[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.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: I'm Tim.
[00:00:36] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out this week.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: In honor of the spooky season, we chose Taboo, an episode from CBS Radio's legendary anthology of high adventure, Escape. The script was Adapted from the 1939 short story by Geoffrey Household, a British author known for fast paced thriller thrillers.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Taboo was published the same year as Household's best known work, Rogue Male, that's M A L E.
The novel tells a story of a famous hunter who becomes embroiled in political intrigue, foreshadowing later bestsellers such as the Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon and Frederick Forsyth's the Day of the Jackal. The novel became the basis for Fritz Lang's 1941 film Manhunt, as well as a 1976 BBC telefilm directed by Clive Donner.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Over the course of his career, Household wrote 28 novels, seven short story collections and an autobiography, against the Wind. Although successful in his time, Household's work is largely forgotten today.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: And now let's listen to Taboo from Escape, starring the one and only Paul Fries.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: It's late at night and a chill has set in. You're alone and 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.
[00:02:16] Speaker D: You are alone in the dark forest and behind you somewhere is the werewolf waiting to drink your blood, and you desperately desire the impossible to escape.
[00:02:39] Speaker E: Escape produced and directed by William N. Robeson and carefully plotted to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure.
[00:02:54] Speaker D: Tonight we escape the backward world of Eastern Europe, where ancient superstitions still live in the minds of men.
Tonight we escape with Jeffrey Household's grim story Taboo.
[00:03:21] Speaker E: Among semi civilized peoples there has always been widespread belief in werewolves, those fantastic creatures supposedly able to turn from man or woman into wolf and back again at will.
This belief is still widespread among the simple folk of eastern Hungary in the district around Zweibergen, high in the gloomy Carpathian Mountains, and I must admit, not without some reason.
Before the late war, I often spent my vacations in that area, drawn to the dark loneliness by the pull of my Slavic blood.
It was the same with her, perhaps, and our kindred ancestry no doubt drew us Together?
Her name was Kira Vaughan, and she was there with her husband, a pleasant young Englishman.
They were obviously much in love, and I felt almost like an intruder when I found myself the only other vacationer in the village.
However, they made me welcome and invited me to dinner. It was an excellent dinner.
[00:04:24] Speaker F: Won't you have some more strawberries, Mr. Shirabiev?
[00:04:27] Speaker E: Thank you, no, Mrs. Von, I. I've eaten far too much already.
I cannot say when I've had so excellent a dinner.
[00:04:34] Speaker F: Thank you.
[00:04:35] Speaker E: I'm sure I shall get nothing like it at the inn.
[00:04:38] Speaker F: I should hate to have to stay at the inn.
[00:04:40] Speaker G: You see, Shiravyev, my wife is one of those delightful creatures who cannot stand to be shut in. She must run free, preferably in the woods with her hair streaming in the wind. She's quite unusual.
[00:04:50] Speaker E: Indeed she is, my dear one.
And you may count yourself most fortunate.
[00:04:54] Speaker G: Oh, I do, I do. Where else should I find so good a cook?
[00:04:58] Speaker E: Very true. I've never tasted venison quite like that tonight. Delightful.
[00:05:02] Speaker G: Thank you. Another of her little victories. She delights in outdoing the ordinary housewife. She disdains the village shop and gets her meat right off the hoof.
[00:05:10] Speaker E: Oh, you do your own hunting?
[00:05:11] Speaker G: Oh dear, no, not that. She's much too kind hearted and loving a person for that. She's found a new source. The district game warden brings fresh venison to our door.
[00:05:20] Speaker F: Oh, it's not he, but his son.
[00:05:22] Speaker G: True, the game wardens slightly moronic son who is, I'm sure, in love with her.
[00:05:26] Speaker F: Oh, that's ridiculous.
[00:05:27] Speaker E: Oh, not so. It's quite understandable. I'm beginning to fall in love with her myself.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: You see, my dear.
[00:05:34] Speaker F: Thank you, sir.
[00:05:35] Speaker E: Seriously though, I can understand this wild desire to be free.
This wish to, as you put it, run in the woods with the wind in your hair.
It is some legacy of our Slavic blood, no doubt. Yours and mine and the game warden's moronic son.
Somehow we feel at home in these dark forests.
[00:05:55] Speaker F: Oh, you too?
[00:05:57] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:05:58] Speaker G: And I don't. I confess it. I don't. There's something here that frightens me. Something strange and inhuman and taboo.
[00:06:05] Speaker F: Darling.
[00:06:06] Speaker G: I'll confess something, Kiraviev. I don't like Kira to go out into these forests alone. Maybe I'm afraid that someday this emotional impulse of hers will get the better of her and she'll just disappear. Like those two men last week.
[00:06:17] Speaker E: Oh, what was that? Have I missed some exciting happening?
[00:06:20] Speaker G: No, not really. Though you'd think so to hear the villagers talk. A fellow Coming home through the woods after dark. Just disappeared. Probably got fed up with life here in the village and lit out for Budapest.
[00:06:30] Speaker E: And what about the other one?
[00:06:32] Speaker G: Oh, yes. Well, a search party went out the next day to look for the fellow. When they got back, they found one of their party was missing. Evidently, he'd taken the opportunity to skip out, too.
[00:06:40] Speaker F: Is that what you really think?
[00:06:42] Speaker G: Well, why not, my dear? If those men had been done away with, it might have been by something supernatural, and there's no such thing.
[00:06:48] Speaker E: But might it not have been some wild animal?
[00:06:51] Speaker G: Oh, the bears around here are harmless and the wolves are not in pack, at any rate. There would have been some sign, some blood track, something. There was nothing. They simply disappeared. Vanished. Skipped out.
[00:07:02] Speaker F: Richard, how can you be so careless?
