In this chilling episode, we delve into the haunting world of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," adapted for the Mystery Theater by George Loper. Our story begins with Gabriel Mannering, who arrives at the ominous House of Usher to visit his friend Roderick Usher. As Gabriel navigates the eerie corridors and encounters the unsettling presence of Madeline Usher, he becomes ensnared in the house's sinister grip. The narrative unfolds with a sense of impending doom, as Roderick reveals the family's cursed history and the fear of being buried alive, a fate that once befell their mother.
As the story progresses, the atmosphere grows increasingly tense, with strange sounds echoing through the house and the line between life and death blurring. Gabriel's promise to Madeline to ensure she is not buried alive becomes a central theme, leading to a climactic confrontation with the supernatural. The episode captures the essence of Poe's gothic horror, culminating in the dramatic collapse of the House of Usher, symbolizing the end of a cursed lineage. Join us as we explore the depths of fear and madness in this timeless tale of terror.
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Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Welcome to the sounds of dissent, to the fear you can hear. Horror that makes the flesh crawl as with maggots. Terror that turns the brain to jelly. These marks the work of Edgar Allan Poe. For nearly a century and a half, readers have wondered that the mad creations of his fevered brain, even as their blood ran cold with fear, as shall yours. Our mystery drama, The fall of the house of Usher was especially adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe classic for the mystery theater by George Loper and stars Kevin McCarthy.
I'll be back shortly with act
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one.
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I must warn you that there lies ahead for you a tale so gruesome that when it ends, you will know beyond doubt that never in your life before have you experienced such revulsion. Are you prepared for this? Come then to a certain room where a man named Gabriel Mannering sits writing in his diary. A certain room in the house of Usher.
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I sit here writing this diary, when in truth were I not a fool, I should have already departed this frightful place. Already, I have sent such horrors in these first hours of my visit that I I trembled the thought of what may be in store for my friend Roderick Usher and for me. During the whole of this dull dark autumn day, I had passed on horseback through a singularly dreary tract of of country and at length found myself as the shades of evening grew on within a view of this bleak and melancholy house, the house of Usher. I felt it once an iciness, a sickening of my heart, and wondered what it was that so unnerved me.
I was soon to wait out.
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You'd be mister Mannering, sir? Yes.
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My mother, with you one moment. One moment. My horse. Oh, we'd be well cared for sir. Oh, that carriage standing there, that black carriage, is there another visitor? Only the doctor. He is attending, miss Madeline. This waiter. Thank you.
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Follow me now, sir.
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Mhmm. We turn here the passage on our left. Mhmm. Now this to the right. I had no idea.
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The house of Usher was so vast.
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Yes. Vast above and below. Below?
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There are chambers underground, vaults, dungeons that even I have never seen, and I have lived here as servant to mister Asher more than thirty years.
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Here we are, sir. Come.
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Here we are, sir. Come. Mister Gabriel Mannering, sir. Gabriel, my dear good friend, you've come you've come at last. Roderick,
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I came immediately on receipt of your letter. It gave me cause for concern, deep concern contents were a shock. How ill are you? Ill? I'm not ill. Not ill? But in your letter I am not ill. Oh, I I I may have mentioned something of a sort in my native and More than mentioned, you spoke of acute bodily illness, of oppressive mental disorder, of a malady, a malady, dear friend. So strange you could not bear to face it alone. Now that is why I'm here. That is why I came at once. But terrible agitation in your letter. Oh, mood. Mood. Mood. It was nothing but mood. Mood at the moment. Nothing more. Nothing more. Come now. No.
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Kato, the point. Good. Good. Good. Thank you. Thank you. I I I I'll I'll call. And, oh, Keto. Sir? Doctor, Wyndham is with my sister still?
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Yes, sir. I would speak with him before he takes his leave if he feels I can bear to Sir? Nothing. Nothing. Just just say I wish to see him. Yes, sir.
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The vintage Port Gabriel, you'll enjoy it. Its its aroma, its fragrant bouquet will delight your love. Its taste will fall sweet on your tongue. Your
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your health, good friend. And yours, Radley.
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Hey, Tell me about yourself, Gabriel. How has life gone with you all these years? Oh, as all lives go, I suppose,
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has been the good, the bad, indifference. Yes. But mine has been mostly bad. Yes. I prospered my importing in Baton Rouge. Ruination that's been my lot, my fate, the fate of the house of our children. Well, if if you are financially in need No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. I I I speak of another kind of ruination, decadence. I speak of the evil, the evil that moldeth within my body, my mind,
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my house. House?
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Oh, no. No houses. The tomb. The tomb that houses the living dead. You are ill? Yes. Yes. I lied. I I am ill with what? With what?
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With with fear. Fear.
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Of what? I do not. For what do we all fear, each of us? What living thing has has not known fear? It lives within us, this fear. It's oh, what's within us as I rot within this house, but not you, good friend. Whereas with others, fear rides like a restless maggot only now and again with me. With me, they are present, colorless slime growing within me, spreading, engulfing, drowning me. Drowning me. Monet, don't you look? I'm alright now. I'm alright. You you must go. Go? Well, you shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have asked you. You must leave this house. This house of death. This this this tune. Stop it. Now stop. I tell you Enough.
Enough now. Here. Sit down. Compose yourself. Now hear me, Roderick. I came a great distance through the fallest time of the year to be with you. And here I shall stay until you are well again. Oh, you don't understand. I shall never get well. Of course, you will. Oh, no. No. She is dying, you see. And I I Your sister? Is it she who is dying? Yes. Yes, madam. But it's she who is dying. If it is You don't you don't understand.
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You don't understand.
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Come in. Doctor Windham. Fine. Come in, doctor. Thank you, Cato. May I introduce myself, doctor? Mister Usher, as you see, is not himself. I'm a friend of his, Gabriel Manning of Baton Rouge. Oh, I mean, Elvis Wyndham.
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I didn't treat your pardon. Both are huge.
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No. No. Rondrey. Well, look. My nerves. My nerves sometimes. Yes. I know. And I'm sure mister Mannering understands. You've been taking the laudanum, my prescriber.
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I I used the last. Only yesterday. Well, I'll see if you get more. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you.
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My sister,
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there's no change. How long? How long? Before death. I don't know. Your sister's malady baffles me. I don't know what is killing her, nor do I know what keeps her alive when in truth, she's all but dead. Now would
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it be an impertinence, doctor, for me to ask you what you mean by that? Well, no no, it's mattering. Quite simply, there have been times when my Sasha,
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Madeline has been devoid of all vital signs. And by this, I mean, I've been unable at these times to detect the pulse, blood pressure, any respiration whatsoever. Mhmm. Yes. And yet moments later, she's opened her eyes
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and returned to the world of the living. So Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh
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Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh R
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Now, Roderick, you must not I tell you, we are like this house, my sister and I. We are this house. The house is us. The house is dead, and yet it stands.
