Episode 366: The Thing in Cabin 105

[00:00:16] Speaker A: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Podcast welcome to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the golden age of radio. I'm Eric. [00:00:35] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:00:36] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out. [00:00:44] Speaker B: This week we present the thing in cabin 105 from beyond midnight, an episode selected by our Patreon supporter Zach Beyond. [00:00:52] Speaker A: Midnight was a radio horror anthology series that ran from 1968 to 1970 on Springbok radio in South Africa. Produced by Michael McCabe, the program was a follow up to a Science Fiction Anthology, SF68. Both programs present a mix of original scripts and literary adaptations. [00:01:12] Speaker C: The thing in cabin 105 is based on the short story the Upper Birth by F. Marion Crawford, first published in the Broken Shaft, Unwin's annual for 1886. In his lifetime, Crawford was primarily known as a writer of romantic fiction, but it was not until after his death that that his supernatural tales began to garner praise, beginning with the publication of his complete weird fiction in 1911 titled Wandering Ghosts in the US and Uncanny Tales in the UK and now the. [00:01:47] Speaker B: Thing in Cabin 105 from Beyond Midnight, first broadcast February 28, 1969 it's late. [00:01:54] Speaker A: At night and a chill has set in. You're alone. The only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices. [00:02:27] Speaker D: I am an old sailor. I cross the Atlantic pretty often. I have my favorite ships, you see, and I have a habit of waiting for certain vessels I favor. It may be prejudice, but I was only cheated out of a good passage once in my life. I remember it very well. It was one June, and the Kamshatka was a ship I always loved to travel on. I say was because she emphatically and no longer is. She's uncommonly clean. In a run aft, she has enough bluffing off in the bows to keep her dry and the lower birth, most of them double. She has a lot of advantages, but I won't cross that duck bond in her again. You'll find out. You'll find out the terror that was curtained in the upper berth on the June crossing of the Atlantic that year, when all the drowned souls who ever were endeavored to drag me beyond midnight. Biotech the new Soak and Free Wash Powder presents Beyond Midnight by Michael McCabe since biotechs appeared on the market, we've had many endorsements from time to time, and these can be seen in our office. I am broadcasting some of these to you and will do so as they come to hand. Mrs. M.V. krause of Fifth Avenue, Pointtown, Natal, wrote and said, here's a letter from me of appreciation to the makers of biotechs. I am highly satisfied with biotechs and have introduced my friends to your product. And so far there has not been one complaint that it does not live up to the claims you make for it. I have two sons aged two and a half and one year. The elder boy gets filthy dirty and his clothes are pretty much the worst for wear. At the end of the day, the baby naturally drags himself about and his little diapers become very black and dirty at the end of each day, too. The point I'm trying to make with you is that every night I soak these diapers and the elder child's clothing in biotechs. And in the morning, all I have is a slight rubbing and rinsing and that's it. The name again is Biotechs. 105. Lower birth, please. Took my portmanteau. Great curtain rug. I shall never forget the expression on his face. I supposed at the time as he led me into the lower regions, that the steward had had a little grog, But I said nothing and followed him. 105 was on the port side where loft there was nothing remarkable about. The cabin was double. There was the usual washing apparatus. The folded blankets looked like large buckwheat cakes. The general air was one of desolation. I remember. I'll try and make you as comfortable all I can, sir. Thank you. Oh, thank you, sir. So I hope it'll be a good crossing for you. Well, one passes across the Atlantics very much like another. Whales and icebergs are always indeed objects of interest. But after all, one whale is very much like another whale. One rarely sees an iceberg at close quarters. I agree, sir. No one don't. I must say, I'm not looking forward to first day at sea. People pace the decks and stare at one. Everything's uncertain. No one knows whether the food's gonna be good or bad or indifferent. Seasickness? No, I don't like the first day. Not that I'm generally sick, but new sailors, you know. Yes. Well, sir, is everything. Yes, yes, yes. Thanks very much. I'm sure you want to go and look after more passengers. Oh, thank you, sir. Pleasant trip. I had the funny feeling even then that he was thinking me a queer fish. I don't know Why? I also thought he didn't like number 105, but I mean he wasn't going to live in it. I wasn't very keen either, but it didn't worry me unduly. I wasn't very pleased to find I was. Don't have a companion. I have