Speaker 1: This is our American Stories, and today we bring you
Speaker 1: the story of Tom Ryan. And Tom is a ninety
Speaker 1: five year old listener of our show in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Tom had an unusual upbringing. He grew up on Long Isle,
Speaker 1: New York, living behind a funeral parlor run by his family.
Speaker 1: Here's Tom.
Speaker 2: I was there on Saturday morning when the sheriff arrived
Speaker 2: to talk to Grandma. It was the day after the
Speaker 2: big snowstorm. My folks were away and I had stayed
Speaker 2: with Grandma overnight. At age ten, I was too young
Speaker 2: to stay home alone, but staying at Grandma's was not
Speaker 2: too cool either, because you see, she ran a funeral home.
Speaker 2: Sometimes there were dead bodies only a few steps from
Speaker 2: the living room at the back of the house where
Speaker 2: we watched TV. It was hard to get too relaxed
Speaker 2: when I looked over at the dark doorway leading to
Speaker 2: the bodies. That Friday night, there was a very old
Speaker 2: lady being waked in one of the chapels, Missus Jackson,
Speaker 2: a friend of Grandma's who had died of cancer. The
Speaker 2: sheriff sat at the kitchen table with his notebook in
Speaker 2: front of him. He asked Grandma if anything unusual that
Speaker 2: happened the last night because they were searching for an
Speaker 2: escaped convict from a prison two towns away. He is
Speaker 2: a murderer and very dangerous. The sheriff said they were
Speaker 2: setting up roadblocks to try to catch him. Grandma didn't
Speaker 2: answer directly, but said, we have a few going out
Speaker 2: this morning, old missus Jackson. We had to put her
Speaker 2: in a closed casket because the cancer was so bad.
Speaker 2: Will the hears and almos to be able to get
Speaker 2: to the cemetery? Grandma asked yes. The sheriff replied, the
Speaker 2: road is open to the cemetery. What about anything happening
Speaker 2: last night? Grandma gave me a stern look that he
Speaker 2: couldn't see and told him nothing had happened. It was
Speaker 2: real quiet, she said. I didn't say a word, but
Speaker 2: as soon as the sheriff left, I asked her what
Speaker 2: was going on. It wasn't like Grandma to lie. She
Speaker 2: just shook her head and started to cry. I thought
Speaker 2: back about last night and remembered that shortly before dark,
Speaker 2: Grandma kept walking out the side window on the driveway
Speaker 2: every few minutes since she was expecting a delivery a
Speaker 2: new casket. Suddenly there were yellow headlikes shining on the
Speaker 2: snow outside the window, and a loud knocking came on
Speaker 2: the side door where the caskets were brought in. Fred
Speaker 2: the driver, shouted, I have to hurry before I get
Speaker 2: snowed in. He had unloaded two caskets and started on
Speaker 2: another one. Wait, Grandma said, I only ordered two, not three.
Speaker 2: I have to leave this one too. Fred said, I'll
Speaker 2: never get to the funeral home in the next town,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to weight on my truck. Okay,
Speaker 2: Grandma said, if it helps you out. After he was gone,
Speaker 2: Grandma closed up tight. My folks were supposed to call
Speaker 2: to see how things were, but the phone wasn't working.
Speaker 2: The TV weather man said the lines were down all
Speaker 2: over and roads were closed, so we were all by ourselves.
Speaker 2: After a while, I stopped. I had to fall asleep,
Speaker 2: and Grandma helped me upstairs and put me into a
Speaker 2: soft feather bed. She left the door open a little
Speaker 2: so some light came in. I remember that I fell asleep,
Speaker 2: but woke up later when I thought I heard voices downstairs.
Speaker 2: I had started to get out of bed, but it
Speaker 2: was so cold I crawled back in the Next morning,
Speaker 2: I asked Grandma about it, but she said I must
Speaker 2: have dreamed it. Later in the morning, the men who
Speaker 2: worked for Grandma came in and then loaded the casket
Speaker 2: into the hearse. When my folks came to pick me up,
Speaker 2: I saw Grandma holding onto my father's arm and talking
Speaker 2: to him. I heard her say I need your help.
Speaker 2: She took him into the office and closed the door.