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Your aberration about this, hun There is no aberration.
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It's the truth.
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The house of Usher crumbles, yet it will not fall. Madeline, I understand that she will not die. And as for me,
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oh, what's that in the horror of the noise?
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I'll send the laudanum as soon as possible, mister Mannery. There's little else I can do. Yes. I have other patients to attend. Thank heaven it's a moonlit night, but I have many miles to travel. Right.
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Right, Roderick? Yes. I guess. Roderick, I want to help you in every way I that's why I'm here. But now, you must do your part to help yourself. What do you mean? Well, I could be wrong, but it it seems to me you let yourself go to pieces all too easily. This this talk, this wild talk of your sister, Madeline, being dead and yet alive, and I let's nonsense you know. No. No. No. Yes. Well, I well, I'll agree with you with one thing and one thing only. In a way, you have become this damnable house. No healthy, sane man could live here for long without beginning to lose his sanity, without serious damage to his nervous system.
I've never seen such gloom inside as well as out. This very room reeks of dejection, despondency, undusted cobweb furnishings, black drapes covering the window. Here, let me throw them back and at least get some moonlight, if not sunlight, into this place. There. That's Roderick. What is it? There's a graveyard. I can see it in the moonlight.
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The family graveyard. Yes. Who
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who would be walking in it at night? What do you see? Where do you see that? There. Amidst the headstones. It's a man who what is he doing out there? We better go and find out. Good lord. In the doorway. What is it?
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Maggie,
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am I that horrifying to look upon, dear brother?
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Madeline Usher walks among the headstones I'll be back shortly with act two. Again, I must ask if you wish to go on and warn that if you do, you will experience that kind of horror for which I can find no words. Even Gabriel Mannering, writing in his diary, found it difficult to express his feelings in that moment of first meeting with Madeline Usher.
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I seek and cannot find words to recreate the terror of that moment. Not a woman, but a corpse stood before us in the doorway of that awful room. The very woman or corpse, if you will, that but an instant before, Roderick Usher and I had glimpsed in the moonlight graveyard beyond the window. If she is alive, I thought she should be dead. Oh. Fabulously, I said, you are Madeline Usher? Yes. How do you do? I'm Gabriel Mannering.
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I know. You winced as you took my hand. What? You felt it. Coldness. No. No. No. No. No. I,
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Yes.
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You need not dissemble with me. Even now, you'll find it hard not to stare at the dark patches of my safety. The putrescence that lives. Yes. Yes. Thrives in my dying flesh.
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Madeline, my dearest sister, you should be lying down, resting.
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You mustn't waste your energy. I wanted to meet your friend. Someone from the world of life outside this house, this tomb. I wanted
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this needed. Uh-huh. Oh, no. Stop calling. Catherine.
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I put her on the couch, Gabriel. No. No. No. No. No. Still, we'll we'll carry her to her room.
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No pulse. No heartbeat. Is she? What? It's
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it's impossible to think. Can you carry her along? She weighs nothing. Oh, follow me then.
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Oh, what evil stalks the house of Usher. Help us, dear lord. Please help
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us. Put her down, Gabriel. Gabriel in what? In that?
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It. It's her bed. A coffin.
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But nevertheless, it is her bed. It's where she rests and sleeps. And haven't you noticed
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what she's wearing isn't a light dress? A shroud? Yes.
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She's been ready for her burial for nearly a year now. Oh, lord Brooke. See? Her eyes her eyes are flushed. I have taken my oath. She was Not yet. Not yet. Gabriel, my friend, come. Will you don't leave her like this alone? No company to cheer. Once she wakes, she may not wake him again for days. She may not wake him again. Come? No. I don't wake him. There's something something about her. Something in her face that's it reminds me. Of course, it's it's you. Oh, you You see that Mhmm. The family resemblance. Obvious.
In spite of what the intimacy of death has done to the face, the resemblance
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is still that. More than a resemblance, Gabriel.
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What do you mean? We
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are twins.
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As my friends spoke those words in that chamber of death, a curious change came into his face. It floats before me even now as I write a complexion, gone so suddenly cadaverous. His eyes large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison. Thin and padded lips gone thinner, paler. For a moment, he seemed scarce human. I had tried to calm his fevered nerves by telling him it was his sister, not he who was dying. And he had cried out, Oh, you don't understand. You don't understand. And now, in an instant, I did understand or at least the shadow of what he meant touched me. And I was filled with a dread, a loathing of what was to come that I cannot fully express. Had I known the full truth of what lay before us, my loathing would have increased a hundredfold, and I should have fled the house of Usher then and there. Certainly, I should not have found myself at breakfast with Usher the following morning.
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Another helping, mister Mannering. No more, Kato.
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And then I can give you the message. A message from whom?
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Miss Madeline. She wishes to see you at your convenience. Well done.
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Go to her. Of course. Now why do you look at me like that? And now why do you turn away? Cato, face me. Look at me. What is it? Cato? Is it the odor? Yes. You best not go, Gabriel. Or if you do, another time. I don't understand. The odor, the stench of pewter fashion gets stronger at times than at others. And you mean that she take me to miss Madeleine at once, Kate? No. No. It will sit in you, you naughty H. O. Even in fact Well, it can kill me and be damned to it, but I'll not disregard a last push of a dying woman. Unlike you, Roderick, I do not fear
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death.
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Miss Usher, Madeline. Are you too tired to speak now? No. Would you prefer it? I came back another time.
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How good of you to come at all.
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It's a privilege to be of use to you.
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Favor. I wish
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a favor. Anything in my power. I want
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to die. I'm in such pain and I want to die but I cannot. Cannot? I'm I'm afraid. There's nothing to fear.
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Just don't be asleep. I'll dream your sleep. Don't fear that. I don't
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I fear. I fear.
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You'll fear for Bury over Eliza.
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Why would you have such a fear? What makes you think you might be buried alone? My mama.
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She? Oh, promise.
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Now, spare yourself. Spare yourself. You need say no more. I promise. I promise you You will not be married alive. Rest. Rest now. Rest. That is what you meant, Roderick. Is it not? Like her, like your twin, you don't fear death so much as you fear being buried alone. You know, I That's part of it. Yeah. Yes. Only part? Well, I fear
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oh, god. More than I can tell you. I I I I I fear what happens in death. Another aberration.