[00:07:04] Speaker G: You see the paradox. My wife, who loves the woods, believes the fantastic tales of the villagers. I, who confess to finding the woods strange and frightening, do not believe them.
[00:07:13] Speaker E: Perhaps it is because you are frightened that you are afraid to believe them.
What do the villagers say?
[00:07:21] Speaker G: Well, you know this district well enough. They're talking of werewolves and such. Tommy rot. Oh, it's utterly fantastic.
[00:07:27] Speaker E: Yes. To you, an Englishman, it would be. And it isn't to you, fantastic? Yes, I suppose. But perhaps Mrs. Vaughan and I, who feel at home in this forest, can understand and believe such fantasy a little more easily than you.
[00:07:40] Speaker F: Yes. I remember many times as a child, I dreamt of being an animal.
I thought then that I would love it.
The freedom of the forest.
[00:07:50] Speaker E: Exactly.
That primitive instinct is so deep within us all.
A heritage of some dim, distant past.
In us Slavs, it lies closer to the surface. Takes very little to bring it to light.
[00:08:04] Speaker F: Yes, that is true.
[00:08:06] Speaker G: Well, you've placed my wife in a new life, Uravia. You'll have me suspecting her of changing into a wolf and running out to the forest to murder people.
[00:08:13] Speaker E: Oh, please, Bourne, you take me too literally. And besides, it is a shame to spoil so delightful a dinner with so gloomier conversation.
[00:08:22] Speaker G: Right. Shall we go into the living room? There's a cheerful fire in there. Oh, yes. What is it, Frida? Beg your pardon, sir, but a message just came from the village. Oh? What is it? They want you and Mr. Sheraviev to come down there now. They're organizing another search party. What? Yes.
There's another man missing. Kira. Katya Shiravyev. She's fainted.
[00:08:55] Speaker E: It was only then I realized that these people were under a terrible tension.
I was to learn very quickly that the whole village shared it. Every able bodied man in the District was at the inn when we arrived. The magistrate explained the situation.
[00:09:10] Speaker D: He went into the forest late this afternoon. Hoping to bag a black cock for his supper.
A little after, dusky solitary shot was heard.
That was three hours ago, and he's not returned.
[00:09:20] Speaker G: But only three hours. Isn't there a chance that he might still return?
[00:09:24] Speaker D: A chance, perhaps. But the other two did not.
It will do no harm to search for him. We may still be in time to save his life.
[00:09:39] Speaker E: We searched most of the night, and then next morning, Vaughan and I went out again.
We climbed to my favorite spot for hunting blackcock. Then followed the trail down to the village. The trail the missing grocer would have taken.
I was beginning to be a little exasperated at Vaughn. He seemed to be so casual and uninterested. As if he were convinced that this one, too, had merely skipped out. But I underestimated him. He was a skilled tracker. And suddenly he did show some interest.
[00:10:11] Speaker G: Wait a minute. Someone has turned aside from the path. Here.
He was in a hurry. I wonder why.
[00:10:19] Speaker E: I think you are right. There are some broken branches.
[00:10:22] Speaker G: Why? Why here?
[00:10:24] Speaker E: It's hardly likely anyone would go plunging into that thicket. Unless he had a reason.
[00:10:28] Speaker G: Wait. Wait.
See that big white rock behind the thicket?
When you're being followed, it's comforting to have a clear space around you.
You'd feel safe up on top of that rock with a gun in your hands. If you got there in time.
[00:10:40] Speaker E: You may be right. Let's go up.
[00:10:42] Speaker G: Try to.
[00:10:43] Speaker E: We forced our way through the underbrush to the rock. It was 30ft high on the downslope side. And a hot spring at the foot of it. Bubbled out of a cavity scarcely two feet wide. We made our way up to the slope around it and came out on top. There was nothing there except for some ivy in the cracks. And one small stunted tree.
[00:11:03] Speaker G: Aha.
[00:11:04] Speaker D: Look.
[00:11:05] Speaker G: Look at that.
[00:11:06] Speaker E: Where?
[00:11:06] Speaker G: The tree. The entire base has been shattered by a charge at close quarters. Perhaps that was the shot that was heard.
[00:11:13] Speaker E: You're right. It must be.
They say.
They say there is always a tree between you and it.
[00:11:21] Speaker G: What do you mean? It?
[00:11:24] Speaker E: The werewolf.
[00:11:26] Speaker G: Well, this must have been a baby one then. That mark is only 6 inches off the ground. No.
I think the man's gun went off as he fell.
Perhaps he was followed too close as he scrambled up.
About.
About here would be where his body would have fallen.
[00:11:41] Speaker E: Do you see anything? I don't.
No blood stain.
[00:11:45] Speaker G: Wait. Wait. Look. Look here.
[00:11:48] Speaker E: Oh, but it's just a tiny spot.
[00:11:50] Speaker G: It's Enough. It's blood, all right. And something more.
A tiny bit of tissue.
[00:11:55] Speaker E: Let me see.
Brain tissue.
Must have come from a deep wound in the skull. Made by something like an arrow or a bird's beak.
Or maybe even a sharp tooth.
[00:12:10] Speaker G: But where's the body? There is absolutely no other sign. No evidence of its being dragged off anywhere?
[00:12:17] Speaker E: No, I can't see any either.
Very strange.
But at least we know one thing, Vaughan. This man did not just skip out.
This man was dead or dying.
When we brought our information back, the excitement of the village mounted. The peasants crossed themselves. And at the inn the old tales were being told.
[00:12:45] Speaker G: That's old Weiss, the game warden, talking now. And Josef Weiss son beside him.
[00:12:49] Speaker E: The moronic son.
[00:12:50] Speaker G: Yes, the old man is a character too. Listen.
[00:12:53] Speaker D: The biggest one my grandfather had seen.
And it followed him in the forest.
Time after time he met at the twilight outside his cabin. And time after time he fired at it point blank.
But he couldn't hurt it.
