WEBVTT 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:17.539 Welcome to Macabre Miscellanea, a curated collection 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:20.559 of classic curiosities. There is a particular 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.379 kind of courage that announces itself in advance. 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:27.320 Our narrator tonight has been 8 and 20 years 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.519 without encountering a ghost, and he'd like you 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:34.299 to know that. He has an open mind, a scientific 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:38.259 disposition, a revolver he will not use, and 00:00:38.259 --> 00:00:42.399 17 candles. He has taken every reasonable precaution. 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:47.310 by his own assessment, entirely prepared. The 00:00:47.310 --> 00:00:51.469 house disagrees. Tonight's tale, The Red Room, 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:55.929 by H .G. Wells. Turn down the lights. Let's begin. 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:03.509 I can assure you, said I, that it will take a 00:01:03.509 --> 00:01:08.629 very tangible ghost to frighten me. And I stood 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:11.549 up before the fire with my glass in my hand. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:16.900 It is your own choosing, said the man with the 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:23.079 withered arm, and glanced at me askance. Eight 00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:29.579 and twenty years, said I. I have lived, and never 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:34.840 a ghost have I seen as yet. The old woman sat 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:38.959 staring hard into the fire, her pale eyes wide 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:46.000 open. She broke in. An eight and twenty years 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.540 you have lived and never seen the likes of this 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:51.980 house, I reckon. There's a many things to see 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:57.140 when one's still but eight and twenty. She swayed 00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:02.180 her head slowly from side to side. A many things 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:08.080 to see and sorrow for. I half suspected the old 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:11.159 people were trying to enhance the spiritual terrors 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:13.939 of their house. by their droning insistence. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:18.259 I put down my empty glass on the table and looked 00:02:18.259 --> 00:02:21.139 about the room, and caught a glimpse of myself, 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.400 abbreviated and broadened to an impossible sturdiness, 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:28.460 in the queer old mirror at the end of the room. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:34.599 Well, I said, if I see anything tonight, I shall 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.259 be so much the wiser, for I come to the business 00:02:38.259 --> 00:02:43.180 with an open mind. It's your own choosing, said 00:02:43.180 --> 00:02:47.460 the man with the withered arm once more. I heard 00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:50.879 the faint sound of a stick and a shambling step 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.719 on the flags in the passage outside. The door 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:58.460 creaked on its hinges as a second old man entered, 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.979 more bent, more wrinkled, more aged even than 00:03:02.979 --> 00:03:06.860 the first. He supported himself by the help of 00:03:06.860 --> 00:03:10.520 a crutch. His eyes were covered by a shade. and 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:14.319 his lower lip, half averted, hung pale and pink 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:18.500 from his decaying yellow teeth. He made straight 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:21.240 for an armchair on the opposite side of the table, 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:26.460 sat down clumsily, and began to cough. The man 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:29.199 with the withered hand gave the newcomer a short 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:33.340 glance of positive dislike. The old woman took 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:36.500 no notice of his arrival, but remained with her 00:03:36.500 --> 00:03:42.389 eyes fixed steadily on the fire. I said, it's 00:03:42.389 --> 00:03:45.449 your own choosing, said the man with the withered 00:03:45.449 --> 00:03:48.349 hand when the coughing had ceased for a while. 00:03:49.530 --> 00:03:55.409 It's my own choosing, I answered. The man with 00:03:55.409 --> 00:03:57.770 the shade became aware of my presence for the 00:03:57.770 --> 00:04:00.870 first time and threw his head back for a moment, 00:04:01.030 --> 00:04:05.590 and sidewise, to see me. I caught a momentary 00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:09.129 glimpse of his eyes, small and bright and inflamed. 