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As with the house, so with this. You are a man given to aberration. And what of that? You make this little since it's Wyndham. Is it because you call a thing an aberration? It'll go away, but it will cure itself if you but name it. Reason, common sense. Return, common sense. When you speak to me, to me, and Usher
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of reason and common sense.
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Do you not know of the madness that has tainted this family through its history? From the beginnings of the house of Usher, this house, this this family, until now, until Madeleine and me,
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the The last of the ushers, from beginning to end, from rise to
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to fall. What?
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Rise to fall. From rise
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to fall. I I had not thought of it before, but that is what it will be when
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when when she and I are dead, it will be the fall the fall of the house of a girl.
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Yes, Cato? The Lordman, sir, from down the window. Oh, thank heavens because it's come none too soon.
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Mister Mannery. Sir? What? Oh, yes. Yes, Kato. You've been sitting here in the graveyard for nearly two hours.
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That long? Yes, sir.
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Tell me, Kato, how long have you been servant to mister Asher?
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More than thirty years, sir. But I I thought I told you that the night you arrived just a week ago. Did you? Now then I forgot.
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Were you here when the mother died? The mother of mister Roderick and miss Madeline?
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Why do you ask such a question, miss Madeline? I don't know. I don't know really except
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I've been dwelling on what miss Madeline told me about her mother. Buried alive. Was she indeed? Sir,
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don't ask such questions. Don't dwell on such thought. Why not?
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It was discovered the mother had been buried alive. Yes. Tell me about it.
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Sir, I entreat you. Understand. You cannot stay in the house of Usher. No one can without something. I I know not what but something evil taking possession of his mind, his spirit, his very soul. It will happen to you.
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It is happening to you. No.
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You've been drawn here to this spot. You've been sitting here in the damp and chill for hours because you too have taken the first step toward madness.
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How did they discover
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she'd been buried alive? Sir, I beg you. Turn your thoughts away from How? If you must hear it, a few weeks after she had been buried, the coffin placed in that vault you see under the trees, it was discovered that she had been buried wearing a valuable ring. A ring? It contained a stone worth a fortune. It had been Tell me about it. She had always worn it, and when the undertaker encoffined her, he neglected to remove it. He had no idea of its worth, or surely he'd have inquired whether the family wished her to wear it to the grave. And as you will understand, such was miss Madeline's and mister Rodrick's grief.
They didn't think of the ring until weeks later.
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And decided to retrieve it. Yes.
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We went to the vault,
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the three of us. Slid back the slab that covers it and,
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sir, let us go in.
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Finish finish what you're telling me.
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Bare lay the coffin. The lid was in two parts. A lower part that covered her body from the waist down, an upper part from the waist up. This I pried up, and there, there go on. She lay face down. Her hands her hands had torn chunks of hair out by the roots. Such was the agony of terror. Hands like a claws.
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They have become rigid in the depths, Rose.
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Yes. Yes. We
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turned her over. Her face oh my god. We will. Her face I
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I cannot describe. I I I cannot. I cannot. I cannot. I I thought. Enough.
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Enough, thanks. Oh. Sheila
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is getting to me. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
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No
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What is it, ma'am? A corpse. A corpse. Oh, Maxine. Dead. She's dead.
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What what is it? She tried to take me to the grave with her. She tried to drag me into her coffin. No. No. No. Roderick. Roderick, pull yourself together and tell us. I I went to her chamber to see how she was.
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I called her name
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again and again and no answer. I felt for a pulse. None.
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I I threw my head against her breast. No heartbeat. And then, oh,
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god. Her arms were entwined around my neck and cold arms around my neck. And I tried. I tried to break break free, but I couldn't. I couldn't.
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I grabbed the wrist, and I tore I tore her arms. Yeah. Sir, I got him. Help me carry him inside.
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Oh, no. I'll be calm, kid.
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When mister Usher tore himself free, he must have dragged her half out of the coffin. Come. We must put her back in. Cato.
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I dare not touch her.
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Very well. There. Is
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she at last dead?
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She seems so. Ride for the doctor. Tell him to come at once. Yes, sir.
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Sir, you mean to stay here? Yes. But I will be gone at least two hours.
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If you you change your mind And grab the ring. Find your way back to the library. That maze of cargo. Don't worry about it. I shall stay here. I made her she'd not be buried alive and I mean to keep that promise, Kato. Beginning now.
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Alone in that chamber of death within the house of Usher, Gabriel Mannering keeps himself beside the coffin of Madeline Usher to keep his vigil and his promise. And wonders if he himself may not be going mad. I'll be back shortly with act three. Terror so awful as to shatter the human mind haunts the house of Usher, hangs like a shroud in the air, drips on the spirit like the very slime upon the decaying walls. As Gabriel Mannering sits beside the coffin of Madeleine Usher, he feels this terror seeping into him.
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Seeping into me like a rising tide of pollution. Cato said he would be gone two hours in catching doctor Wyndham. But to me, it seemed like twenty before I heard his returning footsteps.
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You don't look well. I'm alright. Sir, you deceive yourself. And don't mind. I haven't seen a massage here. And then, kiddo.
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First.
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Is she?
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No. There's no heart beating. None whatever.
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No pulse. No vital signs at all. She is gone then.
[00:31:29] Unknown:
Mister Mannering, I have attended her in this strange illness for nearly a year. I've seen her in this state four times before. What's to be done?
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What indeed? Well,
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I would wait a few days at least and then and then I should bury her.
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No. No? She feared to be buried alive.
[00:31:53] Unknown:
Yes. I know her mother. You attended her? No. No. Another man. From what I've been able to learn, I judge her illness as similar justice. Unaccountable is baffling. Well, mister Menning, she did indeed fear the same fate her mother suffered, but I think that after, after, say, three or four days I say no.
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At least at least a week. No. No. Two. Even three.
[00:32:20] Unknown:
You don't know what you're saying.
[00:32:22] Unknown:
You can't keep a body for two or three weeks, especially
[00:32:26] Unknown:
hers. Why especially hers? Well, look at her, man. Here. See? Under the skin of the cheeks, those gray patches, she's
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partially decomposed already. I gave her my word, doctor. I said we would make sure.
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There is an evil in this house, a sinister, malevolent thing that fastened itself on the ushers years ago and is beginning to fasten itself on you. I'm not I'm not me out. I have not seen you in some days. The moment I came into this room, I saw it. I tell you I saw it. The change in you. The sickening in you. The I do not use this word lightly, mister Marine. The insanity in you.
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You are right. I gave Matanesh her my word. She would not be buried alive and she will not be. Now,
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I see that I cannot persuade you. Very well. Do as you wish. And may God help you.