to admit. Before I'd been long in bed that night he came in too. He was very tall, very pale, very thin with sandy hair and whiskers. He was overdressed and a bit odd. I didn't like him and made up my mind I'd give him a miss whenever possible. If he rose early, I decided I would rise late and vice versa. Anyway, I was pretty tired that first night. Perhaps the cabin wouldn't be so bad after all. I thought it the devil. What happened to him? Gone. Nightmares. Odd smell. Damp. Sort of. Blasted golden bag. What happened to that other fellow? It fine morning. Ah, well, it's a fine morning and it's not a fine morning. I don't think it's much of a morning myself. Well, no, it's not a very fine. Must admit. You're the doctor, aren't you? My name's Brisbane. I'm. It's just what I call ugly weather. Yes, I'm the Doctor. How do you do? How do you do? They cold last night I thought. However, when I looked I found the porthole was wide open. Hadn't noticed it when I went to bed. Cabin was damp. Too damp. Whereabouts are you? 105 1. 100. Whatever's the matter? Oh, nothing, nothing. Only it's just that everybody's complained of that cabin for the last three trips. Well, I shall complain too. Certainly hasn't been properly aired. Jim, look, I don't believe it can be helped. You see, I believe there's something. What? Well, it's not my business to frighten passengers. You need to be afraid of frightening me. I can stand any amount of damp. If I get a cold, I shall come to you. It's not so much the damp however, I d say you'll get along very well. You have a roommate. The deuce of a fellow who bolts out during night and leaves the door open. Doctor, you keep staring at me. Did he come back, this fellow? Yes, yes, I was asleep, but I woke up and heard him moving and I felt cold and went to sleep again. This morning I found the portal open. No, not here. I don't care much for the ship. I don't care a rat for a reputation. I tell you what I'll do. I have a good sized cabin up here. I'll share it with you, though I don't know you from Adam. Very good of you, really. I mean, I think even now the cabin could be aired and cleaned out or something. Why don't you care for the ship? We're not superstitious in our profession, sir. The sea makes people so. I don't want to prejudice you, and I don't want to frighten you. But if you'll take my advice, you'll move in with me. I might as soon see you overboard as though that you or any other man was asleep in 105. Good gracious. Why? It's because on the last three trips. The people who have slept there actually have gone overboard. I was sure the doctor wasn't pulling my leg, But I was resolute all the same. I told him that even if three people had gone overboard, I. I was going to prove the exception. At breakfast that morning, I noticed that one or two of the officers looked grave. When I'd finished my meal, I left the dining room. Was informed by the steward that the captain, of all people, wanted to see me. I went toward the captain's cabin and found him waiting for me. Sir, I. I want to ask a favor of you. Do anything to oblige. Bijou, your roommate has disappeared. He's known to have turned in early last night. Did you notice anything extraordinary in his manner? You don't mean to say he's gone overboard? I think he has. He's the fourth. And I told the captain what the doctor had told me. He seemed annoyed. Then I told him what had occurred in the night. He was shocked and looked very grave. What you say coincides almost exactly with what was told me by the roommates. As it told the others who disappeared from 105. The built out and down the passage. Two of them were seen to go overboard by the watch. Nobody, however, saw or heard the man who was lost last night. The others you searched, of course. Of course. We stopped and lowered the boats, but we found nothing. Now, sir, I beg you not to mention this to any of the other passengers. I don't want the ship to get a bad name. And nothing hangs about the ocean going like stories of suicides. You shall have the choice of the officer's cabin, including mine, for the rest of the trip. Is that a bargain? Yes. Start. Move. Thank you, Mr. Stewart. We'll just take that unfortunate man's things out. I'll stay where I am. You'd have no fear that I'll follow him? I'd rather thank you, Captain. I'd rather stay where I am. Just one or two small things. I. I'd like the room cleaned and air. I like the fasting with a port looked into. Thing was open this morning and maybe the catch is loose or something. Of course you every right to stay where you please, but. Oh well, hang it, man. I. I wish you'd let me lock the place up and have done with it. Towards evening I met the doctor again and he asked me whether I'd changed my mind. I told him I had not. He didn't say much. Just you will before long. For the man who knows how to handle his car. Johnson's Rally. The new car wax with the detergent proof formula won't wash off. Its detergent resistant ranny gives char wax protection that's deep and long lasting. And the finish is