Then he pounded a silver penguin and loaded his gun with it.
One shot and the wolf disappeared.
But next day they found Heinrich the cobbler dying in his house with a beaten silver coin in his belly.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Fools.
[00:13:27] Speaker D: You believe such stupid talk, Joseph? My grandfather used to tell the same story.
Only when he told it, it happened to his grandfather.
Anyone can see it didn't happen at all. Such things can't happen, Joseph. You called your father a liar. I do.
[00:13:42] Speaker E: Well, far from being a moron, Joseph seems to have more sense than the others.
[00:13:46] Speaker G: Perhaps.
Joseph, you're not afraid of this werewolf then, eh?
[00:13:51] Speaker D: I?
No.
[00:13:54] Speaker G: Why not? The whole village is frightened.
[00:13:57] Speaker D: I'm used to walking alone in the woods at night.
You've got to be a part of the forest, then you'll not be afraid of it.
[00:14:05] Speaker G: You do believe in werewolves then, eh?
[00:14:08] Speaker D: I don't say a man can turn into a wolf.
[00:14:10] Speaker E: No.
[00:14:12] Speaker D: But I can understand why he'd want to.
[00:14:15] Speaker G: Your theory again, Charabiev?
[00:14:17] Speaker E: Yes, I.
I think I understand that too, Joseph.
But what does it feel like?
[00:14:27] Speaker D: Feels as if the woods had got under your skin.
And you want to walk wild and crouch at the knees.
[00:14:36] Speaker E: Yes, I think he's perfectly right.
[00:14:41] Speaker G: And you. You explain it by some primitive urge?
[00:14:46] Speaker E: Possibly.
There may be many reasons. Physical hunger could be one.
We sometimes forget that man was once a fleet footed hunting animal with all the necessary instincts.
[00:14:58] Speaker D: Yes, we all know about it.
About what it can do to a man. I've been trapped in a cliff for five days. I know none of you have suffered hunger as we did in the prison. Camp during the war. None of you knows what it is to eat. Joseph, let's not talk about it.
He gets so upset remembering.
Well, we'll have to go on searching for the body. And for the werewolf. You'll not find it.
Not until you arm yourselves with silver bullets. Perhaps it is gone now. Whatever it is, the search parties may have frightened it away. It wasn't frightened by the first search party. It simply took one of them.
Now it is still here.
And it will strike again.
You may be sure of that.
[00:15:52] Speaker E: The whole village believed that Josef Weiss was right. They traveled in the woods by twos now. No one went alone for a week. Village life was disrupted. The men beat the forest. The women tried to comfort each other. Kira wore herself out trying to be useful.
The village women could not help loving her.
But there was something else.
Something strange.
One day I spoke to Frida, the maid, about it.
[00:16:18] Speaker G: Ah, yes. She is a strange one, Mr. Sharifia.
Even I have seen her going out to walk alone in the woods at twilight.
The women in the village think she is possessed.
[00:16:30] Speaker E: What do you mean, possessed?
[00:16:32] Speaker G: I. I hesitate to say, sir.
[00:16:34] Speaker E: Come, tell me.
[00:16:36] Speaker G: They are beginning to say sometimes the werewolf can be a woman.
[00:16:48] Speaker E: At first the suggestion seemed so ridiculous to me that I hesitated to speak of it.
But then I decided to tell Von before this rumor could reach Kira herself.
He was naturally much upset.
[00:17:01] Speaker G: That settles it, Shilobif. We've got to do something.
[00:17:04] Speaker E: Something? Yes. But what?
[00:17:05] Speaker G: There's only one thing we can do. Track down this supposed werewolf.
[00:17:09] Speaker E: But that's what we've been trying to do for a week. How can we do?
[00:17:13] Speaker G: It's really very simple. We'll offer him bait.
[00:17:17] Speaker E: Bait?
Who will be this bait?
[00:17:21] Speaker G: You and I, Shaviev, if you're game.
[00:17:25] Speaker E: Yes, of course I'm game.
[00:17:26] Speaker G: Good.
[00:17:27] Speaker E: But how are you going to tie me to a tree and watch out? With a gun.
[00:17:31] Speaker G: That's about right. And he would even tie you up.
And since it was my idea, you can have first turn with the gun. Are you a good shot?
[00:17:38] Speaker E: Right.
[00:17:39] Speaker G: This is no time for false modesty.
[00:17:41] Speaker E: Yes, I'm a good shot.
[00:17:42] Speaker G: Very well. It'll be night and we'll have to shoot with only the moonlight.
[00:17:46] Speaker E: Where do we go? To the rock.
[00:17:47] Speaker G: Exactly. And the sooner the better. Tonight.
[00:17:50] Speaker E: Tonight.
[00:17:50] Speaker G: And say nothing, absolutely nothing to anybody. Especially to Kira.
[00:17:55] Speaker E: I understand. This is between us.
Either we win or we simply disappear.
It was difficult getting away without telling Kira what we were going to do.
She seemed to sense that something was wrong and she sat staring after us. With strange, angry eyes.
In the village, Vaughn and I parted and made our ways to the rock separately.
I reached there first and settled myself on top of the rock, almost covered by the ivy. The gun across my knees.
Presently Vaughn appeared on the path and I gave the signal that I was there and ready.
The track was set.
In the eerie stillness of the dark forest, we waited.
Von paced slowly on the path.
I kept the gunsight trained a yard in back of him as he walked.
Minutes passed in silence. Hours went by.
Nothing happened.
It was almost midnight, the end of our vigil. Vaughan waved his hand and started off down the trail.
He would go fast in case he was followed, taking a shortcut down an old timber slide. He'd be in the village in 10 minutes. I was to follow presently.
Then suddenly I got an intense feeling of dread. I was alone on the rock. My spine tingled. And then I heard a quick rustle in the ivy behind me. Something brushed my face. I.