[00:33:45] Unknown:
I stayed by her coffin for yet another hour or so, making sure there were no signs of life. Then I returned to the library, led there, of course, by Cato for I well, I could never have found my own way through that maze of corridors and passages. I found Roderick Usher seated bolt upright in a wing chair, staring at I know not quite. I Roderick. Roderick, I must talk to you. Do you hear me? Yes. Now, Rodrig, as I told you, I promised your sister to take every precaution against her being buried alive. She is dead. I know it in my heart and my soul. I know it. I believe so too, but we must be certain.
Now that presents a problem. Roderick, are you listening? Problem. Yes. Decomposition. If she is dead, she will decompose. And after a period of days, well, if you could imagine Days? Days of what? Of visiting her coffin at least every twelve hours, say, to make sure she's dead. Are you mad? We must keep her body. One week, two. And the question is, where? Well, we'll have to leave the coffin open in case she should regain her senses. On the other hand, if she is indeed dead, Ian. Well, there are there there there are walls deep down beneath the house. We could put the coffin in one of those. Good.
Good. We'll do that then. Yes. We'll do just that. Together, Usher and I arranged for the temporary entombment of Madeline, his twin. The vault, so long and open that our torches were half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission of life, lying at great depth beneath the house. There. There. There, Gabriel. It is done. We must come here again in no more than twelve hours. As you say. As you say. Before he was shown a theory, Madeline, or he'd become so compliant, agree so readily with what I said.
Don't know how to ask myself that question, but I did not. And I experienced an unexpected problem. Why do you not believe me? It isn't I don't believe you, Roderick. I wish to be for myself. There is no need for you to it. I have done it. You have. I have visited the coffin at least once every twelve hours, sometimes twice. She does not live. It's my word for it. It is my word concerns me. I gave my word to her, not yours. She is dead. I assure you, she's dead. The first of that time, the sounds began. Strange knockings, creaking, perhaps had begun before, but I had not at first. I would hear some curious sound from below and say to Roderick, what was that? What was what? Listen.
What is that? Rats, perhaps? Rats? Were you The house is vested with them. I've never rats make sound like that. I answered all time on. And it seemed to me the sounds blubber, and I would say to Roger, listen. And he would answer. A door banging in the wind somewhere. And I would say there is no wind that he would answer. But let him somebody else don't bother me. And on that fatal night, that fatal night, as we sat in the library, he's sitting, staring naked with nothing, trying to read, but my mind saw that awful chain of death far below. Outside the wind gathering for a storm, it happened.
I came aware of distinct hollow metallic and muffled reverberation, complete unnerved. Iaped to my feet and looked at Usher. His eyes were fixed before him, and throughout his whole comments, there reigned a strong rigidity. I said, Roderick, do we not hear it? Yes. I hear it and have heard it as you have. Long, long, many minutes, many hours and days I dared not speak. No. No. That's me not. I am accursed. Cursed. For I heard this hunt is dead you, but I dared not speak and dared not go. Not go.
[00:38:41] Unknown:
My god. Are you telling that not once not once have I gone out to sea? I dare not. I dare not. We put a living in the tomb.
[00:38:52] Unknown:
This comes. She comes.
[00:38:55] Unknown:
For me, listen. Listen. Now listen. I know. You've heard the rending of half of the grating and iron hinges of a prison. Our struggles within the current archway of the ball. And now now he comes The moment she'll be here. I hear her footsteps, her stare.
[00:39:17] Unknown:
I hear
[00:39:18] Unknown:
the horrible beating of her heart. She comes for me. She comes I tell you, she stands outside the door. And as if in the superhuman energy of his utterance, there had been found the potency of a spell, a huge antique pass to which he pointed, drew slowly back. And outside those doors did stand the towering and then salted figure of Miss Madeline. And there was blood on her white robe evidence of some bitter struggle on every portion of her putref on her frame. For an instance, she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold. Then with a moaning cry, fell heavily in down her brother and in her balance.
And now final deathbaggers will bore him to the floor.
[00:40:16] Unknown:
A corpse, a to the terrors
[00:40:21] Unknown:
of all he had anticipated.
[00:40:28] Unknown:
This is E. G. Marshall. I shall return
[00:40:33] Unknown:
shortly.
[00:40:41] Unknown:
The manuscript of the fall of House of Usher ends thus. I fled from the house, leaving all behind me. As I ran, I heard a sound so horrendous. It made me stop and turn. My brain reeled. Just looking back, I saw the mighty walls of the house burst asunder. And in a few moments, the moon, breaking through scudding clouds. A blood red moon revealed the end. The fall of House of Usher. Our cast included Kevin McCarthy, Arnold Moss, Marion Sotis, and Robert Biden. The entire production was under direction of Hyman Brock. The entire production was under direction of Hyman Buck.
[00:41:48] Unknown:
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[00:00:47] Unknown:
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Welcome to the sounds of dissent, to the fear you can hear. Horror that makes the flesh crawl as with maggots. Terror that turns the brain to jelly. These marks the work of Edgar Allan Poe. For nearly a century and a half, readers have wondered that the mad creations of his fevered brain, even as their blood ran cold with fear, as shall yours. Our mystery drama, The fall of the house of Usher was especially adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe classic for the mystery theater by George Loper and stars Kevin McCarthy.
I'll be back shortly with act
[00:02:02] Unknown:
one.
[00:02:03] Unknown:
I must warn you that there lies ahead for you a tale so gruesome that when it ends, you will know beyond doubt that never in your life before have you experienced such revulsion. Are you prepared for this? Come then to a certain room where a man named Gabriel Mannering sits writing in his diary. A certain room in the house of Usher.
[00:02:35] Unknown:
I sit here writing this diary, when in truth were I not a fool, I should have already departed this frightful place. Already, I have sent such horrors in these first hours of my visit that I I trembled the thought of what may be in store for my friend Roderick Usher and for me. During the whole of this dull dark autumn day, I had passed on horseback through a singularly dreary tract of of country and at length found myself as the shades of evening grew on within a view of this bleak and melancholy house, the house of Usher. I felt it once an iciness, a sickening of my heart, and wondered what it was that so unnerved me.
I was soon to wait out.
[00:03:35] Unknown:
You'd be mister Mannering, sir? Yes.
[00:03:38] Unknown:
My mother, with you one moment. One moment. My horse. Oh, we'd be well cared for sir. Oh, that carriage standing there, that black carriage, is there another visitor? Only the doctor. He is attending, miss Madeline. This waiter. Thank you.
[00:03:57] Unknown:
Follow me now, sir.
[00:04:02] Unknown:
Mhmm. We turn here the passage on our left. Mhmm. Now this to the right. I had no idea.
