In this captivating episode of Mystery Theater, host Hyman Brown takes us on a journey through the eerie and timeless tale of "Carmilla," adapted from the classic novella by GS Stefano. The story unfolds in the Austrian province of Styria, where young Lois Stanton recounts her chilling experiences with Carmilla, a mysterious woman who enters her life under strange circumstances. As Lois delves into her past, she reveals the haunting dreams and unsettling events that led her to a life of solitude, forever marked by her encounter with Carmilla. The narrative weaves a tale of love, fear, and the supernatural, exploring themes of friendship, identity, and the unknown.
Listeners are drawn into the gothic atmosphere of the story, as the characters navigate a world filled with ancient castles, mysterious strangers, and the looming presence of a vampire. The episode also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the production, highlighting the contributions of actors like Mercedes McCambridge and Martha Greenhouse, and providing historical context about the vampire lore that inspired the tale. With its blend of suspense, romance, and horror, "Carmilla" captivates the imagination and leaves a lasting impression on its audience.
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Unknown:
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Come in.
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Welcome. Welcome to mystery theater. I am Hyman Brown. When I was a boy, I always thought the maps in the atlas were a fixed picture of the world that never changed. Well, certainly not in this century. New countries turn up every day. Old ones vanish or are renamed. I guess nothing is permanent. Carpathia, Transylvania are forgotten names on a map. I wonder if they are as defunct as the dread creature who came from there, whose two front teeth fastened on the victim's throat and drank his life's blood. But if they are, they were not seventy or so years ago when this blood curdling tale begins.
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But I know you. And I you from a dream I had. From a dream I had too when I was six years old. How long ago was that? Thirteen years. Oh, that's just when I had mine. Come. Sit beside me on the bed and hold my hand. I have a feeling I know we're going to be terribly close, you and I.
[00:02:07] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, Carmilla, was especially adapted from the classic novella of GS Stefano by Ian Martin and stars Mercedes McCambridge. In Styria, which these days on a map you will find is an Austrian province named Steyrmach, Lois Stanton was born and brought up. Her father George was an Englishman who had married into Hungarian nobility and had respected his wife's desire to stay on in Austria at the ancestral Austrian castle. But at the end of the middle ages, the huge old fortress mansion was a lonely place for a young girl to grow up in, lying as it did deep in the heart of the country.
But since she took the time to write it in her own cramped, but still beautifully trained hand, let Lois Stanton tell her own story.
[00:03:18] Unknown:
I started writing this over fifty years ago, but my confused and horrible reactions then persuaded me to lay it aside. But now, approaching my ninetieth birthday, I should like to leave a record of why I never married. I've only known the love of one person outside my father, a woman. That is a shocking statement even today with all our liberation. How shocking an experience it proved to be for me at 19. It was so revolting and so soul destroying that it stood between me and love for the rest of my life. I am not talking of sex or a sexual relationship, certainly not in the ordinary sense of the word.
But let me take you back to the year 2400 and a whole other world.
[00:04:26] Unknown:
Damn it. That quite puts me out. What is it, papa? Lieutenant General Speelsdorf, which arrived by the post late as usual. Everything is these days. Sent almost a week ago from Vienna. From Vienna? I should explain it, Mohit. This arrives barely in time to tell me that he and his niece will not be arriving tomorrow. Oh, what a shame.
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I was looking forward to making the acquaintance of Fraulein Reinhardt. Believe that the general had come, my dear.
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That would have been impossible. Why? The reason for canceling his visit is because of his niece's sudden death.
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Her death, papa? But she was only my age.
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That's what's so tragic.
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Was he still coming here? No.
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There is some mystery. He appears to blame Bertha's death on some young guest they had. A mysterious young woman.
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Oh, what could it have been, papa? An accident or some sort of disease that was catching? There's no way of telling.
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I'm really quite shaken. My poor old friend. And I I'm disappointed for you. Oh, you mustn't think for a moment about me. Well, I do all the time. Locked away in this great labyrinth of a mausoleum with no companions. Oh, I have you
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and Madame Peridot, the housekeeper, and my governess, mademoiselle de la Fontaine. I meant companions of your own age, not dried up old sticks like us. Oh, you mustn't talk about that, papa.
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You know I've always loved it here. Next year, we must move for the season to Graz or perhaps even Vienna so that you could meet some nice young gallants. Oh,
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I have a gallant who takes very good care of me.
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Little creaky in the joints, I'm afraid. No. No, Laurel. You are so retiring and stealthy facing. It might be time to inject a little hussy into your bloodstream.
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Papa, I think we have talked enough about me. And as for how happy I am, just look out at our garden. Where else but at the Schloss could we see such romantic misty beauty?
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It's a full moon in a lovely soft clear evening.
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Shall we take a little stroll down by the drawbridge? A moment, dear papa, till I fetch a shaw and I'd love it. I have the strangest feeling that tonight something very special is about to happen. By the time we reached the bridge, the moon was high and brilliant. And as we turned back, the whole landscape was a mezzotint shimmering in dream life.
[00:07:25] Unknown:
This moon, tonight, is full of magnetic force and odilic influence, which if Odilic, papa? That's a strange word. What does it mean? Oh, I'm sorry. I I didn't mean to be literary. Actually, I'm being quite literal. It means the effect of one animal's magnetism upon the other. Look back at the Schloss, for example. Oh, yes.
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All its windows flash and twinkle
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and reflect the silvery splendor. As if unseen hands had lit them all to receive some special royal guest. What's that?
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It's a carriage,
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but it's coming too fast. Step back, Laura, to the protection of this tree. It must be driven by a madman.
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It was a close to you, much more formidable,
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drawn by six horses traveling at tough speed. As it came round the blind corner to the bridge, twisting and swaying wildly, a female voice screamed in terror. Coming off the bridge, the lead horse panicked, pulling the whole rig to the right, so that what was coming was inevitable. For wheels on one side, passing over the projecting overground roots of one of the great trees. And in a moment
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my father was wonderful, as always in a crisis.
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First, he rushed to conquer the terrified lead horses so that they in return still the paddock and their followers. And the coachman came clear and joined to help him while I, avoiding the still spinning wheels, clambered to open the door and to help out the occupants of the occupants of the coach itself. I only gave assistance to an elderly lady, clad in a long cloak with a hood, whose sole concern was for her daughter. While I took her aside, my father and the coach lifted out a younger lady who seemed to be unconscious.
Ma'am, poor Vauroticfi, are you alright?
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I should not worry too much, madame. I have sent your footman to the Schloss for assistance. And shortly, we shall have the convenience here to conduct you and your the young lady to accommodations where you may rest, and we can send for a physician's help. You are too kind.
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The monsieur
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Carmilla. Carmilla. Are you alright? I'm just, dazed, mama mia, but I feel so weak. Oh, regardless. Oh,
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now what do I do? If you could tell me what troubles you want. This much only
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can I tell? You are a gentleman and must be well aware of the gathering clouds of war. I am returning to my husband in the haste you witnessed because I carry assurances and information only I can impart to him. For me to waste an hour or a moment even and dangers our whole future. But I can see that the long trip to Vienna in such haste is something Carmilla cannot sustain. Now is there some hostelry in or or even sanatorium where I can leave my precious child to be well cared for till I can send for her more leisure and with adequate protection for her travel. Papa,
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why can't she stay with us? Bertha's room was all prepared and is ready. It is true.