fast, very fast. Johnson's Ranny Car wax in liquid or paste form. That's all you have to do tomorrow to use. Fine things look as good as new when you use new biotechs. Amazing new biotech. Soak stubborn stains away Clean, clean. Everything soon will be clean clean for all the world to see. Soak, soak, stand away easily when you use new biotechs. Get amazing new biotechs today and let soaking do the Washington. Yes, sir. What the deuce do you mean, you scoundrel? Leaving a port open every night. Not against the regulations. Do you realize that the ship he owned and water started to come in. 10 men couldn't shut it. I knew the fortune of the captain for endangering the ship, sir. Well, if you please, sir. There's nobody on board who can keep that porthole shut. You can try it yourself, sir. I ain't staying on this ship any longer. Once you do. If I was you, sir, I'd just. Just clear out. Go and sleep with a surgeon or something. I don't want to sleep with a surgeon. Try the port now, sir. Wait there, sir. Try it now, sir. It's fast. Yes, sir. But I'll wager my reputation as an A1 steward that within half an hour that thing will be open again. If I find it open in the night, I'll give you a fiverr if not possible. Fiver did you say, sir? Thank you, sir. Good night, sir. Pleasant repose and all manner of enchanting dreams, Sir. Night, sir. I went to bed and I slept. I awoke startled. Sometime in the small hours I felt the draft. I got out of my bunk and stood. The port was again wide open. It was then I thought I heard Someone or something moving behind the closed curtains in the upper berth. I thrust in my hands to see if there was anyone in the upper earth. There was someone. It was as if I was plunging my hands into a damp cellar. The air was full of the smell of stagnant seawater. I laid hold of something that had the shape of a man's arm. That was smooth and wet and icy cold. And then the creature sprang violently forward against me. A canny Uzi mess hit against me. It was heavy and wet and seemed endowed with supernatural strain. Then the creature rushed to the door and out. A sort of creeping horror had taken hold of me. But I examined the upper birth once more by the light of the railway reading light I always carry with me. The bed had been slept in. The smell of the sea was strong. But the bedding was as dry as bone. I did not sleep anymore. I waited for the porthole to open again. It didn't. Morning, Doctor. You're quite right. There is something wrong about 105, and that's an understatement. Don't you change your mind. Had a bad night, huh? Want to pick me up? Have a capital recipe? No, thank you. But I would like to tell you what happened. Come to my place. The peculiar thing was I couldn't get the blasted port closed. I struggled and struggled and actually bent the brass fittings before I finally got it to stay. Bring your bags here. Stay with me. No. You come and take half of my cabin for a night. Help me get to the bottom of this thing. You'll get to the bottom of something else if you dry. What? The bottom of the sea. I'm leaving this ship. It's not canny. You won't help me then? Not I. It's my business to cure passengers ailments. Not monkey about with ghosts and things. You really believe it is a ghost? Have you any reasonable explanation of these things to offer? No, you have not. You say you'll find an explanation, but I tell you one, sir, because there isn't one. My dear sir, can you tell me, as a man of science. That these things can't be explained? I can tell you and I do. And even if they could be explained, I would not be concerned with that explanation. I've made up my mind to spend another night in 105. If the doctor wouldn't join me. I was determined to have the captain. Consequently, I told him the whole story. I said that if no one would spend the night with me, I would ask leave to have the light burning all night. And Would try it alone. The captain fell for my employer. Look here, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll show you watch myself and just see what happens. There may be some fellow skulking on board who steals a passage by frightening the people on this ship. Just possible that there may be something qu in the carpentering of that Burke. Then I suggest, Captain, we take with us the ship's carpenter and make a thorough examination of the whole cabin. Certainly we will. We did that. We took the cabin bit by bit, completely to pieces. We found nothing in the least bit extraordinary. As we were finishing our work, the steward, Roberts, looked in. Hello, sir. Did you find anything, sir? You were right about the porthole, Robert. Here we are. Oh, thank you, sir. Begging your pardon, sir. I'm a plain man, sir, but it's my belief you'd better turn out your things and let the carpenter here run half a dozen four inch screws through the door of this cabin. There's been four lives lost out of here to my own remembrance. And that in four trips. Better give it up, sir. Better give it up. I'll try it for one more night. No, you just put your signature