[00:04:11] Unknown:
The house of Usher was so vast.
[00:04:15] Unknown:
Yes. Vast above and below. Below?
[00:04:21] Unknown:
There are chambers underground, vaults, dungeons that even I have never seen, and I have lived here as servant to mister Asher more than thirty years.
[00:04:33] Unknown:
Here we are, sir. Come.
[00:04:37] Unknown:
Here we are, sir. Come. Mister Gabriel Mannering, sir. Gabriel, my dear good friend, you've come you've come at last. Roderick,
[00:04:44] Unknown:
I came immediately on receipt of your letter. It gave me cause for concern, deep concern contents were a shock. How ill are you? Ill? I'm not ill. Not ill? But in your letter I am not ill. Oh, I I I may have mentioned something of a sort in my native and More than mentioned, you spoke of acute bodily illness, of oppressive mental disorder, of a malady, a malady, dear friend. So strange you could not bear to face it alone. Now that is why I'm here. That is why I came at once. But terrible agitation in your letter. Oh, mood. Mood. Mood. It was nothing but mood. Mood at the moment. Nothing more. Nothing more. Come now. No.
[00:05:42] Unknown:
Kato, the point. Good. Good. Good. Thank you. Thank you. I I I I'll I'll call. And, oh, Keto. Sir? Doctor, Wyndham is with my sister still?
[00:05:54] Unknown:
Yes, sir. I would speak with him before he takes his leave if he feels I can bear to Sir? Nothing. Nothing. Just just say I wish to see him. Yes, sir.
[00:06:09] Unknown:
The vintage Port Gabriel, you'll enjoy it. Its its aroma, its fragrant bouquet will delight your love. Its taste will fall sweet on your tongue. Your
[00:06:20] Unknown:
your health, good friend. And yours, Radley.
[00:06:26] Unknown:
Hey, Tell me about yourself, Gabriel. How has life gone with you all these years? Oh, as all lives go, I suppose,
[00:06:33] Unknown:
has been the good, the bad, indifference. Yes. But mine has been mostly bad. Yes. I prospered my importing in Baton Rouge. Ruination that's been my lot, my fate, the fate of the house of our children. Well, if if you are financially in need No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. I I I speak of another kind of ruination, decadence. I speak of the evil, the evil that moldeth within my body, my mind,
[00:07:04] Unknown:
my house. House?
[00:07:07] Unknown:
Oh, no. No houses. The tomb. The tomb that houses the living dead. You are ill? Yes. Yes. I lied. I I am ill with what? With what?
[00:07:28] Unknown:
With with fear. Fear.
[00:07:32] Unknown:
Of what? I do not. For what do we all fear, each of us? What living thing has has not known fear? It lives within us, this fear. It's oh, what's within us as I rot within this house, but not you, good friend. Whereas with others, fear rides like a restless maggot only now and again with me. With me, they are present, colorless slime growing within me, spreading, engulfing, drowning me. Drowning me. Monet, don't you look? I'm alright now. I'm alright. You you must go. Go? Well, you shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have asked you. You must leave this house. This house of death. This this this tune. Stop it. Now stop. I tell you Enough.
Enough now. Here. Sit down. Compose yourself. Now hear me, Roderick. I came a great distance through the fallest time of the year to be with you. And here I shall stay until you are well again. Oh, you don't understand. I shall never get well. Of course, you will. Oh, no. No. She is dying, you see. And I I Your sister? Is it she who is dying? Yes. Yes, madam. But it's she who is dying. If it is You don't you don't understand.
[00:09:05] Unknown:
You don't understand.
[00:09:07] Unknown:
Come in. Doctor Windham. Fine. Come in, doctor. Thank you, Cato. May I introduce myself, doctor? Mister Usher, as you see, is not himself. I'm a friend of his, Gabriel Manning of Baton Rouge. Oh, I mean, Elvis Wyndham.
[00:09:26] Unknown:
I didn't treat your pardon. Both are huge.
[00:09:28] Unknown:
No. No. Rondrey. Well, look. My nerves. My nerves sometimes. Yes. I know. And I'm sure mister Mannering understands. You've been taking the laudanum, my prescriber.
[00:09:39] Unknown:
I I used the last. Only yesterday. Well, I'll see if you get more. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you.
[00:09:47] Unknown:
My sister,
[00:09:49] Unknown:
there's no change. How long? How long? Before death. I don't know. Your sister's malady baffles me. I don't know what is killing her, nor do I know what keeps her alive when in truth, she's all but dead. Now would
[00:10:10] Unknown:
it be an impertinence, doctor, for me to ask you what you mean by that? Well, no no, it's mattering. Quite simply, there have been times when my Sasha,
[00:10:18] Unknown:
Madeline has been devoid of all vital signs. And by this, I mean, I've been unable at these times to detect the pulse, blood pressure, any respiration whatsoever. Mhmm. Yes. And yet moments later, she's opened her eyes
[00:10:33] Unknown:
and returned to the world of the living. So Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh
[00:10:37] Unknown:
Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh R
[00:10:49] Unknown:
Now, Roderick, you must not I tell you, we are like this house, my sister and I. We are this house. The house is us. The house is dead, and yet it stands.
[00:11:03] Unknown:
Your aberration about this, hun There is no aberration.
[00:11:09] Unknown:
It's the truth.
[00:11:11] Unknown:
The house of Usher crumbles, yet it will not fall. Madeline, I understand that she will not die. And as for me,
[00:11:20] Unknown:
oh, what's that in the horror of the noise?
[00:11:25] Unknown:
I'll send the laudanum as soon as possible, mister Mannery. There's little else I can do. Yes. I have other patients to attend. Thank heaven it's a moonlit night, but I have many miles to travel. Right.
[00:11:44] Unknown:
Right, Roderick? Yes. I guess. Roderick, I want to help you in every way I that's why I'm here. But now, you must do your part to help yourself. What do you mean? Well, I could be wrong, but it it seems to me you let yourself go to pieces all too easily. This this talk, this wild talk of your sister, Madeline, being dead and yet alive, and I let's nonsense you know. No. No. No. Yes. Well, I well, I'll agree with you with one thing and one thing only. In a way, you have become this damnable house. No healthy, sane man could live here for long without beginning to lose his sanity, without serious damage to his nervous system.
I've never seen such gloom inside as well as out. This very room reeks of dejection, despondency, undusted cobweb furnishings, black drapes covering the window. Here, let me throw them back and at least get some moonlight, if not sunlight, into this place. There. That's Roderick. What is it? There's a graveyard. I can see it in the moonlight.