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We would be happy to put up your daughter and see that she has immediate medical attention. Oh,
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you could save an empire
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and relax a mother's heart. I would feel more comfortable about all things if I knew exactly who I'm assisting and where. That is impossible
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as of the moment. All that counts now, if I can feel my child safe is for my men and yours to write the carriage so that I may be on my way. I promise you that it is a matter of more than even life or death.
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But, papa, where do you suppose they were coming from?
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On that road. It's hard to say. They must have lost the main road and approached this way by accident. Here comes doctor Zutig now. Well, Franz,
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how's our other patient fairing? Oh, no problem at all. A few bruises. Otherwise, no worse for wear for the mishap. She is perhaps a little nervous and lonely and perhaps bewildered. No one can highly blame her. I took the liberty of suggesting that Laura run up and have a chat with her before she turned in someone of her own age, you know?
[00:12:19] Unknown:
Come in. She was sitting propped up in a huge bed. Her hair framing her face, tumbling about her shoulders. And now for the first time, I could see her face clearly as she saw mine as we both gasped. But but I know you. And I knew from a dream I had. From a dream I had too. But I was six years old. How long ago was that? Thirteen years. Oh, it's just when I had mine. Oh, you must tell me and I must tell you. But but, you must be Laura. No. And my name is Carmilla and we mustn't be strange to each other. Oh, come. Come. Sit beside me on the bed and hold my hand so we can talk.
I have a feeling. I know. We're going to be terribly close, you and I. Remembering that old, old dream, which had never ceased to haunt me, I should have been repelled. But instead, I was drawn drawn irresistibly toward Carmilla. Would to god I had known that the fascination was not love, but an unhealthy spell, the flame for the moth, the spider's web for the fly, but I didn't know. And I went to her, and I put my hand into Carmelus.
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Two beautiful young women, one blonde and blue eyed, the very quintessence of innocence. The other, lying in the bed, pale from the accident and seemingly vulnerable, light olive skin with great dark eyes and tumbling masses of hair, perhaps masking beauty and evil and malevolence, not of this world
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and not to be named. Let's go behind the scenes to this episode of Radio District Theater, Martha Greenhouse's Contessa. Martha's career began with the 1957 TV movie Cinderella. A year later, she had a spot on the show Naked City. Greenhouse got her break in 1961 when she landed a recurring role in car 54, where are you? She played officer Gunther Tutti's system, A Rose. Several movie parts followed in such pictures as Up the Down Staircase, Bananas, and The Stepford Wires. Martha Greenhouse was cast over 30 times on Radio Mystery Theater. Some of her more exotic characters were a Russian scientist and the patient at a sanitarium. In her final occurrence, she depicted the secretary of a murdered atomic scientist.
And that was a behind the scenes look at this episode of radio mystery theater.
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The old lady who writes this story of seventy years ago still retains much resemblance to that once blooming girl of 19. Oh, the China Blue Eyes are faded. The hair is ash gray instead of golden blonde. But the figure is neat and trim and somehow vulnerable. Not only to the encroachment of ninety years, but as if it had always been so.
[00:16:08] Unknown:
We sat there hand in hand, Carmilla and I, searching each other's faces. There was a silence of what must have been minutes. I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs at the wonder, the terror of that spectrally beautiful face, which at last was no longer a dream. How wonderful. Thirteen years ago, I saw your face in a dream, and it has haunted me ever since. Oh, it's wonderful indeed. Thirteen years ago in vision or reality I certainly saw you I could never forget your face It's remained with me ever since It seems as if we were predestined to be friends I want you to be my friend Yes. I want to be yours. Well, we will. We will.
And we must start with the first thing we shared, the dream. There now. I can see you're shy. Oh, but that comes with being alone too much, so I shall start. I told you, it was when I was six and I woke up from some troubled dream and I found myself in a room that was nothing like my nursery. It had dark wood wainscoting and great heavy beams sloping over the bed. And did it have a big iron candlestick by the bed with two branches made out of serpents? Yes. And they held the candles in their mouths. That was my nursery. It's still there on the Top Floor just as you described it. See, it's more than a dream.
Now, I remember I was only six and and being in a strange room I was scared and I was about to cry out when all of a sudden, this fairy princess with golden hair and blue eyes, sat up in the bed next to me and held her arms out to me. Me. It was you as a child. No. No. No. As you are now. Your lips, red and full smiling at me, beckoning me. I climbed in beside you. You put your arms around me and softly, so sweetly, I went to sleep. And that was all? No. No. Then there's the bad part that I I I put that out of my mind. I I don't try to remember that. Oh, no. No. You must tell me. Oh, very well because we must have no secrets from each other. I don't know how long I've been lying there with you and suddenly, a scream awoke me. My scream? Yes. Yes. You were sitting up in the bed screaming and I was terrified and I slept to the ground and and then suddenly everything was blank until I woke up again in my ownness. And hasn't this dream haunted you and tortured you all these years? Haunted if you want.
Say rather I've never forgotten it. But why should it torture me? What I remember most is the love and the warmth that came from you and how often I've longed for my beautiful golden lady. Who would ever think I'd find her again? It's all so eerie. I don't understand it. So past eternity. What do you mean? Tell me about your dream. Well, it was just the other way. I mean, I was six years old and nobody ever worried too much about me because I was never told ghost stories or fairy stories or anything that might wake me up in the night and worry me. So this one night when I did wake up, which was unusual for me, I I wasn't worried or frightened. Oh, where were you? I was in my own bed. And was it the only bed in the room? No. There was another bed my nurse used to sleep in, but by now it was empty. Except that when I looked over there this night, it wasn't empty.
You were sitting up in it. Me and the child. No. As you are now. And you came to my bed with your great dark eyes and your hair streaming down your back. And I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful. And did I get into your bed with you? Yes, you did. Only if was you who took me in your arms and you held me and you soothed me until I fell fast asleep. And I didn't wake up or scream. No. I was the one who did that because I suddenly had the sensation that two needles had been run deep into my chest at the same moment. And were there marks on you?
No. The doctor found nothing. Oh, I seem to have known you so long. I never have had a friend, a real friend. Have I found one now? Of course, Carmilla. Then kiss me, and promise me it shall always be so. Oh, my dear one. Welcome at long last. Yes. I feel as though I'd come home. I have said that I was drawn to Carmilla from the first. There's no doubt about that whatsoever. A strange feeling, it's hard to describe, except I could have wished she were a boy, for there is no doubt I was under her spell. And she embarrassed me often when she spoke so freely of her love for me.
Come and kiss me good morning, my dearest. Oh, how wonderful to wake up to you. Good morning, Carmilla. No. No. No. Not just a passing hug. Come. Come on, kiss me. And tell me you love your Camilla as she loves her lord. Well, I that's better. You don't know the humiliation of how I must live in your warm life. You shall die. Die. Sweetly die into mine. I don't understand you. Just never seek to know more of me and mine. But trust me with your loving spirit. Come, come, come. Kiss me again so I know I'm forgiven. Oh, Carmela. No. I I You are mine. You shall be mine.