It was only a bird.
A night bird had lit in the ivy and now swooshed past me and flew away.
My nerves were still tingling when I.
[00:19:39] Speaker G: Got back to the village.
[00:19:48] Speaker E: Next day when I went to see Vaughn, he gave me a warning glance. Kira was suspicious.
I could see the question in her eyes when she greeted me.
[00:19:57] Speaker F: So here is the other culprit.
Which of you is most to blame for keeping such late hours?
[00:20:03] Speaker E: Why? I supposed to keep peace in the family. I. I should say it is I.
[00:20:07] Speaker F: No, you can't get him off that easily.
[00:20:09] Speaker G: I'm the only culprit, my dear. You see, I've never hunted deer at night. I asked Shabief to help me.
[00:20:14] Speaker F: I suppose you shoot the poor things while they sleep?
[00:20:16] Speaker G: Oh, no. While they're having their dinner, if possible.
[00:20:18] Speaker F: You're cruel and heartless, both of you.
[00:20:21] Speaker G: It's no use letting her start an argument. Shaviev. I'll go get us a drink.
[00:20:25] Speaker E: Oh, yes, thank you. I'd like that.
Why.
Why do you look at me like that?
[00:20:33] Speaker F: Was the hunting good last night?
[00:20:35] Speaker E: No, not very.
We didn't get anything, as you see.
I'm afraid you'll still have to depend upon Jose for your venison.
[00:20:42] Speaker F: Where did you hunt?
[00:20:44] Speaker E: Why, simply in the forest. Nowhere in particular.
[00:20:48] Speaker F: You're not telling me the truth, are you, my dear?
[00:20:51] Speaker E: I don't know what you're thinking, but I assure.
[00:20:54] Speaker F: Never mind.
I suppose it is best I don't know.
But take care of him, please.
[00:21:03] Speaker E: Of course I will.
[00:21:04] Speaker F: If anything should happen to him.
[00:21:06] Speaker E: But what could happen?
[00:21:08] Speaker F: You know.
You understand these Things.
[00:21:18] Speaker E: That night I was the bait. And I confess, walking there on the moonlit path, the dense undergrowth pressing close on both sides, the forest all around me, that I felt a strange terror.
But nothing happened.
Once a bear ambled across the path, paused, sniffed, and disappeared into the brush.
Then, a little later, I thought I saw a flicker of white in the clearing below.
But it never reappeared, and I decided it must have been a ripple of grass in the moonlight.
At midnight, we returned to the village. And I was beginning to wonder if our trap would ever be sprung.
[00:21:57] Speaker G: We must keep on, Charaviev. I have a feeling that tomorrow night, perhaps, or the next night, I'm game.
[00:22:03] Speaker E: As long as you are. But so far we've only lost sleep.
[00:22:06] Speaker G: I've got to keep on. Have you forgotten about Kira? The things they're saying about her?
[00:22:10] Speaker E: No, of course not. But surely these people would not do anything to her.
[00:22:15] Speaker G: It's not that. It's what it might do to her spirit if she were to hear those insane rumors. She's so sensitive. I. I don't like to think about it.
[00:22:23] Speaker E: Then shall we go out again tomorrow night?
[00:22:25] Speaker G: Yes. You must come to dinner, though, first. Weiss is bringing down more venison. Kira will want you to come.
[00:22:31] Speaker E: All right.
Till tomorrow night, then.
After dinner, we went out for our third night on the rock. Von was the bait tonight, and I the watcher.
The forest was alive with sound.
A deer coughed. The bear came ambling back. As woolly and harmless as a dog.
I was watching him when suddenly he paused and sniffed the air, then disappeared into the trees.
The animal sounds quieted one by one, and a tense stillness fell over the forest.
My hand tightened on the gun, and suddenly I saw it.
That flicker of white moving fast through the trees. It was coming up the path toward Vaughan. A soft, bulky, white blur coming surprisingly fast. Fon's back was turned. He did not see it. My finger tightened on the trigger. It was only a few yards away. When he turned, I started to press the trigger.
[00:23:28] Speaker G: No. Sheareff. No.
[00:23:29] Speaker F: Richard.
[00:23:29] Speaker G: Hira. What are you doing here?
[00:23:30] Speaker F: Oh, darling, I was looking for you.
[00:23:32] Speaker G: I looked last night, too. Oh, Richard, you shouldn't have. It was foolish. Terribly foolish.
[00:23:37] Speaker F: Richard. There was something after me.
[00:23:38] Speaker G: I know it.
[00:23:39] Speaker F: That's why I was running.
[00:23:40] Speaker G: Hira. You shouldn't be out here alone.
[00:23:42] Speaker F: What about you?
Where's Chiravyev?
[00:23:44] Speaker G: He's up there on the rock, covering me with his rifle. I'm perfectly safe. I'll show you. I'll hold out my handkerchief like this. Now, Chiraviev. Put a hole in that.
[00:23:55] Speaker E: I stared for a moment at the white square of handkerchief, then at the white of her coat.
My lips were dry.
My finger felt numb on the trigger.
[00:24:06] Speaker G: Come on, Charavief. The handkerchief.
[00:24:09] Speaker E: Please God, don't let me miss.
[00:24:13] Speaker G: There. You see, my dear, I'm perfectly safe.
[00:24:17] Speaker E: They went down the path together and I followed after a moment, a hundred yards from the timber slide. I knew I was being followed even before I heard something in the brush behind me. I stopped and turned around, moved past me, cutting off my retreat. Now I stood alone in terror. But it was still in the brush. If only I could make the timber slide.
I got down safely.
I went straight to Vaughn. He came out of the house to talk to me. I told him what had happened. His reaction surprised me.
[00:24:51] Speaker G: Shiraviev, I'm sorry I had to leave you up there to face it alone. But I had to bring her down.