to that, Mr. Brisbane. Yes. You see, I cannot afford to laugh at the affair. Your signature to this writing telling what we're about to do is at least proof that another responsible man believed that something queer was happening in room 105 this crossing. Well, if both of us are all right after this night and we do observe or experience anything uncanny, then you and I together, we'll fill in our experiences and emotions. If nothing happens tonight, we'll try it again tomorrow, the next day. Now, suppose we put your portmanteau before the door. One of us can sit on it. Nothing can get out. Then is the port screwed down? Yes. I like the meeting man as I've used a bit. And now we can see well into the upper dirt and I shall sit before the door. I search thoroughly. There's nothing in here save ourselves. Nothing at all. It's impossible for any human being to get in or for any human being to open the port. All right. If we see anything now, it must be either imagination or something supernatural. First time it happened was in March. Person who slept here in the upper berth turned out to have been a lunatic. He'd taken this passage without the knowledge of his friends, rushed out in the night and threw himself overboard before the officer of the watch could stop him. His suicide was accounted for on the ground of his insanity. I've never heard of such A thing ever occurring before or after or in any other ship. Well, on the very trip were you looking at? I could not reply. My eyes were riveted upon the porthole. The brass loop nut was beginning to turn very slowly upon the screw. It moves. It's loose. Turn it just with my hand. The queer thing is that the second man who was lost was supposed to have gone through that porthole. The weather was very heavy. There was an alarm that one of the ports was open as the sea was coming in down here. We found the whole cabin flooded. The water poured in every time the ship rolled. Ever since then. That place smells of sea water. I can smell it now, can't you? Yes. Smell like this. The place must be damp. Yet when the carpenter examined it this morning, it seemed perfectly dry. Why? How did that bolt of port come loose? Captain? I saw it move. Hello. How did. My reading lantern which had been placed in the upper berth was extinguished. Most extraordinary. What? The port. It's so good. Wait. Wait. Wait. Stick. I stick. No good. Nothing enclosed. Nothing. I was good. Brisbane. There's something in the upper berth. Hold the door. He won't escape us. Whatever it is, no weight. And I flung myself into said cabin and seized something which lay in the upper birth. There was something ghostly, horrible beyond words. And it moved in my grip. It was like the body of a man long drowned. And yet it moved into the strength of ten men living dead. White eyes seemed to stare at me after the dusk. The pid odor of rank seawater was about its shiny hair hung in foul wet curls over its face. I was wrestling with a dead thing. It wound its corpses arms around my neck. The living death that was overpowering me. I lay a long time on that cabin floor. The thing, whatever it was, could only have gone one way out through the port. I revived the captain. He wasn't hurt, but badly stunned. There's nothing more. The carpenter and a dozen 4 inch screws through the door of 105. And if ever you take a passage on the Kamshatzka, you may ask for a berth in that cabin. You'll be told that it is engaged. It is engaged by something that's dead. I finished the trip in the surgeon's cabin. The captain never sailed again on that ship. Although it is still running. I shall never sail her either. You see, I saw a ghost. If that's what the thing was, it was dead. Anyway. I believe that somehow that poor wretch who flung himself overboard, the first one, the lunatic. I believe he's condemned until that Ship sails the Atlantic for the last time to sleep in the upper birth and hurl himself to his drowning death at night. Every night. Let's play some music. I feel like dancing. But I thought you had a splitting headache. Well, that was five minutes ago. I've taken Grandpa headache powder since. Grandpa headache powder still pain soothe strain nerves and lift depression. Grandpa headache powders are extra effective because they have a triple action. Grandpa headache powders work extra fast because they dissolve almost immediately. Get fast effective relief from any pain. All pain. Get Grandpa headache powders. Ah, Grandpa. That's all you have to do. Just for an hour. Up to you. Fine. Let's look as good as new when you use new biotech amazing new biotex acts with a biological action to soak out the stubbornness stains and loosen dirt. New biotex is great for all textiles and synthetics whites and colors. It contains no bleach. Get amazing new biotex today and let soaking do the Washington Beyond Midnight is presented every Friday night at half past nine by Biotechs the new soak and pre wash powder. The program is adapted for broadcasting and Produced by Michael McCabe. [00:32:59] Speaker A: That