And you and I are one forever. I seem to be showing you the worst of her because at most times, she was sparkling and a vivacious talker. She kept my father and all of us in rounds of laughter with her bright wit. The apathy which afflicted her was only bodily. Her mind was always alert. Nora, are you afraid to die? Oh, yes. Everyone is. But to die together as lovers may so that they may live always together? Well, that's something I'd rather not talk about. Oh, I just remembered. We must go meet the family. The family? Yes. Didn't you notice there were no pictures in the gallery?
They've all been to the restorer. And today's the day that they're to be returned and rehung. And most of them are from my mother's family. She was Hungarian, you know. It should be quite exciting. Oh, just some musty old portrait? That's exactly what they were. They were so covered with smoke and the grime of centuries. I've never really seen any of them. Come along, Camilla Dube. Let's go have a look.
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Well, I can say they're a very prepossessing looking crew. Oh, papa.
[00:24:46] Unknown:
I think it's fun with their mutton chop whiskers and beards and medals and Hussar coats. Don't you, Carmilla? Oh, they're just like all the others of their times. Well, you must be quite a historian, Carmilla.
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Some of these go back three hundred years or so. Hello. Isn't this a surprise alright? Why?
[00:25:09] Unknown:
Look.
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Carmilla. Look. It's the very image of you even to the mole on your throat. Papa, isn't it a marvelous likeness?
[00:25:22] Unknown:
Job, I believe you're right. Can you read who it is?
[00:25:28] Unknown:
Marcia, does it say? No. Mircalla. Mircalla Contessa Karnstein, and the date is 1698.
[00:25:39] Unknown:
Well, well, I do remember that your mother was descended from the Karsteins.
[00:25:47] Unknown:
As am I, I think. A very long time ago. Are there any Comstine living here now?
[00:25:54] Unknown:
Well, none who bear the name. Although it's interesting. The ruins of their ancestral castle is not much more than three leagues directed the west of here. It was destroyed, they say, during the civil wars. I should like to see it sometime. Papa,
[00:26:09] Unknown:
this is just a small portrait. Could I have it to hang in my room? Well, if you like, I'll have Hans put it up for you. And then once you've arranged that, could we, dear Laura, take a stroll in the moonlight? It's so beautiful. Here we are at the drawbridge. It's also like the nights you came to us, so you were thinking of the night I came. Are you glad I did? Oh, ever so much. Someday, when you tell me your story, I know it'll be made up of one great romance. I'm sure that you have been in love and that at this moment there is an affair of the heart going on
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I have been in love with no one
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I never shall unless it should be you. Carmilla. Darling. Darling. I live in you. And you would die for me. I love you so much. Carmilla. Carmilla, are you alright? I'm a little faint. It will pass. It's the last time perhaps that I shall see the moonlight with you. What do you mean? The time is very near. When you shall know all. She was so weak. I could scarcely get her safely to bed. It was long before I could get to sleep. But when at last I did, if indeed I really was asleep, I was conscious of something huge and black circling by the foot of my bed.
A monstrous cat like shape that suddenly sprang. And I felt the stinging pain as if two needle sharp claws had plunged like hot irons into my breast. And then suddenly, my eyes were open, and I thought I saw Carmilla standing there. And I felt relieved. The figure moved quickly to the door, and I followed it only to find the door securely locked from the inside just the way I had left it before I retired. I strung into my bed with the covers over my head, and I laid there more dead than alive until morning.
[00:28:57] Unknown:
There are none so blind who will not see. And yet, it is only human nature that lifts the spirits by saying, let no disaster, natural or supernatural, could ever happen to us. Is it happening to Laura? Or is she only a young girl with a lonely childhood behind her and a very lively imagination? Mystery theater will return shortly.
[00:29:26] Unknown:
Let's go behind the scenes for this episode of Radio Mystery Theater. You're hearing Laura Stanton tell a story about a young woman named Hermelia. After Hermelia is taken in by her family, Laura begins to have strange dreams. In one of them, she's bitten on the neck in a manner that suggests a vampire. The best known vampire is Count Dracula, based on a real person. Born Vlad Dracula in Transylvania, he ruled over the country for six years. He was a cool monarch whose favorite method of execution was impalement, a particularly slow and agonizing means of death. It was this gruesome reputation that led Bram Stoker to base his novel on the man known to history as Ladd the Impaler.
And that was a behind the scenes look at this episode of Radio Mystery Theater.
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With the morning and the coming of light, nothing seems more insubstantial than a dream. Certainly, although it may leave some residual shock to the dreamer, a nightmare loses its terror, and there is a natural inclination not to recount one except to someone very close to you for fear of being laughed at, or in Laura's case, something different.
[00:30:52] Unknown:
I should have told my father that I didn't. Mostly because to my surprise, quite early that morning, in answer to a knock on my door, I opened it and found Carmilla up and about. May I come in? Of course. Dearest, you don't look well. No. I don't feel very well. I had a bad dream. I knew it. And I felt these two hot pins plunge in and puncture just beneath my throat until I thought I'd strangle. Awful. Let me see. Why darling? Darling, it was a dream. There's nothing there. But we shall not take any chances with you. Here, you shall have my amulet to protect you.
The next night and the night's following, my sleep was deep and dreamless. Although the nights were followed by days of lassitude and a melancholy that was strangely not unpleasant. This was well enough for a time until new and vague sensations began to disturb my sleep. Sometimes, a hand drawn across me. Sometimes, the feeling of lips kissing me longer and more lovingly until they reached my throat. Within a week, my eyes were dilated and dark underneath, and I was pale. And my father noticed the change and insisted on my seeing the doctor. It was just as well that the doctor was called. For that night, everything came to a head.
[00:32:45] Unknown:
No.
[00:32:51] Unknown:
Yes. Yes, papa. Yes. I'm going.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
What is it? My colleague, what is it? Oh, yeah, little one. I'll eat your robe and stop it. You're shaking like a leaf. What is it? Oh, papa.
[00:33:04] Unknown:
I was asleep. And I I was sound asleep. And all of a sudden, there was a blinding white light. And I saw Carmilla standing at the foot of my bed as I heard night I asked and she was bathed from her chin to her feet in a big stain of blood. Papa, I'm afraid something's happened to her. Let's go quickly. Let's go to work real here, Chop. Put this on. And I'll end the service. Thank you, madame. Don't Camilla?
[00:33:36] Unknown:
Camilla, this is mister Stanton. Open the door. Can you hear me? Carmilla, it's mister Stanton. Open the door. Oh, papa.
[00:33:48] Unknown:
Suppose something terrible has happened to Carmilla. Madam,
[00:33:52] Unknown:
ring for the servants. Get them up here right away. Oh, papa. And better have them break the door down.
[00:33:59] Unknown:
The men arrived in various states of undress, but the door and the lock proved too stout and resisted all their efforts. Papa then directed one of the footmen to bring him his large elephant gun, which he had used on safari in Africa. A hilly charge broke the lock, shattering the door. And papa and I burst into the room. Not only was it empty of Carmilla, but every trace that she might ever have been there was gone. Carmilla had disappeared into thin air as if she had never been. Fortunately, papa had given me a sleeping potion, and I knew nothing of this until the following day when I woke up to find papa and our good doctor Zuleik by my bedside.