[00:24:56] Speaker E: Of course. I know that.
[00:24:57] Speaker G: And you must believe this. She never left me. We came down together. Arm in army. We came straight down. You must believe that.
[00:25:04] Speaker E: But of course. Why should I think differently?
[00:25:06] Speaker G: Then. Then you must realize, whoever it was up there in the brush following you, it couldn't have been Kira.
[00:25:12] Speaker E: Good heavens one do you think I believe that preposterous story?
[00:25:15] Speaker G: Well, didn't you even up there on the rock, when you hesitated about firing at the handkerchief, didn't you believe it might be Kira?
[00:25:24] Speaker E: No.
Why no, of course not.
But I did.
Von knew my thoughts almost better than I knew them myself.
Yes, that was why my lips were dry and my finger numb when I pressed the trigger.
I had refused to admit it, even to myself.
And now was I sure? Even now that night, Von was excited.
[00:25:50] Speaker G: We're going to get it tonight. After last night, it'll be there waiting for us.
[00:25:54] Speaker E: Yes, I think you are right.
But if you are, we wouldn't want anyone else to come walking in on us. It might cause confusion.
[00:26:01] Speaker G: Don't worry. Pierre has promised to stay at home. She says we're doing our duty and she won't interfere.
Do you think this is our duty?
[00:26:09] Speaker E: No.
[00:26:10] Speaker G: Neither do I.
I never feel that anything I enjoy can be my duty.
Now I really enjoy this. Tonight I'd like to be the bait.
[00:26:20] Speaker E: No, it's my turn. I won't give it up. Besides, if it's revenge you want, you have the gun.
[00:26:24] Speaker G: That's so. All right then. Tonight you'll be the bait.
[00:26:30] Speaker E: That night, for the first time, I regretted ever getting into this mess. As I paced up and down the path My nervousness grew. Tonight it would surely come. I felt it.
But would Von shoot straight and quick enough?
The hours went by. Clouds kept scudding over the moon. Leaving me in deep breath darkness for minutes at a time.
I was really beginning to be frightened. Then, a fraction of a second before it happened, I knew it was coming. There was a hot breath on my neck. A crushing weight on my shoulder. Something hard against my skull. And the crack of.
[00:27:04] Speaker G: Are you all right?
[00:27:05] Speaker E: Yes, I think so. What was it?
[00:27:07] Speaker G: A man. Come on. I'm going in office.
[00:27:09] Speaker E: All right, I'm coming.
Vaughn. Where did he go?
[00:27:13] Speaker G: I hardly believe it, but he went right into this hot spring under the rock.
[00:27:16] Speaker E: But there's hardly opening enough for a rabbit.
[00:27:18] Speaker G: He went under the water. Come on.
[00:27:20] Speaker E: Wait, Von. I'm coming with you.
We plunged into the spring, wriggling our way forward, not knowing what to expect. Vaughan held the rifle high above the water. But there wasn't room enough for our heads. We had to hold our breath and plunge forward. Luckily, it was only a few feet I emerged and took a breath.
Then I heard Vaughan. Fire.
[00:27:40] Speaker G: Got him.
[00:27:41] Speaker E: Where?
Shine the flashlight.
[00:27:43] Speaker G: There. At the other side of the cave.
[00:27:44] Speaker E: Yes.
Who would have thought there would be a cave here?
[00:27:48] Speaker G: Not that anyone could have gotten through that spring.
[00:27:50] Speaker E: It was a perfect hiding place.
[00:27:52] Speaker G: Yes, but it does him no good now. Turn him over. Let's see who our werewolf is.
[00:27:57] Speaker E: Yes, It's Weiss.
Joseph Weiss, the game warden's son.
[00:28:05] Speaker G: Why didn't we think of that?
We all knew he was not quite sane.
[00:28:09] Speaker E: More than that. He almost told us.
Remember? He said, I do not believe a man can turn himself into a wolf.
But I know why he'd want to.
[00:28:21] Speaker G: Yes, and he described the feeling. To walk wild and crouch at the knees.
[00:28:27] Speaker E: He knew that feeling.
He knew it too well.
Beside Joseph Weiss, we found a murder weapon. It was a patented animal killer. A heavy iron muzzle that gripped the scalp. A heavy spike that was released by a spring.
His hiding place was even more perfect than we had supposed.
When the magistrate investigated, he found a passage from that cave. Which led underground for more than a mile. And finally to the game warden's house. Where a ladder led into his cellar.
[00:29:02] Speaker G: Undoubtedly, Vyse found that dry underground river one day. And realized he could use it. Perhaps that is what caused his mind to snap.
[00:29:09] Speaker E: Yes. It released a long, pent up spring in him. Like that weapon he used. He saw that he could run in the woods like an animal. Disappearing and reappearing with perfect safety. It even offered a place to bury his victims without A trace.
[00:29:23] Speaker G: And so your theory proved correct. That there's a murderous primitive instinct lurking in some people. Yes, well, it's all explained. Excepting what he did with the bodies.
[00:29:35] Speaker E: It would serve no useful purpose to speculate on that now.
[00:29:40] Speaker G: Yes, I suppose you're right.
Kira, you haven't said anything.
[00:29:46] Speaker F: Why did you have to shoot him, Kira?
[00:29:49] Speaker G: He was a murderer. He tried to murder Charavief.
[00:29:53] Speaker F: Is it murder when a wolf kills a dumb animal frightened of intruders? Kira, you understand what I mean, don't you, Shiravia?
You understood that night when you shot the handkerchief, just as I have.
It might have happened to any of.
[00:30:10] Speaker G: Us, you see, Kira. What do you mean?
[00:30:13] Speaker F: Take me away from here, Richard.
Just take me away.
[00:30:17] Speaker G: Quickly.