Speaker 2: I thought I heard her crying. It was five years later,
Speaker 2: when Grandma died that my folks told me the real
Speaker 2: story of what had happened that Friday night. It seemed
Speaker 2: that the voices I thought I had heard with those
Speaker 2: of Grandma and the escaped convict. The caskets that were
Speaker 2: delivered that night were made by prison labor, and the
Speaker 2: convict with the nickname of Rabbit had hidden in one
Speaker 2: of those empty caskets. When the delivery man had left,
Speaker 2: Rabbit had opened the inside latch and let himself out
Speaker 2: of the casket. He didn't know, however, that Grandma had
Speaker 2: fallen asleep in her big chair in the living room,
Speaker 2: and she woke up, startled and scared to see him
Speaker 2: standing near the fireplace holding a large knife he had
Speaker 2: taken from the embalming room. Threatening her to silence by
Speaker 2: holding the knife under her throat. He asked for car
Speaker 2: keys and money, but Grandma didn't have a car and
Speaker 2: didn't drive. When he realized that the storm had blocked
Speaker 2: the roads and there was no phone service, he asked
Speaker 2: Grandma when someone was coming with a car. She told
Speaker 2: him that there was one funeral schedule for the next
Speaker 2: morning if the roads were open and men coming with
Speaker 2: a hearse and limiting. When he saw some of my
Speaker 2: things on the couch and found out that I was upstairs,
Speaker 2: Grandma pleaded with him to let me sleep. She would
Speaker 2: help him get in the casket with missus Jackson and
Speaker 2: be taken away in the hearst the next morning to
Speaker 2: the cemetery. He could then sneak out of the casket
Speaker 2: when it was left in the cemetery storeroom for a
Speaker 2: few minutes until the family arrived. Rabbit didn't like to
Speaker 2: head deer at all, especially getting into the coffin with
Speaker 2: a dead lady. He decided that they had no other choice,
Speaker 2: but he made it very clear to Grandma that if
Speaker 2: she was fooling him and he was caught, he would
Speaker 2: escape again and kill not only her, but also all
Speaker 2: of her family. Grandma I was terrified by this evil man.
Speaker 2: It was arrangedent early on Saturday morning, Rabbit would get
Speaker 2: into the casket and then Grandma would close it and
Speaker 2: letch it shut. He was very hesitant, especially when he
Speaker 2: saw and smelled old Missus Jackson, but finally he climbed in,
Speaker 2: holding his nose and threatening Grandma with a painful death
Speaker 2: if things didn't work out. He also orted Grandma to
Speaker 2: get him some hot coffee in a thermos so they
Speaker 2: could drink it when they got cold in the casket,
Speaker 2: and she did so just before closing the lid. The
Speaker 2: plan did work when the man came and took the
Speaker 2: casket away and loaded it into the hearts. Grandma hadn't
Speaker 2: said anything about Rabbit being in the casket his private
Speaker 2: meeting with Grandma. My Dad had immediately called the sheriff
Speaker 2: and arranged to stop in and see him. The police
Speaker 2: still hadn't found Rabbit, despite the roadbox and searches of
Speaker 2: the nearby forests. They were mystified as to how he
Speaker 2: could have disappeared so completely. Sheriff my Dad said, as
Speaker 2: you know, this man was a murderer who would stop
Speaker 2: at nothing to escape. He told the sheriff how rabbit
Speaker 2: had hidden in the casket at the prison and had
Speaker 2: ended up in grandma's funeral home. He also explained how
Speaker 2: rabbit had threatened Grandma and her family, so she was
Speaker 2: forced to help him escape in missus Jackson's casket. What
Speaker 2: said the sheriff, Why didn't she call me as soon
Speaker 2: as he was in the casket. I could have nabbed
Speaker 2: him right then and there. She was too scared, sheriff.
Speaker 2: But my dad continued a little smile playing around his
Speaker 2: lips and pride in his voice. She was also smart
Speaker 2: enough to have slip the large amount of sleeping pills
Speaker 2: into the coffee she gave him the drink in the casket.
Speaker 2: The sheriff thought for a moment and said, wait, if
Speaker 2: rabbit drank that coffee, heck, he might have been buried
Speaker 2: alive in the casket with missus Jackson. The sheriff almost
Speaker 2: shouted as he got his phone out. We'll have to
Speaker 2: dig up the casket immediately. If we find him in
Speaker 2: the casket, I may have to take Grandma into custody.
Speaker 2: She could be in a lot of trouble. Wait, my
Speaker 2: dad said, wait a minute, sheriff, before you do anything. Wait, no, no,
Speaker 2: we can't lose any more time. That man may still
Speaker 2: be alive if there was enough air in the casket.
Speaker 2: Maybe he is. The sheriff was now calling to his
Speaker 2: assistance as he rose from his share, Get the car ready,
Speaker 2: ready to roll, and call the corner. No, sheriff, please listen,
Speaker 2: my father replied, quietly, Sit down a minute. You see
Speaker 2: there is no casket. No casket. The sheriff look confused.
Speaker 2: Of course there was a casket. They had the funeral
Speaker 2: and it was buried this morning. No, my father replied, quietly.
Speaker 2: You see, Sheriff, missus Jackson's last wishes would actually be cremated.
Speaker 1: My goodness, it does not get better than that. Folks,
Speaker 1: Tom Ryan's story, his grandma's story, My goodness, poor rabbit story.
Speaker 1: Here on our American story