was the thing in cabin 105. From beyond midnight here on the mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast once again. I'm Eric. [00:33:08] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:33:08] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. [00:33:10] Speaker A: Our Patreon supporter. Zach brought that to the table for us to review. Thank you Zach for bringing that and suggesting it and being a supporter. Yeah, I'll just jump in with. That was an adjustment for 5, 10 minutes on the sound quality and you throw in accents on top of sound quality issues. That's always that. Bear down, bear down. You got to really focus to hear what's going on and hear what's happening. This is going to be one of those where I want to back off at the beginning because I have an opinion right now but I want to hear your guys first. [00:33:48] Speaker C: You want to cheat? I do want to cheat. [00:33:51] Speaker B: First and strongest opinion. Maybe what they call a hot take is aside from the Lipton tea lady, I think oh Grandpa is my favorite advertisement in all of old time. [00:34:06] Speaker A: Only note I took on this whole episode was ah Grandpa. That is a ringtone that I want. Ah Grandpa. [00:34:20] Speaker B: Every. Every biotech ad that comes up from beyond midnight is just a gem. But the old grandpa tell me if. [00:34:27] Speaker A: If I take that cheating off the table and tell you I don't like it. [00:34:31] Speaker C: So I'm curious why? Because I had in my head why you wouldn't like it and why you might like it. [00:34:37] Speaker A: Okay. [00:34:37] Speaker C: And maybe now I can persuade you into being the Eric that exists in my mind. [00:34:45] Speaker A: That's how marriage works. [00:34:49] Speaker B: You start out not liking it. [00:34:52] Speaker C: I thought either you would dislike it because the protagonist responds to a supernatural threat in a very stoic and nonchalant way, which you have objected to in the past, or you might respond positively because this is a rare occurrence in Victorian or Edwardian ghost stories of an unflappable square jawed hero who says, no, bring it, ghost. I'm gonna figure this out. He's not a nerd, he's not an antiquarian. He's a guy who's just not going to be deterred from leaving that room. [00:35:35] Speaker B: To throw a little support behind that he also like. He's not. Just like, it doesn't exist. I don't worry about it. Like, get a carpenter in here. Get some people here to look at this. [00:35:42] Speaker A: You're wrong in both accounts. I'm going to tell you exactly how exciting. I like the story a lot. I like the protagonist, whatever his name was, beardy MCC guy, whatever he named. [00:36:00] Speaker B: At the turn of century. [00:36:02] Speaker A: He. His reaction to it didn't bother me or it was all good. [00:36:08] Speaker C: None of it bothered me. I didn't even listen to it. [00:36:11] Speaker A: I like that he's going to figure it out. I like the story. It's scary. The production value, and I'm not talking about the song quality of this recording, the production value, the direction of it. Slow, not good use of the music, not good use of transitions. Really slow. And the sound escape, the sound effects, the foley not creating space at all. Nor were the actors helping support that. Consequently not able to get lost in it. It was just really. It reminded me of the pace feel of the Frankenstein series. [00:36:54] Speaker C: Woo. Harsh. [00:36:55] Speaker A: Harsh. [00:36:57] Speaker C: For our regular listeners who don't give. [00:37:00] Speaker B: Us money, let's confess a reason you might not want to. [00:37:05] Speaker C: We listened to the 1930s. 1930s Frankenstein serial. Really long, like 11 episodes. Well, we listened to three episodes per episode, so I mean it was like 20 some episodes long. Right. So that is quite an attack on Eric's part. If you haven't heard this incredibly long version of Frankenstein, which, if you'd like. [00:37:27] Speaker B: To hear this arduous task, join Patreon. [00:37:32] Speaker C: Our commentary makes it worth it. [00:37:34] Speaker A: I like the story. I didn't like. [00:37:37] Speaker C: You just don't effing like ghost stories. [00:37:39] Speaker A: Victorian. No, not very much. [00:37:41] Speaker C: A sense of building dread, like pace is a part of this ghost story. [00:37:46] Speaker B: Well, I agree on the one thing of being on a ship. Seems like a great opportunity for soundscape that I feel like this series did not grab onto. [00:37:57] Speaker C: Well, here's my question about it. In all fairness, they could be these incredible nuanced, subtle background effects. And due to the quality of the surviving recordings, they couldn't really pull them out. So to some extent, I give it a pass because I'm not sure sometimes what is ambient background sound and what is just the muddiness and of the recording. Yeah. Y. I personally love the minimalist music in this. Just ambient, eerie noise, choir. I. I loved it for that exact reason. But, you know, again, that's just a