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In the oral tradition of storytelling, Echoes in the Dark, delivers classic works of gothic fiction weekly. Hosted and curated by Ms. Rae (an award-winning educator, actor, and literary analyst) the collection of stories spans popular works by authors like Edgar Allan Poe as well as lesser known works by authors such as Guy de Maupassant. Each story is followed by a literary analysis.
If you’re looking to enjoy more classic literature, struggle to find the time to read, hate reading, or just love listening to stories, then this podcast is for you.
A Note on Content: While these stories are generally appropriate for listeners aged 12 and up, classic Gothic literature frequently explores themes of murder, romantic affairs, and "tortured souls." Stories are performed exactly as written in their original historical context.
If you are looking to learn more ways to boost your literary analysis visit:
Speaker: Welcome to Echoes in the
Dark, a podcast dedicated to the
oral
Speaker: tradition of storytelling.
Speaker: If you're looking to enjoy
more classic literature, struggle to
Speaker: find the time to read, hate
reading, or just love listening to
Speaker: stories, then this podcast
is for you.
Speaker: At the end of each story,
I'll share my analysis on the
story's
Speaker: deeper meanings.
Speaker: What is it by FitzJames
O'Brien?
Speaker: Is a short story that was
originally published in 1859 in
Harper's
Speaker: New Monthly Magazine.
Speaker: O'Brien, dubbed the Celtic
Poe, had almost 300 short stories
published.
Speaker: The entire story is told in
first-person perspective.
Speaker: If you want to follow
along, you can get a copy on my
website,
Speaker: betteressaywriting.com.
Speaker: And if you'd like to hear
more works by O'Brien and his
contemporaries,
Speaker: pick up some underused and
possibly archaic words, then join me
Speaker: on Patreon at Stories with
Ray.
Speaker: That's Patreon CW Stories
with Ray, or click the link in the
show
Speaker: notes.
Speaker: What was it by FitzJames
O'Brien?
Speaker: It is, I confess with
considerable diffidence, that I
approach
Speaker: the strange narrative which
I am about to relate.
Speaker: The events which I purpose
detailing are so extraordinary a
character
Speaker: that I am quite prepared to
meet with an unusual amount of
incredulity
Speaker: and scorn.
Speaker: I accept all such
beforehand.
Speaker: I have, I trust, the
literary courage to face unbelief.
Speaker: I have, after mature
consideration, resolved to narrate
in as
Speaker: simple and straightforward
a manner as I can compass some facts
Speaker: that pass under my
observation in the month of July
last, and
Speaker: which, in the annals of the
mysteries of physical science, are
Speaker: wholly unperiled.
Speaker: I live at number three four
seven twenty sixth Street, New York.
Speaker: The house is in some
respects a curious one.
Speaker: It was enjoyed for the last
two years the reputation of being
Speaker:haunted.
Speaker: It is a large and stately
residence surrounded by what was
once
Speaker: a garden, but which is now
only a green enclosure used for
bleaching
Speaker: clothes.
Speaker: The dry basin of what has
been a fountain and a few fruit
trees
Speaker: ragged and unpruned
indicate that this spot in past days
was a
Speaker: pleasant, shady retreat
filled with fruits and flowers and
the
Speaker: sweet murmur of waters.
Speaker: The house is very spacious.
Speaker: A hall of noble size leads
to a large spiral staircase winding
Speaker: through its center, while
the various apartments are of
imposing
Speaker: dimensions.
Speaker: It was built some 15 or 20
years since by Mr.
Speaker: Abrams, the well-known New
York merchant, who five years ago
threw
Speaker: the commercial world into
convulsions by a stupendous bank
fraud.
Speaker: Mr.
Speaker: Abrams, as everyone knows,
escaped to Europe and died not long
Speaker: after of a broken heart.
Speaker: Almost immediately after
the news of his decease reached this
Speaker: country and was verified,
the report spread in 26th Street
that
Speaker: No.
Speaker: 347 was haunted.
Speaker: Legal measures had disposed
the widow of its former owner, and
Speaker: it was inhabited merely by
a caretaker and his wife, placed
there
Speaker: by the house agent into
whose hands it had passed for the
purposes
Speaker: of renting or sale.