[00:30:35] Speaker E: Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson, and tonight brought to you Taboo by Jeffrey Household. Adapted for radio by John Dunkle with Paul Fries as Shiroviev, Marta Mitrovich as Kira, and Morgan Farley as Bon. The special musical score was conceived and conducted by Cy Fuhrer.
Next week.
[00:30:54] Speaker D: You are standing on a bridge over our cross with a noose around your neck.
You have only a few seconds left to live.
A few seconds left to plan your escape.
[00:31:07] Speaker E: Next week, we escape with Ambrose Bierce's famous story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Good night, then, until the same time next week when we again offer you escape. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: That was Taboo from Escape here on the mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast once again. I'm Eric.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: I'm Tim.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: I am blown away by something I didn't.
[00:31:38] Speaker E: I.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: You know, when they give the credits, I should pay more attention. And I know 400 episodes into this thing, I should do a lot of stuff different.
That.
[00:31:49] Speaker G: That's profound.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: That wasn't William Conrad.
[00:31:54] Speaker C: William Conrad's in it as the gamekeeper's moronic son, but not as the narrator.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: That's not the narrator isn't Conrad.
[00:32:01] Speaker C: No.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: You're kidding me.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: I would have totally believed it.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: That's Paul Freeze.
[00:32:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
You know what gives it a lot like Paul Freeze?
[00:32:09] Speaker A: It sounds a lot like Conrad.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: Yes. I feel like it's Freeze doing a Conrad impersonation. But the dialect is good. Yes, to the extent that, like, I don't. I mean, no shade to William Conrad, but like a good dialect. That is hard.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: I think they have very different voices. I think the reason you get them confused is they would exchange doing the openings for Escape a lot. I think Paul Freeze definitely, when he introduces Escape, mimics the Conrad escape. He sounds More like Orson Welles.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: I thought it was Conrad trying to do a character voice. And then when Moron talked, I went.
[00:32:48] Speaker C: Oh, that must be Paul Freeze.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: I thought, oh, because they've done this before and Conrad's done it playing multiple characters frequently in old time radio. Went, oh. And I was going to rip him and say, ah, those two weren't different enough. Those two voices, they were too similar. And now I have nothing to talk about because I was wrong. It was not Conrad doing two voices.
Crazy. I'm glad you thought it was Conrad, too. Or at least it sounded like him.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Once it got to the credits. Oh, yeah, yeah. But just sort of lazy ear.
Yeah, sounds like Conrad.
[00:33:24] Speaker C: All right.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: I listened to this episode. That's pretty good.
And then I listened to it a second time, went, oh, that's so much better. This is so, so good. The second listen through.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Really?
[00:33:35] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:33:35] Speaker C: I agree with Tim.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Explain the journey.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: It was in particular getting to the end with the cousin. I don't exactly say what it was. We have a shared family history, which is a little alarmingly vague. But when she really talks about.
[00:33:54] Speaker C: Would.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: You be angry at the wolf for killing?
And the fact that they want to discuss what happened with the bodies and just hitting this theme of there are to hit the title, like Taboo mindsets that everyone has in this story, that you're not allowed to acknowledge them and that they come out, they get expressed in different ways. I felt like that was on the second go through. I had the themes clearer in my head and that became more evident to me. And it was the way it was articulated, I thought was really powerful.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Here we go.
Once again. I didn't see any layers or any themes.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: It caught me by surprise.
[00:34:37] Speaker C: Really. Well, it's in the title Taboo. So something's taboo.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I didn't stop to analyze that. I just went, oh, it's her, it's her. It's not her. Good story.
[00:34:50] Speaker C: Did you listen to a second time, though? Yes, because I think, like Tim, the first time, at least for me, I got sucked into who's the Werewolf?
Oh, it's obviously the moronic son. They emphasize that too much, A, for mystery purposes, and B, it's just a ridiculous way to phrase it so it stands out a mile. And they even put the bit of dialogue in at the end, like, wow, we really should have realized that.
On my first listened to it, I was like, yeah, you should. Yeah. Probably not bringing it to the podcast. I remember listening to this years and years ago and dismissed it as clunky. And then I listened to it again and realized, well, no, those two parts of it are clunky. And then on my second listen, like, Tim, I was like, oh, now, if you just listen to it, for the human story that's going on here, it's quite compelling. And Escape does everything perfectly in terms of balancing narration, sound, music to create tension and suspense.
So from a production side of things and a performance side of things, it's flawless to me. Despite those couple, what I would call adaptation flaws. Because I went back and read the original short story because I was really intrigued by what was going on in here. And the overemphasis of the gamekeeper's son as moronic isn't even in the story.
And they don't talk about him that much early on. So who the werewolf is is much better hidden in the story than it is in the adaptation. And I'm not sure why they put so much emphasis on that in this script. If it was a joke. I mean, they were kind of.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: I was in my head. Cause moron used to be a medical term.
[00:36:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: I don't know on the timeline of how that kind of connotation changed.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:44] Speaker C: What's weird, though, is once they meet, or our narrator, Paul Freeze, meets Joseph at the meeting, they're like, oh, he seems normal. I. I like this guy. And that's how he's depicted in the story. So I just didn't quite understand what the point was to put that at the front. Anyway, that's my main and only criticism of this. So I wanted to get that out of the way. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and we can get deeper into it.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Two things. First, you all keep saying, so we all knew it was the moronic son was the werewolf, not me.
I was thinking the whole time, oh, yeah, it's her.
I thought they were talking about him so much that it was a red herring.
[00:37:27] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:37:27] Speaker C: And it's fair.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: And I went, well, that's obviously not him. And it's more interesting and more compelling and more dastardly. And even when the white flash. And she runs up to him, that's a great. And, yeah. And he doesn't shoot her, luckily. And I thought, oh, she transformed back. Like she.
[00:37:46] Speaker C: You know what I mean?
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Like, I kept waiting for her to be the werewolf. So I never had that thought that it was that guy.