[00:34:51] Unknown:
Your father has told me the whole story, Fraulein. You mentioned a sensation as of two burning needles piercing deep into you somewhere about the neck on the occasion of the first horrible dream. You mean when I thought I saw the black cat? Yes. Yes. Could you indicate to me with your finger just where you think this occurred?
[00:35:14] Unknown:
Right here.
[00:35:16] Unknown:
Let me see now with the magnifying glass.
[00:35:21] Unknown:
So What is it, doctor?
[00:35:24] Unknown:
Please, with the glass, you may see for yourself. Observe just below the throat. Good lord. What what is it? Just where you said a small blue spot in the center of the two tiny sharp punctures. That is the point where the sense of strangulation seem to begin? Yes. Well, then I don't see why you shouldn't begin to get well immediately. But she must not be left alone for a single moment.
[00:35:57] Unknown:
There were a thousand unanswered questions I now wanted to ask the father and the doctor, but I never got to ask them. For has it happened? A most unexpected visitor, general Spiersdorf arrived at this climactic moment, and it was his bizarre and harrowing story which eventually answered all my unanswered questions.
[00:36:23] Unknown:
Well, shortly before my poor child, Bertha, and I were to visit you, we had an invitation to Count Cassel Schloss, some leagues to the Northwest of Karnstein. The occasion was a magnificent masquerade ball. I felt like the only nobody present. The more surprised was I, therefore, when a lady with most streetly hair, air accompanied by an obviously young girl with whom Berthe immediately fell into delighted conversation approached me and said
[00:37:01] Unknown:
My dear general, what a delightful surprise to see you after all these years.
[00:37:08] Unknown:
Madam,
[00:37:09] Unknown:
since you are masked, you have the better of me. If you kissed my hand, would it jog your memory?
[00:37:16] Unknown:
Well, I should hope so. It's a long time since I've kissed a lady's hand. The pleasure is all mine. Not in bad sin. Since wait. It cannot be you, your mess.
[00:37:32] Unknown:
It's only at the greatest risk that I'm here. And at all odds, I must preserve my anonymity. I see our girls appear to have made themselves best friends already. That is good. I have an urgent request to make of you When I am yours as always to command. I am in the gravest danger every moment I spend here, and I've been quite desperate to know how to protect the young lady who is my companion. Could you take her in for a few weeks at most as your guest? Miss, I should be more than delighted,
[00:38:10] Unknown:
and I'm sure that Bertha will welcome the companionship.
[00:38:13] Unknown:
Well, then let me introduce you to my ward and be on my way. I assure you, it is a matter of life and death.
[00:38:25] Unknown:
Papa, it's just the same.
[00:38:28] Unknown:
It's just like Carmilla and the lady. Yes. The lady that I too, like the general, mistook for royalty even
[00:38:37] Unknown:
for the empress herself. Well, go on, general. What happened? It couldn't have been the same as it was. I
[00:38:44] Unknown:
am afraid so, my dear. My poor Bertha suffered from the same dreams as you, of a great black animal and the piercing double pronged punctures beneath her throat. She was wasting away despite all potions and powders the doctors tried till one of them suggested what seemed a piece of arrogant nonsense to me. Why? Legend has it that two hundred years ago, the countess Karnstein Miracalla by name Papa,
[00:39:21] Unknown:
that's the one who looks like Carmilla, the portrait I Oh, shush, dearest.
[00:39:26] Unknown:
Finish, general. Yes.
[00:39:29] Unknown:
Your father has told me about Miracalla, and I have verified her existence from other sources. What the doctor told me was that she was a vampire and has never died. I would have scoffed at this, except, well, because of my birth, I was so desperate. I concealed myself in a closet the last night before her death. Papa, I don't know if I wanna hear what happened. You must. You must listen. There was a full moon that night, and it flooded the room. My beloved Bertha lay wasted and worn beneath the coverlet, deep in a sleep almost as profound as death. Suddenly, beside her bed, a black amorphous shape bubbled up out of the pure moonlight, moving toward Bertha as though prepared to smother her.
[00:40:36] Unknown:
Shallow, what do you do here? Oh, stop you, Milaca.
[00:40:41] Unknown:
You have no power against the Vagrant. We'll just see.
[00:40:45] Unknown:
Rather than the two hand Burma more, I will cut you
[00:40:54] Unknown:
Phyllis. Is she? With this small hand, I owed you helpless as a babe.
[00:41:02] Unknown:
Take comfort, old man. You are still too late. Your daughter is mine. Mine.
[00:41:13] Unknown:
Suddenly, she was gone, and I was alone with Bertha. By the time I was by her side, she had passed away. Oh, how awful. That is not the worst. If this friend, call her Carmilla, Milaca, Miracala, what you will, is not found and exterminated forever. Your daughter is her slave and even you. But Camilla is gone. How can we find her? Papa, what can we do? We are leaving for Konstan immediately.
[00:41:48] Unknown:
We are going to open a grave.
[00:41:55] Unknown:
It was a long search and getting near to twilight before the stone, overgrown with lichen and moss and weeds, was uncovered. It was marked simply, Niekala, countess Karnstein, sixteen eighty two. But the death date had been somehow obliterated. Finally, the last dirt was uncovered, and the old coffin, rotten, lay bare. The lid was rolled back, and there, there lay my lovely Camilla. Camilla. Miraka.
[00:42:47] Unknown:
No. The one whose brave it is, the countess, Mirkana.
[00:42:52] Unknown:
But see how her face is tinted with the warmth of life. Papa, look. Her eyes are open.
[00:43:01] Unknown:
No cadaver smell from the coffin.
[00:43:03] Unknown:
She still breathes faintly. The coffin floats nearly seven inches deep in blood. There is your vampire beyond a doubt. Priest, to save my daughter, do your duty.
[00:43:23] Unknown:
The priest
[00:43:25] Unknown:
drove the sharpened oak stake through the body. And that fearsome shriek with still sounds in my dreams rent my ears. But I know now, more and more as the years have passed, that it was not Carmilla who died, but that ancient two century old corpse who had roamed in lonely agony. Till at last. She was brought home to to the peace of God.
[00:44:04] Unknown:
I'll be back shortly with a final thought. You can sleep safely tonight, wherever you are, especially if you are young and a woman. Camilla will not haunt your dreams. Just for the record and to keep it all tidy, we should mention that all the proper protocol was followed in the extinction of a vampire. The head was severed from the body, and both head and body were burned to ashes. Our cast included Mercedes McCambridge, Marion Seldes, Stets Cuxworth, Court Benson, and Martha Greenhouse. Associate director, Marlon Swing. This is Hyman Brown, producer director, inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre.
Until next time then, pleasant, Dream? Next time, mystery theater brings you another tale of the macabre. The master computer starring Robert Dryden. This is Hyman Brown inviting you to discover the joy of listening.
What you're hearing is Hardie fiber cement siding living up to its reputation as the siding that handles hail impact with ease. James Hardie knows how important a reputation is, especially when you're a contractor. That's why Hardie's siding withstands severe weather better than vinyl siding, with styles to match its strength, so you can be sure you're providing your clients with the best. Protect your reputation with exterior products by James Hardie.
[00:00:39] Unknown:
Come in.