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:14.580 Then he began to cough and splutter again. Why 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:17.879 don't you drink? said the man with the withered 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:22.339 arm, pushing the beer toward him. The man with 00:04:22.339 --> 00:04:25.199 the shade poured out a glassful with a shaking 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:28.459 hand that splashed half as much again on the 00:04:28.459 --> 00:04:32.139 deal table. A monstrous shadow of him crouched 00:04:32.139 --> 00:04:34.959 upon the wall and mocked his action as he poured 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:40.009 and drank. I must confess. I had scarcely expected 00:04:40.009 --> 00:04:44.689 these grotesque custodians. There is, to my mind, 00:04:44.769 --> 00:04:48.769 something inhuman in senility, something crouching 00:04:48.769 --> 00:04:52.709 and atavistic. The human qualities seem to drop 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:57.149 from old people insensibly day by day. The three 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.610 of them made me feel uncomfortable with their 00:04:59.610 --> 00:05:03.490 gaunt silences, their bent carriage, their evident 00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:07.589 unfriendliness to me and to one another. And 00:05:07.589 --> 00:05:11.470 that night, perhaps, I was in the mood for uncomfortable 00:05:11.470 --> 00:05:16.290 impressions. I resolved to get away from their 00:05:16.290 --> 00:05:19.250 vague foreshadowings of the evil things upstairs. 00:05:20.990 --> 00:05:25.870 If, said I, you will show me to this haunted 00:05:25.870 --> 00:05:30.009 room of yours, I will make myself comfortable 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:34.350 there. The old man with the cough jerked his 00:05:34.350 --> 00:05:38.069 head back so suddenly, that it startled me, and 00:05:38.069 --> 00:05:41.050 shot another glance of his red eyes at me from 00:05:41.050 --> 00:05:44.329 out of the darkness under the shade. But no one 00:05:44.329 --> 00:05:48.410 answered me. I waited a minute, glancing from 00:05:48.410 --> 00:05:52.189 one to the other. The old woman stared like a 00:05:52.189 --> 00:05:55.750 dead body, glaring into the fire with lackluster 00:05:55.750 --> 00:06:01.850 eyes. If, I said a little louder, if you will 00:06:01.850 --> 00:06:05.430 show me to this haunted room of yours, I will 00:06:05.430 --> 00:06:08.209 relieve you from the task of entertaining me. 00:06:09.750 --> 00:06:13.269 There's a candle on the slab outside the door, 00:06:13.529 --> 00:06:16.509 said the man with the withered hand, looking 00:06:16.509 --> 00:06:20.389 at my feet as he addressed me. But if you go 00:06:20.389 --> 00:06:24.990 to the Red Room tonight... This night of all 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:30.430 nights, said the old woman softly. You go alone? 00:06:31.949 --> 00:06:36.810 Very well. I answered shortly. And which way 00:06:36.810 --> 00:06:41.410 do I go? You go along the passage for a bit, 00:06:41.629 --> 00:06:44.750 said he, nodding his head on his shoulder at 00:06:44.750 --> 00:06:48.529 the door. Until you come to a spiral staircase, 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:52.430 and on the second landing is a door covered with 00:06:52.430 --> 00:06:56.670 green bays. Go through that, and down the long 00:06:56.670 --> 00:06:59.949 corridor to the end, and the red room is on your 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:04.879 left up the steps. Have I got that right? I said, 00:07:05.019 --> 00:07:09.420 and repeated his directions. He corrected me 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:13.939 in one particular. And you are really going? 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:17.860 said the man with the shade, looking at me again 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:20.839 for the third time with that queer, unnatural 00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:26.379 tilting of the face. This night of all nights, 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:30.800 whispered the old woman. It is what I came for, 00:07:30.939 --> 00:07:35.790 I said. and moved toward the door. As I did so, 00:07:35.910 --> 00:07:38.990 the old man with the shade rose and staggered 00:07:38.990 --> 00:07:41.689 around the table so as to be closer to the others 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:45.649 and to the fire. At the door, I turned and looked 00:07:45.649 --> 00:07:48.389 at them and saw they were all close together, 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:52.490 dark against the firelight, staring at me over 00:07:52.490 --> 00:07:55.329 their shoulders with an intent expression on 00:07:55.329 --> 00:08:00.170 their ancient faces. Good night, I said, setting 00:08:00.170 --> 00:08:05.079 the door open. It's your own choosing, said the 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:09.300 man with the withered arm. I left the door wide 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:13.220 open until