Speaker: These people declared that
they were troubled with unnatural
noises.
Speaker: Doors were opened without
any visible agency.
Speaker: The remnants of furniture
scattered through the various rooms
Speaker: were, during the night,
piled one upon the other by unknown
hands.
Speaker: Invisible feet passed up
and down the stairs in broad
daylight,
Speaker: accompanied by the rustle
of unseen silk dresses, and the
gliding
Speaker: of viewless hands along the
massive bolsters.
Speaker: The caretaker and his wife
declared they would live there no
longer.
Speaker: The house agent laughed,
dismissed them, and put others in
their
Speaker: place.
Speaker: The noises and supernatural
manifestations continued.
Speaker: The neighborhood caught up
the story, and the house remained
untented
Speaker: for three years.
Speaker: Several persons negotiated
for it, but somehow, always before
Speaker: the bargain was closed,
they heard the unpleasant rumors and
declined
Speaker: to treat any further.
Speaker: It was in this state of
things that my landlady, who at that
time
Speaker: kept the boarding house in
Bleaker Street and who wished to
move
Speaker: further uptown, conceived
the bold idea of renting number 347
Speaker: 26th Street.
Speaker: Happening to have in her
house rather a plucky and
philosophical
Speaker: set of boarders, she laid
her scheme before us, stating
candidly
Speaker: everything that she had
heard respecting the ghostly
qualities
Speaker: of the establishment to
which she wished to remove us.
Speaker: With the exception of two
timid persons, a sea captain and a
returned
Speaker: Californian, who
immediately gave notice that they
would leave.
Speaker: All of Mrs.
Speaker: Moffitt's guests declared
that they would accompany her in her
Speaker: chivalric incursion into
the abode of spirits.
Speaker: Our removal was effected in
the month of May, and we were
charmed
Speaker: with our new residence.
Speaker: The portion of 26th Street
where our house is situated, between
Speaker: 7th and 8th Avenues, is one
of the pleasantest localities in New
Speaker: York.
Speaker: The gardens back of the
houses, running down nearly to the
Hudson,
Speaker: form, in the summertime, a
perfect avenue of verdure.
Speaker: The air is pure and
invigorating, sweeping as it does
straight
Speaker: across the river from the
Weehawkin Heights and even the
ragged
Speaker: garden which surrounded the
house, although displaying on
washing
Speaker: days rather too much
clothes lime, still gave us a piece
of greensworth
Speaker: to look at, and a cool
retreat in the summer evenings,
where we
Speaker: smoked our cigars in the
dusk and watched the fireflies
flashing
Speaker: their dark lanterns in the
long grass.
Speaker: Of course, we had no sooner
established ourselves at number
three
Speaker: hundred four seven than we
began to expect ghosts.
Speaker: We absolutely awaited their
advent with eagerness.
Speaker: Our dinner conversation was
supernatural.
Speaker: One of the boarders who had
purchased Mrs.
Speaker: Crow's Night Side of Nature
for his own private delication was
Speaker: regarded as public enemy by
the entire household for not having
Speaker: bought twenty copies.
Speaker: The man led a life of
supreme wretchedness while he was
reading
Speaker: this volume.
Speaker: A system of espionage was
established, of which he was the
victim.
Speaker: If he incautiously laid the
book down for an instant and left
Speaker: the room, it was
immediately seized and read aloud in
secret places
Speaker: to a select few.
Speaker: I found myself a person of
immense importance, it having leaked
Speaker: out that I was tolerably
well versed in the history of
supernaturalism,
Speaker: and had once written a
story, the foundation of which was a
ghost.
Speaker: If a table or Wainscott
panel happened to warp, when we were
assembled
Speaker: in the large drawing room,
there was an instant silence, and
everyone
Speaker: was prepared for immediate
clanking of chains in a spectral
form.
Speaker: After a month of this
psychological excitement, it was
with the
Speaker: utmost dissatisfaction that
we were forced to acknowledge that
Speaker: nothing in the remotest
degree approaching the supernatural
had
Speaker: manifested itself.