[00:12:59] Unknown:
The family graveyard. Yes. Who
[00:13:04] Unknown:
who would be walking in it at night? What do you see? Where do you see that? There. Amidst the headstones. It's a man who what is he doing out there? We better go and find out. Good lord. In the doorway. What is it?
[00:13:27] Unknown:
Maggie,
[00:13:30] Unknown:
am I that horrifying to look upon, dear brother?
[00:13:43] Unknown:
Madeline Usher walks among the headstones I'll be back shortly with act two. Again, I must ask if you wish to go on and warn that if you do, you will experience that kind of horror for which I can find no words. Even Gabriel Mannering, writing in his diary, found it difficult to express his feelings in that moment of first meeting with Madeline Usher.
[00:14:38] Unknown:
I seek and cannot find words to recreate the terror of that moment. Not a woman, but a corpse stood before us in the doorway of that awful room. The very woman or corpse, if you will, that but an instant before, Roderick Usher and I had glimpsed in the moonlight graveyard beyond the window. If she is alive, I thought she should be dead. Oh. Fabulously, I said, you are Madeline Usher? Yes. How do you do? I'm Gabriel Mannering.
[00:15:12] Unknown:
I know. You winced as you took my hand. What? You felt it. Coldness. No. No. No. No. No. I,
[00:15:23] Unknown:
Yes.
[00:15:24] Unknown:
You need not dissemble with me. Even now, you'll find it hard not to stare at the dark patches of my safety. The putrescence that lives. Yes. Yes. Thrives in my dying flesh.
[00:15:41] Unknown:
Madeline, my dearest sister, you should be lying down, resting.
[00:15:46] Unknown:
You mustn't waste your energy. I wanted to meet your friend. Someone from the world of life outside this house, this tomb. I wanted
[00:15:57] Unknown:
this needed. Uh-huh. Oh, no. Stop calling. Catherine.
[00:16:04] Unknown:
I put her on the couch, Gabriel. No. No. No. No. No. Still, we'll we'll carry her to her room.
[00:16:11] Unknown:
No pulse. No heartbeat. Is she? What? It's
[00:16:18] Unknown:
it's impossible to think. Can you carry her along? She weighs nothing. Oh, follow me then.
[00:16:25] Unknown:
Oh, what evil stalks the house of Usher. Help us, dear lord. Please help
[00:16:37] Unknown:
us. Put her down, Gabriel. Gabriel in what? In that?
[00:16:47] Unknown:
It. It's her bed. A coffin.
[00:16:50] Unknown:
But nevertheless, it is her bed. It's where she rests and sleeps. And haven't you noticed
[00:16:57] Unknown:
what she's wearing isn't a light dress? A shroud? Yes.
[00:17:02] Unknown:
She's been ready for her burial for nearly a year now. Oh, lord Brooke. See? Her eyes her eyes are flushed. I have taken my oath. She was Not yet. Not yet. Gabriel, my friend, come. Will you don't leave her like this alone? No company to cheer. Once she wakes, she may not wake him again for days. She may not wake him again. Come? No. I don't wake him. There's something something about her. Something in her face that's it reminds me. Of course, it's it's you. Oh, you You see that Mhmm. The family resemblance. Obvious.
In spite of what the intimacy of death has done to the face, the resemblance
[00:17:50] Unknown:
is still that. More than a resemblance, Gabriel.
[00:17:54] Unknown:
What do you mean? We
[00:17:57] Unknown:
are twins.
[00:18:04] Unknown:
As my friends spoke those words in that chamber of death, a curious change came into his face. It floats before me even now as I write a complexion, gone so suddenly cadaverous. His eyes large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison. Thin and padded lips gone thinner, paler. For a moment, he seemed scarce human. I had tried to calm his fevered nerves by telling him it was his sister, not he who was dying. And he had cried out, Oh, you don't understand. You don't understand. And now, in an instant, I did understand or at least the shadow of what he meant touched me. And I was filled with a dread, a loathing of what was to come that I cannot fully express. Had I known the full truth of what lay before us, my loathing would have increased a hundredfold, and I should have fled the house of Usher then and there. Certainly, I should not have found myself at breakfast with Usher the following morning.
[00:19:05] Unknown:
Another helping, mister Mannering. No more, Kato.
[00:19:09] Unknown:
And then I can give you the message. A message from whom?
[00:19:14] Unknown:
Miss Madeline. She wishes to see you at your convenience. Well done.
[00:19:20] Unknown:
Go to her. Of course. Now why do you look at me like that? And now why do you turn away? Cato, face me. Look at me. What is it? Cato? Is it the odor? Yes. You best not go, Gabriel. Or if you do, another time. I don't understand. The odor, the stench of pewter fashion gets stronger at times than at others. And you mean that she take me to miss Madeleine at once, Kate? No. No. It will sit in you, you naughty H. O. Even in fact Well, it can kill me and be damned to it, but I'll not disregard a last push of a dying woman. Unlike you, Roderick, I do not fear
[00:20:06] Unknown:
death.
[00:20:10] Unknown:
Miss Usher, Madeline. Are you too tired to speak now? No. Would you prefer it? I came back another time.
[00:20:23] Unknown:
How good of you to come at all.
[00:20:26] Unknown:
It's a privilege to be of use to you.
[00:20:31] Unknown:
Favor. I wish
[00:20:33] Unknown:
a favor. Anything in my power. I want
[00:20:37] Unknown:
to die. I'm in such pain and I want to die but I cannot. Cannot? I'm I'm afraid. There's nothing to fear.
[00:20:52] Unknown:
Just don't be asleep. I'll dream your sleep. Don't fear that. I don't
[00:20:58] Unknown:
I fear. I fear.
[00:21:03] Unknown:
You'll fear for Bury over Eliza.
[00:21:09] Unknown:
Why would you have such a fear? What makes you think you might be buried alone? My mama.
[00:21:17] Unknown:
She? Oh, promise.
[00:21:20] Unknown:
Now, spare yourself. Spare yourself. You need say no more. I promise. I promise you You will not be married alive. Rest. Rest now. Rest. That is what you meant, Roderick. Is it not? Like her, like your twin, you don't fear death so much as you fear being buried alone. You know, I That's part of it. Yeah. Yes. Only part? Well, I fear
[00:21:53] Unknown:
oh, god. More than I can tell you. I I I I I fear what happens in death. Another aberration.
[00:22:01] Unknown:
As with the house, so with this. You are a man given to aberration. And what of that? You make this little since it's Wyndham. Is it because you call a thing an aberration? It'll go away, but it will cure itself if you but name it. Reason, common sense. Return, common sense. When you speak to me, to me, and Usher
[00:22:22] Unknown:
of reason and common sense.