the candle was well alight, and then 00:08:13.220 --> 00:08:18.019 I shut them in and walked down the chilly, echoing 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:22.519 passage. I must confess that the oddness of these 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:26.019 three old pensioners in whose charge her ladyship 00:08:26.019 --> 00:08:29.759 had left the castle and the deep -toned, old 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.240 -fashioned furniture of the housekeeper's room, 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:36.440 in which they foregathered, had affected me curiously, 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:40.019 in spite of my effort to keep myself at a matter 00:08:40.019 --> 00:08:43.440 -of -fact phase. They seemed to belong to another 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:47.840 age, an older age, an age when things spiritual 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:51.740 were indeed to be feared, when common sense was 00:08:51.740 --> 00:08:55.240 uncommon, an age when omens and witches were 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:59.360 credible, and ghosts beyond denying. Their very 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:03.679 existence, thought I, is spectral. The cut of 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.580 their clothing, fashions born in dead brains, 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:10.200 the ornaments and conveniences in the room about 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:14.679 them even are ghostly. The thoughts of vanished 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:18.039 men, which still haunt rather than participate 00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:22.220 in the world of today. And the passage I was 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:25.860 in, long and shadowy. with a film of moisture 00:09:25.860 --> 00:09:29.039 glistening on the wall, was as gaunt and cold 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:33.200 as a thing that is dead and rigid. But with an 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.980 effort, I sent such thoughts to the right about. 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:40.399 The long, drafty, subterranean passage was chilly 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:43.980 and dusty, and my candle flared and made the 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:48.600 shadows cower and quiver. The echoes rang up 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:52.059 and down the spiral staircase, and a shadow came 00:09:52.059 --> 00:09:55.379 sweeping up after me. and another fled before 00:09:55.379 --> 00:09:59.580 me into the darkness overhead. I came to the 00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:02.240 wide landing and stopped there for a moment, 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:05.919 listening to a rustling that I fancied I heard 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:10.980 creeping behind me, and then, satisfied of the 00:10:10.980 --> 00:10:15.139 absolute silence, pushed open the unwilling bays 00:10:15.139 --> 00:10:18.059 -covered door and stood in the silent corridor. 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:23.460 The effect was scarcely what I expected. For 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:26.100 the moonlight, coming in by the great window 00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:29.200 on the grand staircase, picked out everything 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.500 in vivid black shadow or reticulated silvery 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:37.159 illumination. Everything seemed in its proper 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:40.500 position. The house might have been deserted 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:43.220 on the yesterday instead of twelve months ago. 00:10:43.779 --> 00:10:46.820 There were candles in the sockets of the sconces. 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:50.250 and whatever dust had gathered on the carpets 00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:52.769 or upon the polished flooring was distributed 00:10:52.769 --> 00:10:56.769 so evenly as to be invisible in my candlelight. 00:10:57.549 --> 00:11:02.070 A waiting stillness was over everything. I was 00:11:02.070 --> 00:11:06.350 about to advance and stopped abruptly. A bronze 00:11:06.350 --> 00:11:09.610 group stood upon the landing hidden from me by 00:11:09.610 --> 00:11:13.289 a corner of the wall, but its shadow fell with 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:16.169 marvelous distinctness upon the white paneling. 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:19.149 and gave me the impression of someone crouching 00:11:19.149 --> 00:11:23.049 to waylay me. The thing jumped upon my attention 00:11:23.049 --> 00:11:27.090 suddenly. I stood rigid for half a moment, perhaps. 