subjective. [00:38:36] Speaker A: Too inconsistent for me. Like, for me, music is how you use it, needs to be consistent. [00:38:41] Speaker C: I think they use it consistently in one way as these nice interludes to delineate the days. Because what's important is each night he spends in this cabin, things become progressively worse. And so we had these slightly longer than usual interludes to suggest time. It had a different quality as the sinisterness of his experiences increased. [00:39:06] Speaker A: Right. [00:39:06] Speaker C: And I was so wrong about everything, you would think in this. Yeah. I love it when we've done this for eight years. And I think. I know Eric. [00:39:15] Speaker A: I do. [00:39:15] Speaker C: Back and forth. [00:39:16] Speaker A: I do love the concept of the story coming through the window and killing people in the cabin and the description of it and trying to sleep in that bunk. And I just thought the. What's the word? [00:39:29] Speaker B: Spaghetti. [00:39:30] Speaker C: Yes. [00:39:31] Speaker A: The spaghetti of Dick. [00:39:32] Speaker D: Pow. [00:39:33] Speaker A: The implementation of telling the story directorially. And I don't mean just speeding it up. I don't. I like silence too, but you have to have something other than just silence because there were many moments like, are we on the air? What's. [00:39:48] Speaker C: Oh, I think Radio under uses silence that's so powerful, like, because it relies entirely on sound. [00:39:54] Speaker A: Also coming from the guy that looks. [00:39:56] Speaker C: In film when it goes to an uncomfortable length of black. And for that moment, you're like, yeah, did the projector break? Did it? [00:40:02] Speaker B: Says five years later. [00:40:06] Speaker A: And you're talking to the guy that loves the original 1931 Dracula for that reason. For how silent? [00:40:12] Speaker C: So I'm talking to a hypocrite. [00:40:14] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, I am a hypocrite. [00:40:17] Speaker B: I think the performances were my favorite part, and I mean part because of the audacity of their reserved quality. But I can also see, like, that's pretty reserved for. Yeah, the ship's totally haunted. People die all the time. [00:40:33] Speaker C: I accept the narrator's attitude because the story includes people. People who you suspect should be skeptical, who have totally bought in, like the Doctor. I like that. Nice subversion. [00:40:45] Speaker B: Yes. I don't know you from Adam. You're staying in my room. [00:40:49] Speaker C: Yeah. And he's like, well, you're a doctor. You should believe in science and tangible empirical fact. And he doesn't. So that tempers the narrator's. It not only tempers the narrator's response, it makes you believe that the narrator's response is a very individualized character response, which I think makes me more interested in him as a character. I also thought to your idea about performances, that the narrator did a great job bridging between scene performance and narration. Like when he's narrating the events and he's about to fall asleep and he adds little yawns and he sort of drifts off while narrating. I know. Eric's like, yeah, because it was that boring. Even the narrator fell asleep. [00:41:36] Speaker A: Right. [00:41:38] Speaker C: I mean, I'm a big fan of the original short story, so it has an advantage. [00:41:42] Speaker A: Sure. [00:41:42] Speaker C: Because I love F. Marion Crawford, who is the author of the Screaming Skull. [00:41:48] Speaker A: Ah. Which has had many terrible adaptations of that story done. [00:41:52] Speaker C: Oh, the filmmaker. [00:41:54] Speaker A: One really good one. Oh, one great one. [00:41:56] Speaker C: The one you did. [00:41:57] Speaker D: Yes. [00:41:59] Speaker A: No, that movie version. [00:42:01] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It's totally on the Scream sky where. [00:42:02] Speaker A: They roll the skull across the lawn from off screen. [00:42:06] Speaker C: We all loved the Theater 1030 version, like, eight years ago that we listened to on the podcast, which is what made us aware of the story's existence to begin with. So I am willing to admit that I go into this already on its side. [00:42:19] Speaker B: I conversely went into this not knowing it was the upper birth. So as soon as they start talking like, I know this. Hey, it's the upper birth. [00:42:26] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:26] Speaker B: Hey, buddy. [00:42:28] Speaker C: One problem I had with the adaptation is the intro that I feel like if you weren't familiar with the story and maybe I'm wrong, you can tell me this, Eric. It gives too much away at the very top where he says, you know, you've entered beyond midnight in a upper birth where there's a thing in it. I mean, he's not quite that explicit. But I feel like it maybe gives too much of the game away. [00:42:50] Speaker A: Tell you the truth. So hard to adapt to the sound quality. It didn't give anything away. It took me a minute or two. [00:42:59] Speaker B: Beyond that