[00:22:25] Unknown:
Do you not know of the madness that has tainted this family through its history? From the beginnings of the house of Usher, this house, this this family, until now, until Madeleine and me,
[00:22:38] Unknown:
the The last of the ushers, from beginning to end, from rise to
[00:22:43] Unknown:
to fall. What?
[00:22:47] Unknown:
Rise to fall. From rise
[00:22:52] Unknown:
to fall. I I had not thought of it before, but that is what it will be when
[00:23:00] Unknown:
when when she and I are dead, it will be the fall the fall of the house of a girl.
[00:23:13] Unknown:
Yes, Cato? The Lordman, sir, from down the window. Oh, thank heavens because it's come none too soon.
[00:23:27] Unknown:
Mister Mannery. Sir? What? Oh, yes. Yes, Kato. You've been sitting here in the graveyard for nearly two hours.
[00:23:39] Unknown:
That long? Yes, sir.
[00:23:43] Unknown:
Tell me, Kato, how long have you been servant to mister Asher?
[00:23:49] Unknown:
More than thirty years, sir. But I I thought I told you that the night you arrived just a week ago. Did you? Now then I forgot.
[00:23:58] Unknown:
Were you here when the mother died? The mother of mister Roderick and miss Madeline?
[00:24:04] Unknown:
Why do you ask such a question, miss Madeline? I don't know. I don't know really except
[00:24:09] Unknown:
I've been dwelling on what miss Madeline told me about her mother. Buried alive. Was she indeed? Sir,
[00:24:19] Unknown:
don't ask such questions. Don't dwell on such thought. Why not?
[00:24:23] Unknown:
It was discovered the mother had been buried alive. Yes. Tell me about it.
[00:24:30] Unknown:
Sir, I entreat you. Understand. You cannot stay in the house of Usher. No one can without something. I I know not what but something evil taking possession of his mind, his spirit, his very soul. It will happen to you.
[00:24:49] Unknown:
It is happening to you. No.
[00:24:52] Unknown:
You've been drawn here to this spot. You've been sitting here in the damp and chill for hours because you too have taken the first step toward madness.
[00:25:05] Unknown:
How did they discover
[00:25:06] Unknown:
she'd been buried alive? Sir, I beg you. Turn your thoughts away from How? If you must hear it, a few weeks after she had been buried, the coffin placed in that vault you see under the trees, it was discovered that she had been buried wearing a valuable ring. A ring? It contained a stone worth a fortune. It had been Tell me about it. She had always worn it, and when the undertaker encoffined her, he neglected to remove it. He had no idea of its worth, or surely he'd have inquired whether the family wished her to wear it to the grave. And as you will understand, such was miss Madeline's and mister Rodrick's grief.
They didn't think of the ring until weeks later.
[00:25:55] Unknown:
And decided to retrieve it. Yes.
[00:25:58] Unknown:
We went to the vault,
[00:26:00] Unknown:
the three of us. Slid back the slab that covers it and,
[00:26:06] Unknown:
sir, let us go in.
[00:26:08] Unknown:
Finish finish what you're telling me.
[00:26:12] Unknown:
Bare lay the coffin. The lid was in two parts. A lower part that covered her body from the waist down, an upper part from the waist up. This I pried up, and there, there go on. She lay face down. Her hands her hands had torn chunks of hair out by the roots. Such was the agony of terror. Hands like a claws.
[00:26:50] Unknown:
They have become rigid in the depths, Rose.
[00:26:54] Unknown:
Yes. Yes. We
[00:26:58] Unknown:
turned her over. Her face oh my god. We will. Her face I
[00:27:06] Unknown:
I cannot describe. I I I cannot. I cannot. I cannot. I I thought. Enough.
[00:27:13] Unknown:
Enough, thanks. Oh. Sheila
[00:27:18] Unknown:
is getting to me. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
[00:27:22] Unknown:
No
[00:27:35] Unknown:
What is it, ma'am? A corpse. A corpse. Oh, Maxine. Dead. She's dead.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
What what is it? She tried to take me to the grave with her. She tried to drag me into her coffin. No. No. No. Roderick. Roderick, pull yourself together and tell us. I I went to her chamber to see how she was.
[00:28:01] Unknown:
I called her name
[00:28:02] Unknown:
again and again and no answer. I felt for a pulse. None.
[00:28:08] Unknown:
I I threw my head against her breast. No heartbeat. And then, oh,
[00:28:13] Unknown:
god. Her arms were entwined around my neck and cold arms around my neck. And I tried. I tried to break break free, but I couldn't. I couldn't.
[00:28:26] Unknown:
I grabbed the wrist, and I tore I tore her arms. Yeah. Sir, I got him. Help me carry him inside.
[00:28:46] Unknown:
Oh, no. I'll be calm, kid.
[00:28:49] Unknown:
When mister Usher tore himself free, he must have dragged her half out of the coffin. Come. We must put her back in. Cato.
[00:28:59] Unknown:
I dare not touch her.
[00:29:02] Unknown:
Very well. There. Is
[00:29:09] Unknown:
she at last dead?
[00:29:13] Unknown:
She seems so. Ride for the doctor. Tell him to come at once. Yes, sir.
[00:29:22] Unknown:
Sir, you mean to stay here? Yes. But I will be gone at least two hours.
[00:29:30] Unknown:
If you you change your mind And grab the ring. Find your way back to the library. That maze of cargo. Don't worry about it. I shall stay here. I made her she'd not be buried alive and I mean to keep that promise, Kato. Beginning now.
[00:29:52] Unknown:
Alone in that chamber of death within the house of Usher, Gabriel Mannering keeps himself beside the coffin of Madeline Usher to keep his vigil and his promise. And wonders if he himself may not be going mad. I'll be back shortly with act three. Terror so awful as to shatter the human mind haunts the house of Usher, hangs like a shroud in the air, drips on the spirit like the very slime upon the decaying walls. As Gabriel Mannering sits beside the coffin of Madeleine Usher, he feels this terror seeping into him.
[00:30:47] Unknown:
Seeping into me like a rising tide of pollution. Cato said he would be gone two hours in catching doctor Wyndham. But to me, it seemed like twenty before I heard his returning footsteps.
[00:31:01] Unknown:
You don't look well. I'm alright. Sir, you deceive yourself. And don't mind. I haven't seen a massage here. And then, kiddo.
[00:31:14] Unknown:
First.
[00:31:18] Unknown:
Is she?
[00:31:20] Unknown:
No. There's no heart beating. None whatever.
[00:31:23] Unknown:
No pulse. No vital signs at all. She is gone then.
[00:31:29] Unknown:
Mister Mannering, I have attended her in this strange illness for nearly a year. I've seen her in this state four times before. What's to be done?