00:11:28.230 --> 00:11:31.049 Then, with my hand in the pocket that held the 00:11:31.049 --> 00:11:35.470 revolver, I advanced, only to discover a Ganymede 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:40.289 and eagle glistening in the moonlight. That incident, 00:11:40.409 --> 00:11:45.049 for a time, restored my nerve, and a dim porcelain 00:11:45.049 --> 00:11:48.620 Chinaman, on a ball table, whose head rocked 00:11:48.620 --> 00:11:53.159 as I passed, scarcely startled me. The door of 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:55.960 the red room and the steps up to it were in a 00:11:55.960 --> 00:12:00.039 shadowy corner. I moved my candle from side to 00:12:00.039 --> 00:12:03.399 side in order to see clearly the nature of the 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:06.639 recess in which I stood before opening the door. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.120 Here it was, thought I, that my predecessor was 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:14.850 found. and the memory of that story gave me a 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:18.389 sudden twinge of apprehension. I glanced over 00:12:18.389 --> 00:12:21.070 my shoulder at the black Ganymede in the moonlight, 00:12:21.350 --> 00:12:24.669 and opened the door of the Red Room rather hastily, 00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:27.850 with my face half turned to the pallid silence 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:32.610 of the corridor. I entered, closed the door behind 00:12:32.610 --> 00:12:36.049 me at once, turned the key I found in the lock 00:12:36.049 --> 00:12:39.429 within, and stood with the candle held aloft 00:12:39.429 --> 00:12:42.879 surveying the scene of my vigil, the great red 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:46.299 room of Lorraine Castle, in which the young Duke 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:50.840 had died. Or rather, in which he had begun his 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:54.220 dying, for he had opened the door and fallen 00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:57.440 headlong down the steps I had just ascended. 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:02.120 That had been the end of his vigil, of his gallant 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.759 attempt to conquer the ghostly tradition of the 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:09.570 place, and never, I thought. had apoplexy better 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:13.490 served the ends of superstition. There were other 00:13:13.490 --> 00:13:17.230 and older stories that clung to the room, back 00:13:17.230 --> 00:13:19.730 to the half -incredible beginning of it all, 00:13:19.929 --> 00:13:23.809 the tale of a timid wife, and the tragic end 00:13:23.809 --> 00:13:26.970 that came to her husband's jest of frightening 00:13:26.970 --> 00:13:30.830 her. And looking round that huge shadowy room 00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:34.529 with its black window bays, its recesses and 00:13:34.529 --> 00:13:38.870 alcoves, its dusty brown -red hangings and dark, 00:13:38.889 --> 00:13:42.289 gigantic furniture. One could well understand 00:13:42.289 --> 00:13:45.330 the legends that had sprouted in its black corners, 00:13:45.549 --> 00:13:50.250 its germinating darknesses. My candle was a little 00:13:50.250 --> 00:13:52.769 tongue of light in the vastness of the chamber. 00:13:53.070 --> 00:13:56.370 Its rays failed to pierce to the opposite end 00:13:56.370 --> 00:14:00.309 of the room and left an ocean of dull red mystery 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:04.429 and suggestion. sentinel shadows and watching 00:14:04.429 --> 00:14:08.610 darknesses beyond its island of light, and the 00:14:08.610 --> 00:14:11.909 stillness of desolation brooded over it all. 00:14:12.529 --> 00:14:16.590 I must confess some impalpable quality of that 00:14:16.590 --> 00:14:21.070 ancient room disturbed me. I tried to fight the 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:24.289 feeling down. I resolved to make a systematic 00:14:24.289 --> 00:14:28.169 examination of the place, and so... By leaving 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:31.509 nothing to the imagination, dispel the fanciful 00:14:31.509 --> 00:14:35.149 suggestions of the obscurity before they obtained 00:14:35.149 --> 00:14:38.730 a hold upon me. After satisfying myself of the 00:14:38.730 --> 00:14:41.509 fastening of the door, I began to walk round 00:14:41.509 --> 00:14:45.149 the room, peering round each article of furniture, 00:14:45.509 --> 00:14:49.049 tucking up the valances of the bed and opening 00:14:49.049 --> 00:14:53.389 its curtains wide. In one place, there was a 00:14:53.389 --> 00:14:57.490 distinct echo to my footsteps. The noises I made 00:14:57.490 --> 00:15:00.789 seemed so little that they enhanced rather than 00:15:00.789 --> 00:15:04.450 broke the silence of the place. I pulled up the 00:15:04.450 --> 00:15:07.269 blinds and examined the fastenings of the several 00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:11.049 windows. Attracted by the fall of a particle 00:15:11.049 --> 00:15:15.370 of dust, I leaned forward and looked up the blackness 00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:19.590 of the wide chimney. Then, trying to preserve 00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:23.559 my scientific attitude of mind, I walked round 00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:27.100 and began tapping the oak panelling for any secret 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:31.299 opening, but I desisted before reaching the alcove. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:37.179 I saw my face in a mirror. White. There were 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:39.919 two big mirrors in the room, each with a pair 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:42.759 of sconces bearing candles, and on the mantel 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:45.960 shelf, too, were candles in china candlesticks. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:50.919 All these I lit one after the other. The fire 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:54.129 was laid. an unexpected consideration from the 00:15:54.129 --> 00:15:58.070 old housekeeper, and I lit it to keep down any 00:15:58.070 --> 00:16:01.309 disposition to shiver. And when it was burning 00:16:01.309 --> 00:16:05.070 well, I stood round with my back to it and regarded 00:16:05.070 --> 00:16:09.269 the room again. I had pulled up a chintz -covered 00:16:09.269 --> 00:16:12.490 armchair and a table to form a kind of barricade 00:16:12.490 --> 00:16:17.169 before me. On this lay my revolver, ready to 00:16:17.169 --> 00:16:21.360 hand. My precise examination had done me a little 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.279 good, but I still found the remoter darkness 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:28.519 of the place and its perfect stillness too stimulating 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:32.460 for the imagination. The echoing of the stir 00:16:32.460 --> 00:16:36.179 and crackling of the fire was no sort of comfort 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:39.840 to me. The shadow in the alcove at the end of 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.659 the room began to display that undefinable quality 00:16:43.659 --> 00:16:47.789 of a presence. That odd suggestion of a lurking 00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:51.110 living thing that comes so easily in silence 00:16:51.110 --> 00:16:55.789 and solitude. And to reassure myself, I walked 00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:59.370 with a candle into it and satisfied myself that 00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:02.450 there was nothing tangible there. I stood that 00:17:02.450 --> 00:17:05.230 candle upon the floor of the alcove and left 00:17:05.230 --> 00:17:09.450 it in that position. By this time I was in a 00:17:09.450 --> 00:17:12.869 state of considerable nervous tension. although, 00:17:13.089 --> 00:17:16.089 to my reason, there was no adequate cause for 00:17:16.089 --> 00:17:20.109 my condition. My mind, however, was perfectly 00:17:20.109 --> 00:17:24.670 clear. I postulated, quite unreservedly, that 00:17:24.670 --> 00:17:27.950 nothing supernatural could happen, and to pass 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:31.009 the time I began stringing some rhymes together, 00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:35.089 in Goldsbar fashion, concerning the original 00:17:35.089 --> 00:17:39.470 legend of the place. A few I spoke aloud, but 00:17:39.470 --> 00:17:43.119 the echoes were not pleasant. For the same reason, 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:46.880 I also abandoned, after a time, a conversation 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.339 with myself upon the impossibility of ghosts 00:17:50.339 --> 00:17:54.440 and haunting. My mind reverted to the three old 00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:57.799 and distorted people downstairs, and I tried 00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:01.140 to keep it upon that topic. The somber reds and 00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:04.480 greys of the room troubled me. Even with its 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.440 seven candles, the place was merely dim. The 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.619 light in the alcove flaring in a draft and the 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:14.859 fire flickering kept the shadows and penumbra 00:18:14.859 --> 00:18:18.700 perpetually shifting and stirring in a noiseless 00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:23.140 flighty dance. Casting about for a remedy, I 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:26.059 recalled the wax candles I had seen in the corridor 00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:30.319 and, with a slight effort, carrying a candle 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:36.019 and leaving the door open, I walked out. and 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:40.359 presently returned with as many as ten. These 00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:43.759 I put in the various knick -knacks of China with 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:47.500 which the room was sparsely adorned, and lit 00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:50.759 and placed them where the shadows had lain deepest, 00:18:51.099 --> 00:18:54.940 some on the floor, some in the window recesses, 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:58.960 arranging and rearranging them, until at last 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.880 my seventeen candles were so