when the narrator said. [00:43:04] Speaker D: Is. [00:43:05] Speaker A: Anybody else thinking about spaghetti now all the time? Because now that's in my head. [00:43:11] Speaker C: I was disturbed by the biotechs commercial in which the person professed that, you know, children's diapers become black. [00:43:20] Speaker D: With filth and feces. [00:43:24] Speaker C: Whoa. [00:43:28] Speaker A: What are you Eating. [00:43:32] Speaker C: Is your baby a coal miner? [00:43:37] Speaker B: Maybe. [00:43:38] Speaker A: Maybe back then they all were. [00:43:41] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:43:42] Speaker C: Kids gotta work, get in the mines. You want that diaper change? Bring me a diamond. [00:43:54] Speaker A: Squeeze them cheeks. [00:43:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:59] Speaker A: I think in general, though, I. This story is you. You mentioned it. I don't like Victorian ghost stories, but this. [00:44:06] Speaker C: I think this is weird, technically. Edwardian. [00:44:11] Speaker A: In general, though, I really do like the story. I just want to hear. I want to direct it and change a couple of things. Do you like the actor who was the protagonist? Do you like him? [00:44:26] Speaker D: Yes. [00:44:26] Speaker C: I love that quality. He has this muted quality that I think matches the entire tone of the piece. I utterly understand it not working for you, but I think it's of a piece. [00:44:37] Speaker A: Sure. [00:44:38] Speaker C: The vision and the realization of it is very consistent and I feel really intentional. Whether or not it works for you is a totally different story. I feel. [00:44:47] Speaker B: I feel like he held it together is bravado. He would seem dumber if it was just machismo. Like, I'm not afraid of this. [00:44:56] Speaker A: I'm eating, but just screaming. [00:45:00] Speaker B: If he's screaming and not leaving, then he seems dumb. [00:45:02] Speaker C: Then the story's over. He screams and jumps overboard like everyone else who slept in the room. That's the other reason. I think that performance is interesting, that this is someone who the story is telling us is different from most people. [00:45:14] Speaker B: Yeah, he takes it seriously, but he's not gonna walk away from it. [00:45:17] Speaker C: And it's almost a principled stance, not bravado that he takes. Like, this must be figured out. This can't be true. And he walks through each problem solving step. Okay, let's bolt this shut. And I'm so convinced that this will stay closed once we screw it shut. [00:45:39] Speaker B: I will bet you pay a person. Yeah, $5. [00:45:42] Speaker A: It wasn't $5. It was 5. What did he call it? A fiver. That's all he did. Fiverr. [00:45:48] Speaker B: You know how many ers that is in today's economy? [00:45:51] Speaker A: A thousand ers. [00:45:52] Speaker B: 200,000 ers. [00:45:53] Speaker A: 200,000 ers, huh? [00:45:56] Speaker B: My favorite part of this story, I think in any version, which is to basically lay this at the feet of Crawford, like, this is awesome. Is how much of what is frightening supposed to be frightening in it is anecdotal or maybe dismiss. Like, that's weird. But it's just a thing and it's kind of gone until you get the point where he watches the screw undo itself. [00:46:22] Speaker A: Yes. [00:46:23] Speaker B: And I love. As compared to other horror stories, which, like screws undoing themselves might be. That's where it starts. But to Put so much weight into this tiny little movement and let it imply so much as opposed to trying to make it a. A big. Like everything's flying off the shelves. And. [00:46:44] Speaker C: Yeah. And his narration at that moment is very intimate and hushed and it draws you towards the speaker. At least it did for me. Had that very intimate quality that radio can achieve in narrating. And that whole scene didn't really explain what was going on either. Right. They gave up the narration to hear this. The scuffling and the fighting with this thing after giving us the description of how disgusting it was. Cold and damp. All the description of him reaching into the birth and. [00:47:17] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:47:17] Speaker B: This cold, wet form. [00:47:19] Speaker C: Yeah. And then. So then when we just hear the sounds of the scuffle and the thuds, we just know that they're grappling with this cold dead thing and we don't need to have it explained. The nerdy part of me did not like the addition from the story at the very end when he comes in and connects the dots for you and says, this was the insane. [00:47:47] Speaker B: The first victim is the one who killed himself and now lives as a ghost in the. [00:47:51] Speaker C: And drives everyone to jump off the ship and kill themselves. And. Oh, that's the fun of it. And a. It's not that opaque. It's pretty obvious as the clues are laid out. But I want to be able to draw those. Those connections and figure it out. I don't want to. [00:48:07] Speaker A: Very appreciative of that because that solves some things