[00:00:41] Unknown:
Welcome. Welcome to mystery theater. I am Hyman Brown. When I was a boy, I always thought the maps in the atlas were a fixed picture of the world that never changed. Well, certainly not in this century. New countries turn up every day. Old ones vanish or are renamed. I guess nothing is permanent. Carpathia, Transylvania are forgotten names on a map. I wonder if they are as defunct as the dread creature who came from there, whose two front teeth fastened on the victim's throat and drank his life's blood. But if they are, they were not seventy or so years ago when this blood curdling tale begins.
[00:01:32] Unknown:
But I know you. And I you from a dream I had. From a dream I had too when I was six years old. How long ago was that? Thirteen years. Oh, that's just when I had mine. Come. Sit beside me on the bed and hold my hand. I have a feeling I know we're going to be terribly close, you and I.
[00:02:07] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, Carmilla, was especially adapted from the classic novella of GS Stefano by Ian Martin and stars Mercedes McCambridge. In Styria, which these days on a map you will find is an Austrian province named Steyrmach, Lois Stanton was born and brought up. Her father George was an Englishman who had married into Hungarian nobility and had respected his wife's desire to stay on in Austria at the ancestral Austrian castle. But at the end of the middle ages, the huge old fortress mansion was a lonely place for a young girl to grow up in, lying as it did deep in the heart of the country.
But since she took the time to write it in her own cramped, but still beautifully trained hand, let Lois Stanton tell her own story.
[00:03:18] Unknown:
I started writing this over fifty years ago, but my confused and horrible reactions then persuaded me to lay it aside. But now, approaching my ninetieth birthday, I should like to leave a record of why I never married. I've only known the love of one person outside my father, a woman. That is a shocking statement even today with all our liberation. How shocking an experience it proved to be for me at 19. It was so revolting and so soul destroying that it stood between me and love for the rest of my life. I am not talking of sex or a sexual relationship, certainly not in the ordinary sense of the word.
But let me take you back to the year 2400 and a whole other world.
[00:04:26] Unknown:
Damn it. That quite puts me out. What is it, papa? Lieutenant General Speelsdorf, which arrived by the post late as usual. Everything is these days. Sent almost a week ago from Vienna. From Vienna? I should explain it, Mohit. This arrives barely in time to tell me that he and his niece will not be arriving tomorrow. Oh, what a shame.
[00:04:52] Unknown:
I was looking forward to making the acquaintance of Fraulein Reinhardt. Believe that the general had come, my dear.
[00:04:58] Unknown:
That would have been impossible. Why? The reason for canceling his visit is because of his niece's sudden death.
[00:05:08] Unknown:
Her death, papa? But she was only my age.
[00:05:13] Unknown:
That's what's so tragic.
[00:05:15] Unknown:
Was he still coming here? No.
[00:05:17] Unknown:
There is some mystery. He appears to blame Bertha's death on some young guest they had. A mysterious young woman.
[00:05:27] Unknown:
Oh, what could it have been, papa? An accident or some sort of disease that was catching? There's no way of telling.
[00:05:37] Unknown:
I'm really quite shaken. My poor old friend. And I I'm disappointed for you. Oh, you mustn't think for a moment about me. Well, I do all the time. Locked away in this great labyrinth of a mausoleum with no companions. Oh, I have you
[00:05:53] Unknown:
and Madame Peridot, the housekeeper, and my governess, mademoiselle de la Fontaine. I meant companions of your own age, not dried up old sticks like us. Oh, you mustn't talk about that, papa.
[00:06:05] Unknown:
You know I've always loved it here. Next year, we must move for the season to Graz or perhaps even Vienna so that you could meet some nice young gallants. Oh,
[00:06:16] Unknown:
I have a gallant who takes very good care of me.
[00:06:21] Unknown:
Little creaky in the joints, I'm afraid. No. No, Laurel. You are so retiring and stealthy facing. It might be time to inject a little hussy into your bloodstream.
[00:06:33] Unknown:
Papa, I think we have talked enough about me. And as for how happy I am, just look out at our garden. Where else but at the Schloss could we see such romantic misty beauty?
[00:06:47] Unknown:
It's a full moon in a lovely soft clear evening.
[00:06:53] Unknown:
Shall we take a little stroll down by the drawbridge? A moment, dear papa, till I fetch a shaw and I'd love it. I have the strangest feeling that tonight something very special is about to happen. By the time we reached the bridge, the moon was high and brilliant. And as we turned back, the whole landscape was a mezzotint shimmering in dream life.
[00:07:25] Unknown:
This moon, tonight, is full of magnetic force and odilic influence, which if Odilic, papa? That's a strange word. What does it mean? Oh, I'm sorry. I I didn't mean to be literary. Actually, I'm being quite literal. It means the effect of one animal's magnetism upon the other. Look back at the Schloss, for example. Oh, yes.
[00:07:52] Unknown:
All its windows flash and twinkle
[00:07:55] Unknown:
and reflect the silvery splendor. As if unseen hands had lit them all to receive some special royal guest. What's that?
[00:08:06] Unknown:
It's a carriage,
[00:08:08] Unknown:
but it's coming too fast. Step back, Laura, to the protection of this tree. It must be driven by a madman.
[00:08:15] Unknown:
It was a close to you, much more formidable,
[00:08:18] Unknown:
drawn by six horses traveling at tough speed. As it came round the blind corner to the bridge, twisting and swaying wildly, a female voice screamed in terror. Coming off the bridge, the lead horse panicked, pulling the whole rig to the right, so that what was coming was inevitable. For wheels on one side, passing over the projecting overground roots of one of the great trees. And in a moment
[00:08:52] Unknown:
my father was wonderful, as always in a crisis.
[00:08:56] Unknown:
First, he rushed to conquer the terrified lead horses so that they in return still the paddock and their followers. And the coachman came clear and joined to help him while I, avoiding the still spinning wheels, clambered to open the door and to help out the occupants of the occupants of the coach itself. I only gave assistance to an elderly lady, clad in a long cloak with a hood, whose sole concern was for her daughter. While I took her aside, my father and the coach lifted out a younger lady who seemed to be unconscious.
Ma'am, poor Vauroticfi, are you alright?
[00:09:36] Unknown:
I should not worry too much, madame. I have sent your footman to the Schloss for assistance. And shortly, we shall have the convenience here to conduct you and your the young lady to accommodations where you may rest, and we can send for a physician's help. You are too kind.
[00:09:58] Unknown:
The monsieur
[00:09:59] Unknown:
Carmilla. Carmilla. Are you alright? I'm just, dazed, mama mia, but I feel so weak. Oh, regardless. Oh,
[00:10:09] Unknown:
now what do I do? If you could tell me what troubles you want. This much only
[00:10:15] Unknown:
can I tell? You are a gentleman and must be well aware of the gathering clouds of war. I am returning to my husband in the haste you witnessed because I carry assurances and information only I can impart to him. For me to waste an hour or a moment even and dangers our whole future. But I can see that the long trip to Vienna in such haste is something Carmilla cannot sustain. Now is there some hostelry in or or even sanatorium where I can leave my precious child to be well cared for till I can send for her more leisure and with adequate protection for her travel. Papa,
[00:10:54] Unknown:
why can't she stay with us? Bertha's room was all prepared and is ready. It is true.