placed that not 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.799 an inch of the room but had the direct light 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:10.059 of at least one of them. It occurred to me that 00:19:10.059 --> 00:19:13.079 when the ghost came, I could warn him not to 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:16.960 trip over them. The room was now quite brightly 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:20.339 illuminated. There was something very cheering 00:19:20.339 --> 00:19:23.900 and reassuring in these little silent streaming 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:27.640 flames, and to notice their steady diminution 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:30.910 of length offered me an occupation. and gave 00:19:30.910 --> 00:19:33.990 me a reassuring sense of the passage of time. 00:19:34.369 --> 00:19:38.230 Even with that, however, the brooding expectation 00:19:38.230 --> 00:19:41.349 of the vigil weighed heavily enough upon me. 00:19:41.890 --> 00:19:45.369 I stood watching the minute hand of my watch 00:19:45.369 --> 00:19:49.430 creep towards midnight. Then something happened 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:53.210 in the alcove. I did not see the candle go out. 00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:56.849 I simply turned and saw that the darkness was 00:19:56.849 --> 00:20:00.369 there, as one might start. and see the unexpected 00:20:00.369 --> 00:20:04.289 presence of a stranger. The black shadow had 00:20:04.289 --> 00:20:09.849 sprung back to its place. By Jove, said I aloud, 00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:14.130 recovering from my surprise, that drafts a strong 00:20:14.130 --> 00:20:17.250 one. And taking the matchbox from the table, 00:20:17.349 --> 00:20:19.990 I walked across the room in a leisurely manner 00:20:19.990 --> 00:20:24.289 to relight the corner again. My first match would 00:20:24.289 --> 00:20:27.910 not strike, and as I succeeded with the second, 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:30.920 Something seemed to blink on the wall before 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:35.500 me. I turned my head involuntarily and saw that 00:20:35.500 --> 00:20:38.160 the two candles on the little table by the fireplace 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.400 were extinguished. I rose at once to my feet. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:49.440 Odd, I said. Did I do that myself in a flash 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:55.039 of absent -mindedness? I walked back, relit one, 00:20:55.220 --> 00:20:59.059 and as I did so, I saw the candle in the right 00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:02.500 sconce of one of the mirrors wink and go right 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:06.400 out, and almost immediately its companion followed 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:10.500 it. The flames vanished as if the wick had been 00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:13.740 suddenly nipped between a finger and thumb, leaving 00:21:13.740 --> 00:21:17.019 the wick neither glowing nor smoking, but black. 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:20.900 While I stood, gaping the candle at the foot 00:21:20.900 --> 00:21:24.119 of the bed, went out, and the shadows seemed 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:28.339 to take another step toward me. This won't do, 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.500 said I, and first one and then another candle 00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:37.720 on the mantel shelf followed. What's up? I cried, 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:40.940 with a queer high note getting into my voice 00:21:40.940 --> 00:21:44.940 somehow. At that, the candle on the corner of 00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:48.220 the wardrobe went out, and the one I had relit 00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:53.619 in the alcove followed. Steady on, I said. Those 00:21:53.619 --> 00:21:57.460 candles are wanted. speaking with a half -hysterical 00:21:57.460 --> 00:22:00.220 facetiousness and scratching away at a match 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:04.680 the while. For the mantle candlesticks. My hands 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:08.539 trembled so much that twice I missed the rough 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:12.039 paper of the matchbox. As the mantle emerged 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:15.819 from darkness again, two candles in the remoter 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:19.019 end of the room were eclipsed. But with the same 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:22.339 match, I also relit the larger mirror candles 00:22:22.339 --> 00:22:26.210 and those on the floor near the doorway. so that 00:22:26.210 --> 00:22:29.450 for the moment I seemed to gain on the extinctions. 