in my head for me. [00:48:13] Speaker C: It has a little. Get it, Eric. [00:48:17] Speaker A: Yes. It's for stupid people like me. I didn't know. And then he said that I went. [00:48:25] Speaker B: Oh, that's why the radio version. [00:48:28] Speaker A: I didn't see you thinking, you're lazy. [00:48:35] Speaker C: Don't be so hard on yourself. [00:48:37] Speaker B: I mean, do you get around to being hard on yourself? [00:48:39] Speaker A: I'm intellectually lazy. [00:48:43] Speaker C: You've got the tools. Just pick them up. [00:48:46] Speaker A: I believe that was written on every blue book exam I took in college. Well, you want to vote? [00:48:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Although can we have an oh, Grandpa T shirt or does it just lose some of its. [00:49:00] Speaker B: Oh, ringtone sounded good to me. [00:49:02] Speaker A: Yeah, ringtone's fine. I think that on a T shirt is just begging to get pulled over. Listen, I love the story. I do. I think it's a really good story. Mrs. Screaming Skull writer. Good job. I would give it a B. Minus a B. I thought parts of it were good. I just. It needed. I need a few things could have been better from directorially and production things that I think would have added to it. [00:49:32] Speaker B: I thought this was a very good adaptation, very faithful, and also captured the feel of it very well. Those two things aren't always going hand in hand. As I said before, I really loved the performances. Whether it was a feature of directorial choice or just sound quality of the remaining recording. The overall technical aspects of Foley I didn't get and I wish I could have. [00:49:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, for me, this is a near perfect adaptation of a story that I really like. So this is again, Josh Knipp. I think it's atmospheric and creepy and everything is of a piece, as I said. And so even this production where you wanted more sound didn't bother me because I think think it's minimalist intentionally. I get why you're like, I don't like minimalism. Give me more. And I do think some of the sound is lost. So I think this is a late era radio classic. But due to an externality of sound quality for what is preserved, there is a question of whether it stands the test of time because it asks. It asks a lot of the listener to really focus past the bad sound quality and possibly loses some of the aspects of the production that was there. [00:50:51] Speaker A: How long would it take Doordash to get spaghetti here? [00:50:58] Speaker C: That's so gross. I do not want to be in a confined recording space smelling spaghetti. I don't know why that suddenly seems really gross. [00:51:05] Speaker A: Wow. [00:51:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:51:08] Speaker A: All right, Tim, tell him stuff. [00:51:09] Speaker C: Please go visit ghoulishdelights.com it took an awkward minimalist turn. [00:51:15] Speaker A: That was my impression of that whole show. [00:51:17] Speaker B: Please go visit doordash googlestores.com, home of this podcast, other episodes There you can vote in polls, leave comments, let us know what you thought about these. You can also find links to our merchandise. You go to our spreadshop store. [00:51:32] Speaker C: Spreadshop? Is that really what it's called? [00:51:34] Speaker B: It's a spreadshirt. Spreadshop. Spreadshirt is the store, but it's parent company spreadshopping, not Google Spreadshop. Just go to Google Slides.com and follow the links. [00:51:48] Speaker A: Click on Stop. [00:51:49] Speaker B: You'll like what you see. You can also find a link that will take you to our Patreon page. Yes, spread pretty Patreon spread. [00:51:59] Speaker C: Dion, go to patreon.com themorals and support this podcast. We offer all kinds of books, bonus material for our patrons. One of our bonuses is that we listen to and discuss requests from our patrons. So if you want to force us to listen to an episode of your choosing, become a patron today. You could also get all kinds of bonus podcasts. You can go to Zoom Happy Hours and hang out with us and take us to task on our bad opinions or just tell us we're great. The whole spectrum of attack and compliment is available to you if you become a patron of the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society. [00:52:47] Speaker A: If you'd like to see us performing live on stage, the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Theater Company does recreations live on stage of classic old time radio shows and a lot of our own original work. To find out where we're performing every month and what and how to get tickets, you just go to ghoulishdelights.com and we'd love to see you there. And if you can't make it to our performance on any given month, we record the audio for our Patreons. Another perk of being a Patreon. And you can listen to our radio dramas. What is coming up next? [00:53:25] Speaker C: Next is my choice and we will be returning to Dark Fantasy for an episode called Men Call Me Mad Men. Until then, damn it.