[00:11:01] Unknown:
We would be happy to put up your daughter and see that she has immediate medical attention. Oh,
[00:11:07] Unknown:
you could save an empire
[00:11:10] Unknown:
and relax a mother's heart. I would feel more comfortable about all things if I knew exactly who I'm assisting and where. That is impossible
[00:11:20] Unknown:
as of the moment. All that counts now, if I can feel my child safe is for my men and yours to write the carriage so that I may be on my way. I promise you that it is a matter of more than even life or death.
[00:11:40] Unknown:
But, papa, where do you suppose they were coming from?
[00:11:45] Unknown:
On that road. It's hard to say. They must have lost the main road and approached this way by accident. Here comes doctor Zutig now. Well, Franz,
[00:11:57] Unknown:
how's our other patient fairing? Oh, no problem at all. A few bruises. Otherwise, no worse for wear for the mishap. She is perhaps a little nervous and lonely and perhaps bewildered. No one can highly blame her. I took the liberty of suggesting that Laura run up and have a chat with her before she turned in someone of her own age, you know?
[00:12:19] Unknown:
Come in. She was sitting propped up in a huge bed. Her hair framing her face, tumbling about her shoulders. And now for the first time, I could see her face clearly as she saw mine as we both gasped. But but I know you. And I knew from a dream I had. From a dream I had too. But I was six years old. How long ago was that? Thirteen years. Oh, it's just when I had mine. Oh, you must tell me and I must tell you. But but, you must be Laura. No. And my name is Carmilla and we mustn't be strange to each other. Oh, come. Come. Sit beside me on the bed and hold my hand so we can talk.
I have a feeling. I know. We're going to be terribly close, you and I. Remembering that old, old dream, which had never ceased to haunt me, I should have been repelled. But instead, I was drawn drawn irresistibly toward Carmilla. Would to god I had known that the fascination was not love, but an unhealthy spell, the flame for the moth, the spider's web for the fly, but I didn't know. And I went to her, and I put my hand into Carmelus.
[00:14:11] Unknown:
Two beautiful young women, one blonde and blue eyed, the very quintessence of innocence. The other, lying in the bed, pale from the accident and seemingly vulnerable, light olive skin with great dark eyes and tumbling masses of hair, perhaps masking beauty and evil and malevolence, not of this world
[00:14:37] Unknown:
and not to be named. Let's go behind the scenes to this episode of Radio District Theater, Martha Greenhouse's Contessa. Martha's career began with the 1957 TV movie Cinderella. A year later, she had a spot on the show Naked City. Greenhouse got her break in 1961 when she landed a recurring role in car 54, where are you? She played officer Gunther Tutti's system, A Rose. Several movie parts followed in such pictures as Up the Down Staircase, Bananas, and The Stepford Wires. Martha Greenhouse was cast over 30 times on Radio Mystery Theater. Some of her more exotic characters were a Russian scientist and the patient at a sanitarium. In her final occurrence, she depicted the secretary of a murdered atomic scientist.
And that was a behind the scenes look at this episode of radio mystery theater.
[00:15:36] Unknown:
The old lady who writes this story of seventy years ago still retains much resemblance to that once blooming girl of 19. Oh, the China Blue Eyes are faded. The hair is ash gray instead of golden blonde. But the figure is neat and trim and somehow vulnerable. Not only to the encroachment of ninety years, but as if it had always been so.
[00:16:08] Unknown:
We sat there hand in hand, Carmilla and I, searching each other's faces. There was a silence of what must have been minutes. I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs at the wonder, the terror of that spectrally beautiful face, which at last was no longer a dream. How wonderful. Thirteen years ago, I saw your face in a dream, and it has haunted me ever since. Oh, it's wonderful indeed. Thirteen years ago in vision or reality I certainly saw you I could never forget your face It's remained with me ever since It seems as if we were predestined to be friends I want you to be my friend Yes. I want to be yours. Well, we will. We will.
And we must start with the first thing we shared, the dream. There now. I can see you're shy. Oh, but that comes with being alone too much, so I shall start. I told you, it was when I was six and I woke up from some troubled dream and I found myself in a room that was nothing like my nursery. It had dark wood wainscoting and great heavy beams sloping over the bed. And did it have a big iron candlestick by the bed with two branches made out of serpents? Yes. And they held the candles in their mouths. That was my nursery. It's still there on the Top Floor just as you described it. See, it's more than a dream.
Now, I remember I was only six and and being in a strange room I was scared and I was about to cry out when all of a sudden, this fairy princess with golden hair and blue eyes, sat up in the bed next to me and held her arms out to me. Me. It was you as a child. No. No. No. As you are now. Your lips, red and full smiling at me, beckoning me. I climbed in beside you. You put your arms around me and softly, so sweetly, I went to sleep. And that was all? No. No. Then there's the bad part that I I I put that out of my mind. I I don't try to remember that. Oh, no. No. You must tell me. Oh, very well because we must have no secrets from each other. I don't know how long I've been lying there with you and suddenly, a scream awoke me. My scream? Yes. Yes. You were sitting up in the bed screaming and I was terrified and I slept to the ground and and then suddenly everything was blank until I woke up again in my ownness. And hasn't this dream haunted you and tortured you all these years? Haunted if you want.
Say rather I've never forgotten it. But why should it torture me? What I remember most is the love and the warmth that came from you and how often I've longed for my beautiful golden lady. Who would ever think I'd find her again? It's all so eerie. I don't understand it. So past eternity. What do you mean? Tell me about your dream. Well, it was just the other way. I mean, I was six years old and nobody ever worried too much about me because I was never told ghost stories or fairy stories or anything that might wake me up in the night and worry me. So this one night when I did wake up, which was unusual for me, I I wasn't worried or frightened. Oh, where were you? I was in my own bed. And was it the only bed in the room? No. There was another bed my nurse used to sleep in, but by now it was empty. Except that when I looked over there this night, it wasn't empty.
You were sitting up in it. Me and the child. No. As you are now. And you came to my bed with your great dark eyes and your hair streaming down your back. And I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful. And did I get into your bed with you? Yes, you did. Only if was you who took me in your arms and you held me and you soothed me until I fell fast asleep. And I didn't wake up or scream. No. I was the one who did that because I suddenly had the sensation that two needles had been run deep into my chest at the same moment. And were there marks on you?
No. The doctor found nothing. Oh, I seem to have known you so long. I never have had a friend, a real friend. Have I found one now? Of course, Carmilla. Then kiss me, and promise me it shall always be so. Oh, my dear one. Welcome at long last. Yes. I feel as though I'd come home. I have said that I was drawn to Carmilla from the first. There's no doubt about that whatsoever. A strange feeling, it's hard to describe, except I could have wished she were a boy, for there is no doubt I was under her spell. And she embarrassed me often when she spoke so freely of her love for me.
Come and kiss me good morning, my dearest. Oh, how wonderful to wake up to you. Good morning, Carmilla. No. No. No. Not just a passing hug. Come. Come on, kiss me. And tell me you love your Camilla as she loves her lord. Well, I that's better. You don't know the humiliation of how I must live in your warm life. You shall die. Die. Sweetly die into mine. I don't understand you. Just never seek to know more of me and mine. But trust me with your loving spirit. Come, come, come. Kiss me again so I know I'm forgiven. Oh, Carmela. No. I I You are mine. You shall be mine.