00:22:30.029 --> 00:22:34.329 But then, in a noiseless volley, there vanished 00:22:34.329 --> 00:22:37.329 four lights at once in different corners of the 00:22:37.329 --> 00:22:40.250 room, and I struck another match in quivering 00:22:40.250 --> 00:22:43.849 haste and stood hesitating whither to take it. 00:22:44.809 --> 00:22:48.849 As I stood undecided, an invisible hand seemed 00:22:48.849 --> 00:22:52.289 to sweep out the two candles on the table. With 00:22:52.289 --> 00:22:56.130 a cry of terror, I dashed at the alcove, then 00:22:56.130 --> 00:23:00.509 into the corner, and then into the window, relighting 00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:03.250 three as two more vanished by the fireplace. 00:23:03.730 --> 00:23:07.549 And then, perceiving a better way, I dropped 00:23:07.549 --> 00:23:10.690 matches on the iron -bound deed box in the corner 00:23:10.690 --> 00:23:15.309 and caught up the bedroom candlestick. With this, 00:23:15.329 --> 00:23:18.910 I avoided the delay of striking matches, but 00:23:18.910 --> 00:23:21.309 for all that the steady process of extinction 00:23:21.309 --> 00:23:24.910 went on. And the shadows I feared and fought 00:23:24.910 --> 00:23:30.029 against returned, and crept in upon me. First 00:23:30.029 --> 00:23:34.109 a step gained on this side of me, then on that. 00:23:34.410 --> 00:23:38.029 I was now almost frantic with the horror of the 00:23:38.029 --> 00:23:41.269 coming darkness, and my self -possession deserted 00:23:41.269 --> 00:23:46.130 me. I leaped, panting from candle to candle, 00:23:46.210 --> 00:23:49.470 in a vain struggle against that remorseless advance. 00:23:50.670 --> 00:23:53.509 I bruised myself in the thigh against the table. 00:23:53.789 --> 00:23:57.829 I sent a chair headlong. I stumbled and fell 00:23:57.829 --> 00:24:00.329 and whisked the cloth from the table in my fall. 00:24:00.950 --> 00:24:04.430 My candle rolled away from me and I snatched 00:24:04.430 --> 00:24:09.269 another as I rose. Abruptly, this was blown out 00:24:09.269 --> 00:24:12.269 as I swung it off the table by the wind of my 00:24:12.269 --> 00:24:15.930 sudden movement and immediately the two remaining 00:24:15.930 --> 00:24:20.059 candles followed. But there was light still in 00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:23.559 the room. A red light that streamed across the 00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:28.180 ceiling and staved off the shadows from me. The 00:24:28.180 --> 00:24:32.859 fire. Of course, I could still thrust my candle 00:24:32.859 --> 00:24:36.940 between the bars and relight it. I turned to 00:24:36.940 --> 00:24:39.519 where the flames were still dancing between the 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:43.339 glowing coals and splashing red reflections upon 00:24:43.339 --> 00:24:47.339 the furniture. Made two steps toward the grate. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.559 and incontinently the flames dwindled and vanished, 00:24:51.779 --> 00:24:55.339 the glow vanished, the reflections rushed together 00:24:55.339 --> 00:24:58.980 and disappeared, and as I thrust the candle between 00:24:58.980 --> 00:25:03.559 the bars, darkness closed upon me like the shutting 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:07.740 of an eye, wrapped about me in a stifling embrace, 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:12.440 sealed my vision, and crushed the last vestiges 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:16.119 of self -possession from my brain. and it was 00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:20.160 not only palpable darkness, but intolerable terror. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:24.880 The candle fell from my hands. I flung out my 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:27.920 arms in a vain effort to thrust that ponderous 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:31.079 blackness away from me, and lifting up my voice, 00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:36.940 screamed with all my might, once, twice, thrice. 00:25:37.380 --> 00:25:40.559 Then I think I must have staggered to my feet. 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:44.640 I know I thought suddenly of the moonlit corridor, 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.480 and with my head bowed and my arms over my face, 00:25:48.619 --> 00:25:52.700 made a stumbling run for the door. But I had 00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:55.660 forgotten the exact position of the door, and 00:25:55.660 --> 00:25:58.220 I struck myself heavily against the corner of 00:25:58.220 --> 00:26:03.019 the bed. I staggered back, turned, and was either 00:26:03.019 --> 00:26:06.839 struck or struck myself against some other bulky 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:11.079 furnishing. I have a vague memory of battering 00:26:11.079 --> 00:26:14.559 myself thus to and fro in the darkness, of a 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:18.140 heavy blow at last upon my forehead, of a horrible 00:26:18.140 --> 00:26:21.940 sensation of falling that lasted an age, of my 00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:25.279 last frantic effort to keep my footing, and then 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:29.579 I remember no more. I opened my eyes in daylight, 00:26:29.859 --> 00:26:33.460 my head was roughly bandaged, and the man with 00:26:33.460 --> 00:26:37.200 the withered hand was watching my face. I looked 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:39.740 about me, trying to remember what had happened, 