[00:31:39] Unknown:
What indeed? Well,
[00:31:42] Unknown:
I would wait a few days at least and then and then I should bury her.
[00:31:48] Unknown:
No. No? She feared to be buried alive.
[00:31:53] Unknown:
Yes. I know her mother. You attended her? No. No. Another man. From what I've been able to learn, I judge her illness as similar justice. Unaccountable is baffling. Well, mister Menning, she did indeed fear the same fate her mother suffered, but I think that after, after, say, three or four days I say no.
[00:32:15] Unknown:
At least at least a week. No. No. Two. Even three.
[00:32:20] Unknown:
You don't know what you're saying.
[00:32:22] Unknown:
You can't keep a body for two or three weeks, especially
[00:32:26] Unknown:
hers. Why especially hers? Well, look at her, man. Here. See? Under the skin of the cheeks, those gray patches, she's
[00:32:37] Unknown:
partially decomposed already. I gave her my word, doctor. I said we would make sure.
[00:32:43] Unknown:
There is an evil in this house, a sinister, malevolent thing that fastened itself on the ushers years ago and is beginning to fasten itself on you. I'm not I'm not me out. I have not seen you in some days. The moment I came into this room, I saw it. I tell you I saw it. The change in you. The sickening in you. The I do not use this word lightly, mister Marine. The insanity in you.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
You are right. I gave Matanesh her my word. She would not be buried alive and she will not be. Now,
[00:33:30] Unknown:
I see that I cannot persuade you. Very well. Do as you wish. And may God help you.
[00:33:45] Unknown:
I stayed by her coffin for yet another hour or so, making sure there were no signs of life. Then I returned to the library, led there, of course, by Cato for I well, I could never have found my own way through that maze of corridors and passages. I found Roderick Usher seated bolt upright in a wing chair, staring at I know not quite. I Roderick. Roderick, I must talk to you. Do you hear me? Yes. Now, Rodrig, as I told you, I promised your sister to take every precaution against her being buried alive. She is dead. I know it in my heart and my soul. I know it. I believe so too, but we must be certain.
Now that presents a problem. Roderick, are you listening? Problem. Yes. Decomposition. If she is dead, she will decompose. And after a period of days, well, if you could imagine Days? Days of what? Of visiting her coffin at least every twelve hours, say, to make sure she's dead. Are you mad? We must keep her body. One week, two. And the question is, where? Well, we'll have to leave the coffin open in case she should regain her senses. On the other hand, if she is indeed dead, Ian. Well, there are there there there are walls deep down beneath the house. We could put the coffin in one of those. Good.
Good. We'll do that then. Yes. We'll do just that. Together, Usher and I arranged for the temporary entombment of Madeline, his twin. The vault, so long and open that our torches were half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission of life, lying at great depth beneath the house. There. There. There, Gabriel. It is done. We must come here again in no more than twelve hours. As you say. As you say. Before he was shown a theory, Madeline, or he'd become so compliant, agree so readily with what I said.
Don't know how to ask myself that question, but I did not. And I experienced an unexpected problem. Why do you not believe me? It isn't I don't believe you, Roderick. I wish to be for myself. There is no need for you to it. I have done it. You have. I have visited the coffin at least once every twelve hours, sometimes twice. She does not live. It's my word for it. It is my word concerns me. I gave my word to her, not yours. She is dead. I assure you, she's dead. The first of that time, the sounds began. Strange knockings, creaking, perhaps had begun before, but I had not at first. I would hear some curious sound from below and say to Roderick, what was that? What was what? Listen.
What is that? Rats, perhaps? Rats? Were you The house is vested with them. I've never rats make sound like that. I answered all time on. And it seemed to me the sounds blubber, and I would say to Roger, listen. And he would answer. A door banging in the wind somewhere. And I would say there is no wind that he would answer. But let him somebody else don't bother me. And on that fatal night, that fatal night, as we sat in the library, he's sitting, staring naked with nothing, trying to read, but my mind saw that awful chain of death far below. Outside the wind gathering for a storm, it happened.
I came aware of distinct hollow metallic and muffled reverberation, complete unnerved. Iaped to my feet and looked at Usher. His eyes were fixed before him, and throughout his whole comments, there reigned a strong rigidity. I said, Roderick, do we not hear it? Yes. I hear it and have heard it as you have. Long, long, many minutes, many hours and days I dared not speak. No. No. That's me not. I am accursed. Cursed. For I heard this hunt is dead you, but I dared not speak and dared not go. Not go.
[00:38:41] Unknown:
My god. Are you telling that not once not once have I gone out to sea? I dare not. I dare not. We put a living in the tomb.
[00:38:52] Unknown:
This comes. She comes.
[00:38:55] Unknown:
For me, listen. Listen. Now listen. I know. You've heard the rending of half of the grating and iron hinges of a prison. Our struggles within the current archway of the ball. And now now he comes The moment she'll be here. I hear her footsteps, her stare.
[00:39:17] Unknown:
I hear
[00:39:18] Unknown:
the horrible beating of her heart. She comes for me. She comes I tell you, she stands outside the door. And as if in the superhuman energy of his utterance, there had been found the potency of a spell, a huge antique pass to which he pointed, drew slowly back. And outside those doors did stand the towering and then salted figure of Miss Madeline. And there was blood on her white robe evidence of some bitter struggle on every portion of her putref on her frame. For an instance, she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold. Then with a moaning cry, fell heavily in down her brother and in her balance.
And now final deathbaggers will bore him to the floor.
[00:40:16] Unknown:
A corpse, a to the terrors
[00:40:21] Unknown:
of all he had anticipated.
[00:40:28] Unknown:
This is E. G. Marshall. I shall return
[00:40:33] Unknown:
shortly.
[00:40:41] Unknown:
The manuscript of the fall of House of Usher ends thus. I fled from the house, leaving all behind me. As I ran, I heard a sound so horrendous. It made me stop and turn. My brain reeled. Just looking back, I saw the mighty walls of the house burst asunder. And in a few moments, the moon, breaking through scudding clouds. A blood red moon revealed the end. The fall of House of Usher. Our cast included Kevin McCarthy, Arnold Moss, Marion Sotis, and Robert Biden. The entire production was under direction of Hyman Brock. The entire production was under direction of Hyman Buck.
[00:41:48] Unknown:
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Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe's Horror
Gabriel Mannering's Arrival at the House of Usher
Roderick Usher's Mysterious Illness
Madeline Usher's Living Death
The Fear of Being Buried Alive
The Family's Dark History
The Final Descent into Madness
The Fall of the House of Usher