Speaker: Once, the butler
asciverated that his candle had been
blown out
Speaker: by some invisible agency
while he was undressing himself for
the
Speaker: night.
Speaker: But, as I had more than
once discovered, this gentleman in a
condition
Speaker: when one candle must have
appeared to him like two, thought it
Speaker: possible that, by going a
step further in his quotations, he
might
Speaker: have reversed this
phenomenon and seen no candle at all
where
Speaker: he ought to have beheld
one.
Speaker: Things were in this state
when an accident took place so awful
Speaker: and inexplicable in its
character that my reason fairly
rears
Speaker: at the bare memory of the
occurrence.
Speaker: It was the 10th of July.
Speaker: After dinner was over, I
repaired with my friend Dr.
Speaker: Hammond to the garden to
smoke my evening pipe.
Speaker: Independent of certain
mental sympathies which existed
between
Speaker: the doctor and myself, we
were linked together by vice.
Speaker: We both smoked opium.
Speaker: We knew each other's secret
and respected it.
Speaker: We enjoyed together that
wonderful expansion of thought, that
Speaker: marvelous intensifying of
the perceptive faculties, that
boundless
Speaker: feeling of existence when
we seem to have points of contact
with
Speaker: the whole universe.
Speaker: In short, that unimaginable
spiritual bliss, which I would not
Speaker: surrender for a throne, and
which I hope you, reader, will
never,
Speaker: never taste.
Speaker: Those hours of opium
happiness which the doctor and I
spent together
Speaker: in secret were regulated
with a scientific accuracy.
Speaker: We did not blindly smoke
the drug of paradise and leave our
dreams
Speaker: to chance.
Speaker: While smoking, we carefully
steered our conversation through the
Speaker: brightest and calmest
channels of thought.
Speaker: We talked of the East and
endeavored to recall the magical
paranorma
Speaker: of its glowing scenery.
Speaker: We criticized the most
sensuous poets, those who painted
Rodie
Speaker: with health, brimming with
passion, happy in the possession of
Speaker: youth and strength and
beauty.
Speaker: If we talked of
Shakespeare's Tempest, we lingered
over Ariel
Speaker: and avoided Caliban.
Speaker: Like the goobers, we turned
our faces to the east and saw only
Speaker: the sunny side of the
world.
Speaker: This skillful colouring of
our train of thought produced, in
our
Speaker: subsequent visions, a
corresponding tone.
Speaker: The splendors of Arabian
fairyland dyed our dreams.
Speaker: We paced the narrow strip
of grass with the tread and port of
Speaker:kings.
Speaker: The song of Rana Aboria,
while he clung to the bark of the
ragged
Speaker: plum tree, sounded like the
strains of divine musicians.
Speaker: Houses, walls, and streets
melted the rain clouds, and vistas
Speaker: of unimaginable glory
stretched away before us.
Speaker: It was a rapturous
companionship, we enjoyed the vast
delight
Speaker: more perfectly, because
even in our most ecstatic moments,
we
Speaker: were conscious of each
other's presence.
Speaker: Our pleasures, while
individual, were still twin,
vibrating and
Speaker: moving in musical accord.
Speaker: On the evening in question,
the 10th of July, the doctor and
myself
Speaker: drifted into an unusually
metaphysical mood.
Speaker: We lit our large myshams
filled with fine Turkish tobacco, in
Speaker: the core of which burned a
little black nut of opium.
Speaker: That, like the nut in the
fairy tale, held within its narrow
limits
Speaker: wonders beyond the reach of
kings.
Speaker: We paced to and fro
conversing.
Speaker: A strange pervisity
dominated the currents of our
thought.
Speaker: They would not flow through
the sunlit channels into which we
Speaker: strove to divert them.
Speaker: For some unaccountable
reason, they constantly diverged
into dark
Speaker: and lonesome beds, where
continual gloom brooded.
Speaker: It was in vain that, after
our old fashioned we flung ourselves
Speaker: on the shores of the East
and talked of its gay bazaars, of
the
Speaker: splendors of the time of
Haran, of harems and golden palaces.
Speaker: Black effretes continually
arose from the depths of our talk
and
Speaker: expanded like the one the
fishermen released from the copper
vessel
Speaker: until they blotted
everything bright from our vision.