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:44.819 and for a space I could not recollect. I rolled 00:26:44.819 --> 00:26:47.279 my eyes into the corner and saw the old woman, 00:26:47.380 --> 00:26:51.440 no longer abstracted, no longer terrible, pouring 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:53.619 out some drops of medicine from a little blue 00:26:53.619 --> 00:26:59.720 phial into a glass. Where am I? I said. I seem 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:03.660 to remember you, and yet I cannot remember who 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:08.799 you are. They told me then, and I heard of the 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:13.799 haunted red room as one who hears a tale. We 00:27:13.799 --> 00:27:18.099 found you at dawn, said he, and there was blood 00:27:18.099 --> 00:27:22.720 on your forehead and lips. I wondered that I 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.019 had ever disliked him. The three of them in the 00:27:26.019 --> 00:27:28.839 daylight seemed commonplace old folk enough. 00:27:29.299 --> 00:27:32.460 The man with the green shade had his head bent 00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:37.759 as one who sleeps. It was very slowly I recovered 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:43.079 the memory of my experience. You believe now, 00:27:43.339 --> 00:27:47.259 said the old man with the withered hand, that 00:27:47.259 --> 00:27:52.619 the room is haunted. He spoke no longer as one 00:27:52.619 --> 00:27:56.799 who greets an intruder, but as one who condoles 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:03.380 with a friend. Yes, said I, the room is haunted. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:08.019 And you have seen it, and we who have been here 00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:11.759 all our lives have never set eyes upon it. Because 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.779 we have never dared. Tell us, is it truly the 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:23.220 old earl who... No, said I. It is not. I told 00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:26.940 you so, said the old lady with the glass in her 00:28:26.940 --> 00:28:30.839 hand. It is his poor young countess who was frightened. 00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:35.740 It is not, I said. There is neither ghost of 00:28:35.740 --> 00:28:39.349 earl nor ghost of countess in that room. There 00:28:39.349 --> 00:28:43.289 is no ghost there at all, but worse, far worse, 00:28:43.450 --> 00:28:49.910 something impalpable. Well, they said. The worst 00:28:49.910 --> 00:28:52.430 of all the things that haunt poor mortal men, 00:28:52.609 --> 00:28:57.450 said I, and that is, in all its nakedness, fear. 00:28:57.869 --> 00:29:01.170 Fear that will not have light nor sound, that 00:29:01.170 --> 00:29:04.410 will not bear with reason, that deafens and darkens 00:29:04.410 --> 00:29:08.269 and overwhelms. It followed me through the corridor. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:13.759 It fought against me in the room. I stopped abruptly. 00:29:14.140 --> 00:29:18.019 There was an interval of silence. My hand went 00:29:18.019 --> 00:29:22.759 up to my bandages. The candles went out one after 00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:27.440 another and I fled. Then the man with the shade 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:30.980 lifted his face sideways to see me and spoke. 00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:37.910 That is it, said he. I knew that was it. a power 00:29:37.910 --> 00:29:41.289 of darkness, to put such a curse upon a home. 00:29:41.869 --> 00:29:46.089 It lurks there always. You can feel it even in 00:29:46.089 --> 00:29:49.210 the daytime, even of a bright summer's day, in 00:29:49.210 --> 00:29:51.970 the hangings, in the curtains, keeping behind 00:29:51.970 --> 00:29:55.549 you however you face about. In the dusk it creeps 00:29:55.549 --> 00:29:58.589 in the corridor and follows you so that you dare 00:29:58.589 --> 00:30:03.250 not turn. It is even as you say. Fear itself 00:30:03.250 --> 00:30:08.680 is in that room. Black fear. And there it will 00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:15.119 be, so long as this house of sin endures. And 00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:18.700 that was The Red Room. H .G. Wells wrote this 00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:24.220 in 1894. 130 years later, the argument hasn't 00:30:24.220 --> 00:30:28.299 changed. You can bring a gun, a matchbox, and 00:30:28.299 --> 00:30:31.720 17 candles. And fear will still work its way 00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.920 through the dark to find you. It knows exactly 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:38.109 where you keep the lights. If you enjoyed tonight's 00:30:38.109 --> 00:30:41.349 story, subscribe for more, leave a like, and 00:30:41.349 --> 00:30:43.390 share it with someone who appreciates the darker 00:30:43.390 --> 00:30:47.470 things. New classic horrors from macabre miscellanea 00:30:47.470 --> 00:30:51.789 arrive every week. Until next time. Remember, 00:30:52.069 --> 00:30:55.250 the room isn't haunted. You brought the haunting 00:30:55.250 --> 00:30:55.670 with you.