And you and I are one forever. I seem to be showing you the worst of her because at most times, she was sparkling and a vivacious talker. She kept my father and all of us in rounds of laughter with her bright wit. The apathy which afflicted her was only bodily. Her mind was always alert. Nora, are you afraid to die? Oh, yes. Everyone is. But to die together as lovers may so that they may live always together? Well, that's something I'd rather not talk about. Oh, I just remembered. We must go meet the family. The family? Yes. Didn't you notice there were no pictures in the gallery?
They've all been to the restorer. And today's the day that they're to be returned and rehung. And most of them are from my mother's family. She was Hungarian, you know. It should be quite exciting. Oh, just some musty old portrait? That's exactly what they were. They were so covered with smoke and the grime of centuries. I've never really seen any of them. Come along, Camilla Dube. Let's go have a look.
[00:24:39] Unknown:
Well, I can say they're a very prepossessing looking crew. Oh, papa.
[00:24:46] Unknown:
I think it's fun with their mutton chop whiskers and beards and medals and Hussar coats. Don't you, Carmilla? Oh, they're just like all the others of their times. Well, you must be quite a historian, Carmilla.
[00:25:01] Unknown:
Some of these go back three hundred years or so. Hello. Isn't this a surprise alright? Why?
[00:25:09] Unknown:
Look.
[00:25:11] Unknown:
Carmilla. Look. It's the very image of you even to the mole on your throat. Papa, isn't it a marvelous likeness?
[00:25:22] Unknown:
Job, I believe you're right. Can you read who it is?
[00:25:28] Unknown:
Marcia, does it say? No. Mircalla. Mircalla Contessa Karnstein, and the date is 1698.
[00:25:39] Unknown:
Well, well, I do remember that your mother was descended from the Karsteins.
[00:25:47] Unknown:
As am I, I think. A very long time ago. Are there any Comstine living here now?
[00:25:54] Unknown:
Well, none who bear the name. Although it's interesting. The ruins of their ancestral castle is not much more than three leagues directed the west of here. It was destroyed, they say, during the civil wars. I should like to see it sometime. Papa,
[00:26:09] Unknown:
this is just a small portrait. Could I have it to hang in my room? Well, if you like, I'll have Hans put it up for you. And then once you've arranged that, could we, dear Laura, take a stroll in the moonlight? It's so beautiful. Here we are at the drawbridge. It's also like the nights you came to us, so you were thinking of the night I came. Are you glad I did? Oh, ever so much. Someday, when you tell me your story, I know it'll be made up of one great romance. I'm sure that you have been in love and that at this moment there is an affair of the heart going on
[00:27:05] Unknown:
I have been in love with no one
[00:27:09] Unknown:
I never shall unless it should be you. Carmilla. Darling. Darling. I live in you. And you would die for me. I love you so much. Carmilla. Carmilla, are you alright? I'm a little faint. It will pass. It's the last time perhaps that I shall see the moonlight with you. What do you mean? The time is very near. When you shall know all. She was so weak. I could scarcely get her safely to bed. It was long before I could get to sleep. But when at last I did, if indeed I really was asleep, I was conscious of something huge and black circling by the foot of my bed.
A monstrous cat like shape that suddenly sprang. And I felt the stinging pain as if two needle sharp claws had plunged like hot irons into my breast. And then suddenly, my eyes were open, and I thought I saw Carmilla standing there. And I felt relieved. The figure moved quickly to the door, and I followed it only to find the door securely locked from the inside just the way I had left it before I retired. I strung into my bed with the covers over my head, and I laid there more dead than alive until morning.
[00:28:57] Unknown:
There are none so blind who will not see. And yet, it is only human nature that lifts the spirits by saying, let no disaster, natural or supernatural, could ever happen to us. Is it happening to Laura? Or is she only a young girl with a lonely childhood behind her and a very lively imagination? Mystery theater will return shortly.
[00:29:26] Unknown:
Let's go behind the scenes for this episode of Radio Mystery Theater. You're hearing Laura Stanton tell a story about a young woman named Hermelia. After Hermelia is taken in by her family, Laura begins to have strange dreams. In one of them, she's bitten on the neck in a manner that suggests a vampire. The best known vampire is Count Dracula, based on a real person. Born Vlad Dracula in Transylvania, he ruled over the country for six years. He was a cool monarch whose favorite method of execution was impalement, a particularly slow and agonizing means of death. It was this gruesome reputation that led Bram Stoker to base his novel on the man known to history as Ladd the Impaler.
And that was a behind the scenes look at this episode of Radio Mystery Theater.
[00:30:21] Unknown:
With the morning and the coming of light, nothing seems more insubstantial than a dream. Certainly, although it may leave some residual shock to the dreamer, a nightmare loses its terror, and there is a natural inclination not to recount one except to someone very close to you for fear of being laughed at, or in Laura's case, something different.
[00:30:52] Unknown:
I should have told my father that I didn't. Mostly because to my surprise, quite early that morning, in answer to a knock on my door, I opened it and found Carmilla up and about. May I come in? Of course. Dearest, you don't look well. No. I don't feel very well. I had a bad dream. I knew it. And I felt these two hot pins plunge in and puncture just beneath my throat until I thought I'd strangle. Awful. Let me see. Why darling? Darling, it was a dream. There's nothing there. But we shall not take any chances with you. Here, you shall have my amulet to protect you.
The next night and the night's following, my sleep was deep and dreamless. Although the nights were followed by days of lassitude and a melancholy that was strangely not unpleasant. This was well enough for a time until new and vague sensations began to disturb my sleep. Sometimes, a hand drawn across me. Sometimes, the feeling of lips kissing me longer and more lovingly until they reached my throat. Within a week, my eyes were dilated and dark underneath, and I was pale. And my father noticed the change and insisted on my seeing the doctor. It was just as well that the doctor was called. For that night, everything came to a head.
[00:32:45] Unknown:
No.
[00:32:51] Unknown:
Yes. Yes, papa. Yes. I'm going.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
What is it? My colleague, what is it? Oh, yeah, little one. I'll eat your robe and stop it. You're shaking like a leaf. What is it? Oh, papa.
[00:33:04] Unknown:
I was asleep. And I I was sound asleep. And all of a sudden, there was a blinding white light. And I saw Carmilla standing at the foot of my bed as I heard night I asked and she was bathed from her chin to her feet in a big stain of blood. Papa, I'm afraid something's happened to her. Let's go quickly. Let's go to work real here, Chop. Put this on. And I'll end the service. Thank you, madame. Don't Camilla?
[00:33:36] Unknown:
Camilla, this is mister Stanton. Open the door. Can you hear me? Carmilla, it's mister Stanton. Open the door. Oh, papa.
[00:33:48] Unknown:
Suppose something terrible has happened to Carmilla. Madam,
[00:33:52] Unknown:
ring for the servants. Get them up here right away. Oh, papa. And better have them break the door down.