Speaker: Insensibly we yelled it to
the occult force that swayed us, and
Speaker: indulged in gloomy
speculation.
Speaker: We had talked some time
upon the pronus of the human mind to
mysticism
Speaker: and the almost universal
love of the terrible, when Hammond
suddenly
Speaker: said to me, What do you
consider to be the greatest element
of
Speaker: terror?
Speaker: The question puzzled me.
Speaker: That many things were
terrible I knew, stumbling upon a
corpse
Speaker: in the dark, beholding, as
I once did, a woman floating down a
Speaker: deep and rapid river, with
wildly lifted arms, an awful
upturned
Speaker: face, uttering as she
drifted, shrieks that rent one's
heart,
Speaker: while we, spectators, stood
frozen at a window which overhung
Speaker: the river at a height of
sixty feet, unable to make the
slightest
Speaker: effort to save her, but
dumbly watching her last supreme
agony
Speaker: and her disappearance.
Speaker: A shattered wreck with no
life visible, encountered floating
listlessly
Speaker: on the ocean, is a terrible
object.
Speaker: For it suggests a huge
terror, the proportions of which are
veiled.
Speaker: But it now struck me for
the first time that there must be
one
Speaker: great and ruling embodiment
of fear, a king of terrors to which
Speaker: all others must succumb.
Speaker: What might it be?
Speaker: To what train of
circumstances would it owe its
existence?
Speaker: I confess, Hammond, I
replied to my friend, I never
considered
Speaker: the subject before.
Speaker: That there must be one
something more terrible than any
other
Speaker: thing I feel.
Speaker: I cannot attempt, however,
even the most vague definition.
Speaker: I somewhat like you, Harry,
he answered, I feel my capacity to
Speaker: experience a terror greater
than anything yet conceived by the
Speaker: human mind.
Speaker: Something combining and
feel and a natural amalgation,
hitherto
Speaker: supposed incompatible
elements.
Speaker: The calling of the voices
in Brockton Brown's novel of
Wheeland
Speaker: is awful.
Speaker: So is the picture of the
dweller of the threshold in
Bueller's
Speaker: Zononi.
Speaker: But he added, shaking his
head gloomily, there is something
more
Speaker: horrible than those.
Speaker: Look here, Hammond, I
rejoined, let us drop this kind of
talk.
Speaker: For heaven's sake, we shall
suffer for it.
Speaker: Depend on it.
Speaker: I don't know what's the
matter with me tonight, he replied,
but
Speaker: my brain is rumbling with
all sorts of weird and awful
thoughts.
Speaker: I feel as if I could write
a story like Hoffman tonight.
Speaker: If I were only master of a
literary style.
Speaker: Well, if we're going to be
Hoffman-esque in our talk, I'm off
Speaker: to bed.
Speaker: Opium and nightmares should
never be brought together.
Speaker: How sultry it is.
Speaker: Good night, Hammond.
Speaker: Good night, Harry.
Speaker: Pleasant dreams to you.
Speaker: To you, gloomy wretch,
effest ghouls and enchanters.
Speaker: We parted and each sought
his respective chamber.
Speaker: I undressed quickly and got
into bed, taking with me, according
Speaker: to my usual custom, a book,
over which I generally read myself
Speaker: to sleep.
Speaker: I opened the volume as soon
as I had laid my head upon the
pillow,
Speaker: and instantly flung it to
the other side of the room.
Speaker: It was Goudin's History of
Monsters, a curious French work
which
Speaker: I had lately imported from
Paris, but which, in the state of
mind
Speaker: I had then reached, was
anything but an agreeable companion.
Speaker: I resolved to go to sleep
at once, so turning down my gas
until
Speaker: nothing but a little blue
point of light glimmered on the top
Speaker: of the tube, I composed
myself to rest.
Speaker: The room was in total
darkness.
Speaker: The atom of gas that still
remained alight did not illuminate
Speaker: a distance of three inches
round the burner.
Speaker: I desperately drew my arm
across my eyes, as if to shut out
even
Speaker: the darkness, and tried to
think of nothing.