[00:37:52] Speaker C: I think that's a very legitimate reading of this. I think that was the intention.
They got me to have a number of potential suspects here.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: You guys keep talking about the human element. To me, it was a Straightforward story of who's the werewolf? Tell me what I'm missing.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: What do you think happened with the bodies?
[00:38:08] Speaker A: I don't know. There's the left out there to the.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: Venison they keep talking about. They had been eating human bodies.
There's your taboo number one.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: Did not catch that.
[00:38:21] Speaker C: And that was my problem. Listening to it is I felt they underscored venison too much. Because there's a point about halfway through where I go, oh, it's the gamekeeper. Because they're wondering what happened to the body and they keep talking about venison. I'm like, ah, yeah, they've been eating human flesh. Vincent Price is going to show up. It's a man. Some any minute now.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: So here's what I was thinking when I was hearing that. First of all, I'm guessing humans taste better than venison.
Second, tastes like pig.
[00:38:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: You can't hide venison in anything from me, by the way. You cannot hide it.
And if my brother in law is listening, stop putting venison in everything and getting me to eat it.
I took the references to venison and all the meat was to try to portray her as someone that wouldn't kill anything.
And she was so opposed to killing anything.
[00:39:13] Speaker C: I think it does that to throw us off.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: That's why I thought they kept referencing it.
[00:39:17] Speaker C: And that is closer to what they do in the short story. They don't keep hitting venison over and over again. So when it's initially brought up, it has a double usage in the story. They're laying the groundwork to have the revelation later of what the venison actually is. But exactly what you're saying in the story at least, and I think here in the radar adaptation as well, it's a way to get into this conversation about how much she doesn't want to harm another living thing.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: I caught onto it exactly when the story wanted me to, like at the very end.
[00:39:51] Speaker E: Huh.
[00:39:52] Speaker A: And I never did.
Was there a moment where they went, oh, no, we've been eating humans and I missed it?
[00:39:58] Speaker C: No.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: Okay, so not that dumb.
[00:40:00] Speaker C: What year was this? 1947. They could not have made it explicit. I think that's why they kept reminding you in the radio adaptation of venison, because they knew they couldn't say anything.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: What they said was, well, what happened to the bodies? Let's not talk about that.
[00:40:15] Speaker C: Oh, and earlier even someone is almost going to say it and they get cut off.
[00:40:22] Speaker A: How frustrated would the writers have been with me?
I didn't catch any of that.
[00:40:27] Speaker G: It's people.
[00:40:29] Speaker C: Soylene venison is made out of people.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: What are the other human things that you guys picked up in this?
[00:40:36] Speaker B: It was interesting to me was her sympathy for the game's keeper, for the gamekeeper, and what that means, which I don't have an answer for that I don't have a description, but that she had. At least by that point she understands what's been happening. And she has some relationship with this guy that is never depicted in here.
[00:40:57] Speaker C: Which guy? The narrator.
[00:40:58] Speaker B: Joseph.
[00:40:59] Speaker C: Oh, Joseph.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: The one who keeps bringing her food.
[00:41:01] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:41:02] Speaker B: So it's not clear, like, are they best buddies? Does he just drop by and like, here's your food?
It's fascinating to me when you see someone from the outside and their behavior is based on some feeling that is at a depth that I will never know.
[00:41:16] Speaker E: Right.
[00:41:17] Speaker C: I also think it was an interesting use of werewolf lore to create this metaphor of becoming a werewolf or imagining yourself as a werewolf was a way to shed human frailty and the scars and the damage of some kind of trauma in the past. For Joseph, it was very specific.
The prisoner of war camps.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:41:46] Speaker C: There was like something like 60,000 Hungarians in Russian prisoner of war camps, and they were pretty ugly. And this is referencing World War I.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:41:56] Speaker C: Because it's between the wars, based on what the narrator says at the top. And so obviously the cannibalism is also implied there. That's where Joseph gets cut off. He goes, like. When he's talking to everybody, he says, like, you don't know what hunger is. You never had to resort to. And his father goes, we don't want to talk about that.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: I never caught that. I mean, I remember that, but I just thought it was him, his son, not. Don't get riled up about that again.
[00:42:23] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think it was supposed to mask that. I just. Right. It was the emphasis of venison at the top. And I've just probably consumed too many cannibal stories.
I blame Specialty of the house.
[00:42:37] Speaker E: Right.
[00:42:37] Speaker B: That I go a gradation of how normal is it to say venison?
It doesn't often get said in my life. But if you're going to be talking about a story of these people who hunt and live by the woods, like, sure. Venison. That's the thing to talk about.
[00:42:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: Is there irony to the fact that they're talking about being hungry and they're from Hungary?
[00:42:59] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:43:02] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:43:02] Speaker B: I didn't catch that one.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: No, See, I caught something you didn't catch.
[00:43:05] Speaker E: Nice.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: Take that smarty guys.
[00:43:08] Speaker C: One of the things that I thought was really effective on that human level is that all of our characters express some sort of identification with Joseph's urge to sort of crouch down and run through the woods. We know that I'm forgetting her name. Richard's wife, the cousin. Were they cousins or just that they both. I think it's that they both had Slavic blood in them.
[00:43:33] Speaker A: That was all I got.
[00:43:34] Speaker C: The husband was from England.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Family that they come from the same.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: I caught that they were.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: They had that blood in their veins of. Of these people.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I just thought that they were similar.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Because beyond that, they're like, what is.
[00:43:48] Speaker C: Your relationship to each other? Like. Okay.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: But didn't they say at the beginning, he's a tourist and he's visiting and they are these guys and they just. They're. And they were the only tourists in town.
[00:43:58] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:43:59] Speaker C: But to this sort of point of how they're all connected is we know what happened to Joseph to make that reverting to some car inside a primitive animal.