[00:33:59] Unknown:
The men arrived in various states of undress, but the door and the lock proved too stout and resisted all their efforts. Papa then directed one of the footmen to bring him his large elephant gun, which he had used on safari in Africa. A hilly charge broke the lock, shattering the door. And papa and I burst into the room. Not only was it empty of Carmilla, but every trace that she might ever have been there was gone. Carmilla had disappeared into thin air as if she had never been. Fortunately, papa had given me a sleeping potion, and I knew nothing of this until the following day when I woke up to find papa and our good doctor Zuleik by my bedside.
[00:34:51] Unknown:
Your father has told me the whole story, Fraulein. You mentioned a sensation as of two burning needles piercing deep into you somewhere about the neck on the occasion of the first horrible dream. You mean when I thought I saw the black cat? Yes. Yes. Could you indicate to me with your finger just where you think this occurred?
[00:35:14] Unknown:
Right here.
[00:35:16] Unknown:
Let me see now with the magnifying glass.
[00:35:21] Unknown:
So What is it, doctor?
[00:35:24] Unknown:
Please, with the glass, you may see for yourself. Observe just below the throat. Good lord. What what is it? Just where you said a small blue spot in the center of the two tiny sharp punctures. That is the point where the sense of strangulation seem to begin? Yes. Well, then I don't see why you shouldn't begin to get well immediately. But she must not be left alone for a single moment.
[00:35:57] Unknown:
There were a thousand unanswered questions I now wanted to ask the father and the doctor, but I never got to ask them. For has it happened? A most unexpected visitor, general Spiersdorf arrived at this climactic moment, and it was his bizarre and harrowing story which eventually answered all my unanswered questions.
[00:36:23] Unknown:
Well, shortly before my poor child, Bertha, and I were to visit you, we had an invitation to Count Cassel Schloss, some leagues to the Northwest of Karnstein. The occasion was a magnificent masquerade ball. I felt like the only nobody present. The more surprised was I, therefore, when a lady with most streetly hair, air accompanied by an obviously young girl with whom Berthe immediately fell into delighted conversation approached me and said
[00:37:01] Unknown:
My dear general, what a delightful surprise to see you after all these years.
[00:37:08] Unknown:
Madam,
[00:37:09] Unknown:
since you are masked, you have the better of me. If you kissed my hand, would it jog your memory?
[00:37:16] Unknown:
Well, I should hope so. It's a long time since I've kissed a lady's hand. The pleasure is all mine. Not in bad sin. Since wait. It cannot be you, your mess.
[00:37:32] Unknown:
It's only at the greatest risk that I'm here. And at all odds, I must preserve my anonymity. I see our girls appear to have made themselves best friends already. That is good. I have an urgent request to make of you When I am yours as always to command. I am in the gravest danger every moment I spend here, and I've been quite desperate to know how to protect the young lady who is my companion. Could you take her in for a few weeks at most as your guest? Miss, I should be more than delighted,
[00:38:10] Unknown:
and I'm sure that Bertha will welcome the companionship.
[00:38:13] Unknown:
Well, then let me introduce you to my ward and be on my way. I assure you, it is a matter of life and death.
[00:38:25] Unknown:
Papa, it's just the same.
[00:38:28] Unknown:
It's just like Carmilla and the lady. Yes. The lady that I too, like the general, mistook for royalty even
[00:38:37] Unknown:
for the empress herself. Well, go on, general. What happened? It couldn't have been the same as it was. I
[00:38:44] Unknown:
am afraid so, my dear. My poor Bertha suffered from the same dreams as you, of a great black animal and the piercing double pronged punctures beneath her throat. She was wasting away despite all potions and powders the doctors tried till one of them suggested what seemed a piece of arrogant nonsense to me. Why? Legend has it that two hundred years ago, the countess Karnstein Miracalla by name Papa,
[00:39:21] Unknown:
that's the one who looks like Carmilla, the portrait I Oh, shush, dearest.
[00:39:26] Unknown:
Finish, general. Yes.
[00:39:29] Unknown:
Your father has told me about Miracalla, and I have verified her existence from other sources. What the doctor told me was that she was a vampire and has never died. I would have scoffed at this, except, well, because of my birth, I was so desperate. I concealed myself in a closet the last night before her death. Papa, I don't know if I wanna hear what happened. You must. You must listen. There was a full moon that night, and it flooded the room. My beloved Bertha lay wasted and worn beneath the coverlet, deep in a sleep almost as profound as death. Suddenly, beside her bed, a black amorphous shape bubbled up out of the pure moonlight, moving toward Bertha as though prepared to smother her.
[00:40:36] Unknown:
Shallow, what do you do here? Oh, stop you, Milaca.
[00:40:41] Unknown:
You have no power against the Vagrant. We'll just see.
[00:40:45] Unknown:
Rather than the two hand Burma more, I will cut you
[00:40:54] Unknown:
Phyllis. Is she? With this small hand, I owed you helpless as a babe.
[00:41:02] Unknown:
Take comfort, old man. You are still too late. Your daughter is mine. Mine.
[00:41:13] Unknown:
Suddenly, she was gone, and I was alone with Bertha. By the time I was by her side, she had passed away. Oh, how awful. That is not the worst. If this friend, call her Carmilla, Milaca, Miracala, what you will, is not found and exterminated forever. Your daughter is her slave and even you. But Camilla is gone. How can we find her? Papa, what can we do? We are leaving for Konstan immediately.
[00:41:48] Unknown:
We are going to open a grave.
[00:41:55] Unknown:
It was a long search and getting near to twilight before the stone, overgrown with lichen and moss and weeds, was uncovered. It was marked simply, Niekala, countess Karnstein, sixteen eighty two. But the death date had been somehow obliterated. Finally, the last dirt was uncovered, and the old coffin, rotten, lay bare. The lid was rolled back, and there, there lay my lovely Camilla. Camilla. Miraka.
[00:42:47] Unknown:
No. The one whose brave it is, the countess, Mirkana.
[00:42:52] Unknown:
But see how her face is tinted with the warmth of life. Papa, look. Her eyes are open.
[00:43:01] Unknown:
No cadaver smell from the coffin.
[00:43:03] Unknown:
She still breathes faintly. The coffin floats nearly seven inches deep in blood. There is your vampire beyond a doubt. Priest, to save my daughter, do your duty.
[00:43:23] Unknown:
The priest
[00:43:25] Unknown:
drove the sharpened oak stake through the body. And that fearsome shriek with still sounds in my dreams rent my ears. But I know now, more and more as the years have passed, that it was not Carmilla who died, but that ancient two century old corpse who had roamed in lonely agony. Till at last. She was brought home to to the peace of God.
[00:44:04] Unknown:
I'll be back shortly with a final thought. You can sleep safely tonight, wherever you are, especially if you are young and a woman. Camilla will not haunt your dreams. Just for the record and to keep it all tidy, we should mention that all the proper protocol was followed in the extinction of a vampire. The head was severed from the body, and both head and body were burned to ashes. Our cast included Mercedes McCambridge, Marion Seldes, Stets Cuxworth, Court Benson, and Martha Greenhouse. Associate director, Marlon Swing. This is Hyman Brown, producer director, inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre.
Until next time then, pleasant, Dream? Next time, mystery theater brings you another tale of the macabre. The master computer starring Robert Dryden. This is Hyman Brown inviting you to discover the joy of listening.
