I'm the aunt, you're the aunt. Okay, all right, 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.200 here we go. Slowly they walked through the empty streets 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.920 of the town. A bright autumn moon silvered the roofs, 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.440 casting deep shadows. There was no breath of wind, and 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.200 the trees in the formal gardens by the seafront watched 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.760 them silently as they passed along. To his aunt's occasional remarks, 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:38.360 Shorthouse made no reply, realizing that she was simply surrounding 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.320 herself with the mental buffers, saying ordinary things to prevent 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:47.120 herself thinking of extraordinary things. Few windows showed lights, and 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.640 from scarcely a single chimney came smoke or sparks. Shorthouse 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:55.280 had already begun to notice everything, even the smallest details. Presently, 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.600 they stopped at the street corner and looked up at 0:10:57.600 --> 0:10:59.520 the name on the side of the house full in 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.760 the moonlight, and with one accord, but without remark, turned 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.200 into the square, and crossed over to the side of 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:07.360 it that lay in the shadow. 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.079 The number of the house is thirteen. 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.840 Whispered a voice at aside, and neither of them made 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.000 the obvious reference, but passed across the broad sheet of 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.240 moonlight and began to march up the pavement in silence. 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.560 It was about halfway up the square that Shorthouse felt 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.719 an arm slipped quietly but significantly into his own, and 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.440 knew then that their adventure had begun in earnest, and 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:33.359 that his companion was already yielding imperceptibly to the influences 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:37.560 against them. She needed support. And a few people are 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.240 picturing Josh and I arm in arm, and Josh wearing 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.199 a dress. Then you're right on the money. 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:43.680 Like a gray wig with a bun. 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:49.679 Yeah, this is Anthony Perkins and mom. A few minutes 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.200 later they stopped before a tall, narrow house that rose 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.960 before them into the night, ugly in shape and painted 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:59.400 a dingy white. Shutterless windows without blinds stared down upon them, 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.160 shining here and there in the moonlight. There were weather 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.280 streaks in the wall and cracks in the paint, and 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:07.280 the balcony bulged out from the first floor. A little unnaturally. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.360 But beyond this generally forlorn appearance of an unoccupied house, 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:13.920 there was nothing at first sight to single out this 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.640 particular mansion, for the evil character had most certainly acquired. 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.120 Taking a look over their shoulders to make sure they 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.760 had not been followed, they went boldly up the steps 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.920 and stood against the huge black door that fronted them forbiddingly. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.240 But the first wave of nervous snows now upon them, 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:31.640 and Shorthouse fumbled a long time with the key before 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.640 he could fit it into the lock at all. For 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.400 a moment, if truth were told, they both hoped it 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.480 would not open, for they were a prey to various 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.400 unpleasant emotions. As they stood there on the threshold of 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.400 their ghostly adventure, Shorthouse, shuffling with the key and hampered 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.680 by the steady weight on his arm, certainly felt the 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.240 solemnity of the moment. It was as if the whole world, 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.439 for all experience, seemed at that instant, concentrated in his 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.880 own consciousness, were listening to the grating noise of that key. 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.319 A stray puff of wind wandering down the empty street 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.720 woke a momentary rustling in the trees behind them, but otherwise, 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.680 this rattling of the key was the only sound audible, 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.640 And at last it turned in the lock, and the 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:16.840 heavy door swung open and revealed a yawning gulf of 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:18.160 darkness beyond. 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.760 With a last glance at the moonlit square, they passed 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.440 quickly in, and the door slam behind them with a 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.880 roar that echoed prodigiously through empty halls and passages. But 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.840 instantly with the echoes, another sound made itself heard, and 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.920 Aunt Julia leaned suddenly, so heavily upon him that he 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.440 had to take a step backwards to save himself from falling. 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.560 A man had coughed close beside them, so close that 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.400 it seemed they must have been actually by his side 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:51.000 in the darkness. With the possibility of practical jokes in 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.680 his mind, Shorthouse at once swung his heavy stick in 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.680 the direction of the sound, but it meant nothing more 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.640 than solid air. He heard his aunt give a little 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.640 gas beside him. There's someone here, she whispered. I heard 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:05.880 him be quiet, he said sternly. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:07.920 It was nothing but the noise of the front door. 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.600 Oh get a light quick, she added, as her nephew, 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.440 fumbling with a box of matches, opened it. Upside down 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.360 and let them fall with a rattle, on to the 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:20.320 stone floor. The sound, however, was not repeated, and there 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.680 was no evidence of retreating footsteps. In another minute they 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.400 had a candle burning, using an empty end of a 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.320 cigar case as a holder, And when the first flare 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.760 had died down, he held the impromptu lamp aloft and 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.680 surveyed the scene. And it was dreary enough in all conscience, 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.720 For there is nothing more desolate in all the abodes 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:44.760 of men than an unfurnished house, dimly lit, silent and forsaken, 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.400 and yet tenanted by rumor with the memories of evil 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.240 and violent histories. They were standing in a wide hallway. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.840 On their left was the open door of a spacious 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.240 dining room, and in front of the hall ran ever 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:00.960 narrowing into a long, dark passage that led apparently to 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:05.320 the top of the kitchen stairs. The broad, uncarpeted staircase 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.800 rose in a suite before them, everywhere draped in shadows, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.040 except for a single spot about half way up, where 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.560 the moonlight came in through the window and fell in 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.880 a bright patch on the boards. This shaft of light 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.000 shed a faint radiance above and below it, lending to 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.200 the objects within its reach, a misty outline that was 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:29.080 infinitely more suggestive and ghostly than complete darkness. Filtered moonlight 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.040 always seems to paint faces on the surrounding gloom, and 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.520 his short house peered up into the well of darkness 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.080 and thought of the countless empty rooms and passages in 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.160 the upper part of the house. He caught himself longing 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:44.080 again for the safety of the moonlit square or the cozy, 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.360 bright drawing room they had left an hour before. Then, 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.960 realizing that these thoughts were dangerous, he thrust them away 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.040 again and summoned all his energy for concentration on the 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:55.800 present aunt Julia. 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.680 He said aloud severely, we must now go through the 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.040 house from top to bottom to make a thorough search. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.280 The echoes of his voice died away slowly all over 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.880 the building, and in the intense silence that followed, he 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.000 turned to look at her in the candlelight. He saw 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:13.440 that her face was already ghastly pale. But she dropped 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:15.840 his arm for a moment and said, in a whisper, 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:17.760 stepping close in front of him. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.320 I agree. We must be sure there's no one hiding. 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:21.640 That's the first thing. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.760 She spoke with evident effort, and he looked at her 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.800 with admiration. You feel quite sure of yourself. It's not 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.680 too late, I think so, she whispered, her eyes shifting 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:34.320 nervously towards shadows behind. 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:38.680 Quite sure. Only one thing, What's that? You must never 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:40.680 leave me alone for an instant. 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.040 As long as you understand that any sound or appearance 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.800 that must be investigated at once, for to hesitate means 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:52.160 to admit fear. That is fatal. Agreed, she said, a 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:56.440 little shakily. After a moment's hesitation, I'll try arm in 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.240 arm shorthouse, holding the dripping candle and the stick, while 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.480 his aunt carried the cloak over her shoulders. Figures of 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:09.119 utter comedy to all but themselves. They began a systematic search, stealthily, 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.800 walking on tiptoe and shading the candle lest it should 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.320 betray their presence. Through the shutterless windows. They went first 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.960 into the big dining room. There was not a stick 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:23.399 of furniture to be seen. Bare walls, ugly mantlepieces, and 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:27.879 empty grates stared at them. Everything they felt resented their intrusion, 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:32.199 watching them as it were, with veiled eyes. Whispers followed 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.520 them shadows flitted noiselessly to the right and left. Something 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.760 seemed ever at their back, watching, waiting an opportunity to 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.240 do them injury. There was the inevitable sense that operations 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:46.600 which went on when the room was empty had been 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.720 temporarily suspended till they were well out of way again. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:52.680 The whole dark interior of the old building seemed to 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.480 become a malignant presence that rose up, warning them to 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.600 desist and mind their own business. Every moment the strains 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:01.760 on the nerves increased. 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.720 So you hear, what's going on now? I mean, like, 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.680 they're in this house, yeah, empty, it's dark, and yet 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.040 they both have this impression that they are not alone, 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.919 that this house is watching them and resents their intrusion. 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:20.600 Yeah, and the ant is clearly a burden. 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:23.880 Yeah, but she's like, you know, really trying to hang 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:24.200 in there. 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:25.800 Let's give her credit. 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.119 Out of the gloomy dining room, they passed through large 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.320 folding doors into a sort of library or smoking room, 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:38.840 wrapped equally in silence, darkness, and dust, And from this 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.680 they regained the hall near the top of the back stairs. 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.919 Here a pitch black tunnel opened before them into the 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:50.159 lower regions and it must be confessed. They hesitated, but 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.959 only for a minute. With the worst of the night 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.399 still to come, it was essential to turn from nothing. 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.560 Aunt Julius stumbled at the top of the dark descent, 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.840 ill lit by the flickering candle, and even Shorthouse felt 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.280 at least half the decision. Go out of his legs. 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:08.040 Come on, he said, peremptorily, and his voice ran on 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.959 and lost itself in the dark empty spaces below. I'm coming, 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:17.120 she faltered, catching his arm with unnecessary violence. They went 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.639 a little unsteadily down the stone steps, a cold, damp 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:24.800 air meeting them in the face, close and malodorous. The 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:28.320 kitchen into which the stairs led along a narrow passage, 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:32.040 was large, with the lofty ceiling. Several doors opened out 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.160 of it, some into cupboards with empty jars still standing 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:39.119 on the shelves, and others into horrible, little, ghostly back offices, 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.160 each colder and less inviting than the last. Black beetles 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.320 scurried over the floor, and once, when they knocked against 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.159 the deal table standing in the corner, something about the 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.080 size of a cat jumped down with a rush and fled, 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:56.080 scampering across the stone floor into the darkness everywhere. There 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.600 was a sense of recent occupation, an impression of sadness 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:03.639 and glued. Leaving the main kitchen, they went toward the scullery. 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.320 The door was standing ajar, and as they pushed it 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.159 open to its full extent, Aunt Juliet uttered a piercing scream, 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.000 which she instantly tried to stifle by placing her hand 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.679 over her mouth. For a second. Shorthouse stood stock still, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.360 catching his breath. He felt as if his spine had 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.560 suddenly become hollow, and someone had filled it with particles 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.480 of ice. Facing them directly in their way, between the 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.439 doorposts stood the figure of a woman. She had disheveled 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.960 hair and wildly staring eyes, and her face was terrified 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.639 and white as death. She stood there motionless for the 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.439 space of a single second. Then the candle flickered and 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.800 she was gone, gone utterly, and the door framed nothing 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:45.480 but empty darkness. 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.199 Only the beastly jumping candlelight. 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.680 He said quickly, in a voice that sounded like someone else's. 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:53.360 It was only half under control. 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.880 Come on, Aunt, there's nothing there. He dragged her forward, 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.560 with a clattering of feet and a great appearance of boldness. 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.240 They went on but over his body the skin mood 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.199 as if crawling ants covered it, and he knew by 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.520 the weight on his arm that he was supplying the 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.480 force of locomotion. For two, the scullery was cold, bare 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.560 and empty, more like a large prison cell than anything else. 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.520 They went round it, tried the door into the yard 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:22.199 and the windows, but found them all fastened securely. His 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.359 aunt moved beside him like a person in a dream. 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:27.280