Escape your humanity into the dark woods. Like, what made that appealing to Joseph. But I like that we don't know what in the background of our narrator and Richard's wife, like, what makes that appealing to them.
This idea that we can't possibly know what happens in people's lives that make them. Attempted to cross some line to break some taboo.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: I also really loved Richard's little bit of dialogue about doing his duty or his responsibility. Like, this is not doing my duty because I like doing it.
[00:44:45] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great line.
A couple of the experimental things that Paul Freeze does as a narrator, where he begins the narration and using his Paul Fries American accent. And then as he starts to talk about why he was drawn back to the Carpathian Mountains, he slowly puts on the Hungarian accent, which I thought was really effective. What I admired but didn't think was effective. That sort of took me out was the moment where he goes underwater and does, like, the merman.
Yeah. Where I'm like, points for trying, but it's just too silly. I'm out.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: You didn't need to do the bubbles.
[00:45:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: Or the gurgling.
[00:45:32] Speaker B: You just go.
[00:45:32] Speaker C: And silence would have been really effective. And then come up and continue narrating. That's the same thing. I thought, like, that would have been perfect. But I love that he was.
[00:45:43] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:45:43] Speaker C: Playing around with what you could do with narration.
[00:45:46] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:45:47] Speaker C: Oh. The one thing I just have to share because it's weirdly unexplained in the radio play. And I don't know why they didn't include that in the radio play. But in the short story they explained why there was that little bit of brain matter that they said looked like it came from like a knife or a bird beak. An arrow or a bird beak.
Maybe I'm blurring them, but I don't think they ever explain it. Right. In the I don't think so radio play. In the short story it's that he's a gamekeeper. Well, actually in the short story he's a shepherd specifically. So it was the humane, it sounds awful way of killing animals where it's.
[00:46:26] Speaker B: Like they do explain that the spring loaded.
[00:46:27] Speaker C: The spring loaded. Do they do that in the radio player?
[00:46:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:30] Speaker C: They couldn't find. Okay, I missed it entirely. It's given more emphasis in the short story, which is gruesome as well.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: That moment was off me. Like you can just ID brain matter.
[00:46:42] Speaker C: What I think is interesting about that tool is it seems horrific to us being applied to a human despite it being considered a humane way to kill animals.
Right. So it has a little irony there.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: Any final thoughts, gentlemen? On anything.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: It was a real treat on sort of both takes of it. The just performance of a fun story.
[00:47:07] Speaker C: Fun is the wrong word. Sorry.
[00:47:10] Speaker B: What a good time.
[00:47:11] Speaker C: Yay.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: But you know, compelling sort of action, compelling performers and then the opportunity to see the engine underneath.
I really like stories like that. Sorry, I'm not voting properly. I would call this a classic.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:47:27] Speaker C: For me, a few small missteps keep it from being a classic. But that might just be that difference in interpretation. The fact that I feel like some of the clues were heavy handed and they got in my way. My initial listening. And maybe I'm blaming the radio show for my own shortcomings.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: That's what you always do.
[00:47:50] Speaker C: But it's a phenomenal and really fascinating production. I definitely think it stands the test of time. I feel like in some ways that idea of how a traumatic experience in our past can really inform our behavior, even horrendous behavior, seems a little in terms of old time radio, at least not necessarily in fiction being published at the time, but in terms of old time radio ahead of its time.
And you can tell they were trying to push the envelope because they had to really dance around the cannibalism.
[00:48:26] Speaker A: Right. I think it was really good and Escape is really good and this was no different.
I don't find it to be a classic and I didn't find the story that compelling. But I didn't find it bad either. I Thought it was really good and a nice piece of radio drama, but it did not exceed anything like, oh, that was really amazing.
Yeah, it was great.
So that's where. That's it for me. Even after listening to you guys and going, oh, look at all the stuff I missed.
I think I probably would have had a lot more fun had I realized that they were eating humans.
[00:49:12] Speaker C: I'm going to quote you on that. Yeah.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: Put that on a shirt.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: Put it on a bib.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Tim, tell him stuff.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: Please. Go. Visit ghoulishlights.com, you'll find other episodes of our podcast there. But of course, our podcast is everywhere you get your podcasts from. It's weird.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: Look out your window.
[00:49:32] Speaker B:
[email protected] you can find other stuff that we do. You'll find information about our shows. You'll find information about our Patreon page.
[00:49:41] Speaker C: Yes. Go to patreon.com themorals and you know what isn't taboo? Supporting this podcast that is socially acceptable in every context, every culture across the globe. We have supporters from at least two countries, maybe three.
So sign up and support this podcast.
We really, really appreciate it.
[00:50:08] Speaker A: And the mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Theater company does recreations of classic old time radio shows and a lot of her own original work radio drama live on stage, us performing it. You can see us performing live by going to ghoulishdelights.com and there you'll find out what we're performing, when, where, and how to get tickets. And if you can't make it to our shows, wherever they are at, if you become a Patreon, we record the audio. And that's another perk of being a Patreon. You get the audio recordings of those shows.
[00:50:43] Speaker C: I should just apologize right now that I'm very behind on releasing those audio recordings. Every time we record an episode and you say that, I'm like, but you are gonna get a big fat dose of them.
[00:50:57] Speaker A: That's a terrible. You're terrible at this.
[00:51:01] Speaker C: Sign up today.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: What's coming up next?
[00:51:04] Speaker B: It's Eric's episode.
[00:51:06] Speaker A: Is it mine?
[00:51:06] Speaker E: It is.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: Well, I'm very excited because we're gonna delve into a brand new series. Well, it's not brand new. New to us. I'd never listened to before. A series called High Adventure and an episode called the Keeper of the Tomb. Until then, look out.
[00:51:23] Speaker G: Well, it's all explained excepting what he did with the bodies. It's people.
[00:51:31] Speaker C: Soylene venison is made out of people.