Speaker: It was in vain.
Speaker: The confounded themes
touched on by Hammond in the garden
kept
Speaker: obtruding themselves on my
brain.
Speaker: I battled against them, I
erected ramparts of would-be
blackness
Speaker: of intellect to keep them
out.
Speaker: They still crowded upon me.
Speaker: While I was lying still as
a corpse, hoping that by a perfect
Speaker: physical inaction I should
hasten mental repose, an awful
incident
Speaker: occurred.
Speaker: A something dropped, as it
seemed, from the ceiling, plum upon
Speaker: my chest, and the next
instant I felt two bony hands
encircling
Speaker: my throat, endeavoring to
choke me.
Speaker: I am no coward and am
possessed of considerable physical
strength.
Speaker: The suddenness of the
attack, instead of stunning me,
strung every
Speaker: nerve to its highest
tension.
Speaker: My body acted from instinct
before my brain had time to realize
Speaker: the terrors of my position.
Speaker: In an instant, I wound two
muscular arms around the creature
and
Speaker: squeezed it with all the
strength of despair against my
chest.
Speaker: In a few seconds, the bony
hands that had fastened on my throat
Speaker: loosened their hold, and I
was free to breathe once more.
Speaker: Then commenced a struggle
of awful intensity, immersed in the
Speaker: most profound darkness,
totally ignorant of the nature of
the
Speaker: thing by which I was so
suddenly attacked, finding my grasp
slipping
Speaker: every moment by reason, it
seemed to me, of the entire
nakedness
Speaker: of my assailant, bitten
with sharp teeth in the shoulder,
neck,
Speaker: and chest, having every
moment to protect my throat against
a
Speaker: pair of seniorly agile
hands, which my utmost efforts could
not
Speaker: confine, these were a
combination of circumstances to
combat,
Speaker: which required all the
strength, skill, and courage that I
possessed.
Speaker: At last, after a silent,
deadly, exhausting struggle, I got
my
Speaker: assailant under by a series
of incredible efforts of strength.
Speaker: Once penned, with my knee
on what I made out to be its chest,
Speaker: I knew that I was the
victor.
Speaker: I rested for a moment to
breathe.
Speaker: I heard the creature
beneath me panting in the darkness
and felt
Speaker: the violent throbbing of a
heart.
Speaker: It was apparently as
exhausted as I was.
Speaker: That was one comfort.
Speaker: At this moment, I
remembered that I usually placed
under my pillow
Speaker: before going to bed a large
yellow silk pocket handkerchief.
Speaker: I felt for it instantly.
Speaker: It was there, and in a few
seconds more I had, after fashion,
Speaker: pinoned the creature's
arms.
Speaker: I now felt tolerably
secure.
Speaker: There was nothing more to
be done but to turn on the gas and
having
Speaker: first seen what my midnight
assailant was like, aroused the
household.
Speaker: I will confess to being
actuated by a certain pride in not
giving
Speaker: the alarm before, I wished
to make the capture alone and
unaided.
Speaker: Never losing my hold for an
instant, I slipped from the bed to
Speaker: the floor, dragging my
captive with me.
Speaker: I had but a few steps to
make to reach the gas burner.
Speaker: These I made with the
greatest caution, holding the
creature in
Speaker: a grip like a vice.
Speaker: At last I got within arm's
length of the tiny speck of the blue
Speaker: light which told me where
the gas burner lay.
Speaker: Quick as lightning, I
released my grasp with one hand and
let
Speaker: on the full flood of light.
Speaker: Then I turned to look at my
captive.
Speaker: I cannot even attempt to
give any definition of my sensations
Speaker: the instant after I turned
on the gas.
Speaker: I suppose I must have
shrieked with terror, for in less
than a
Speaker: minute afterward my room
was crowded with inmates of the
house.
Speaker: I shudder now as I think of
that awful moment.
Speaker: I saw nothing.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I had one arm firmly
claspsed round a breathing, panting,
corporeal
Speaker: shape, my other hand
gripped with all its strength a
throat as
Speaker: warm, as apparently fleshy
as my own, and yet with this living
Speaker: substance in my grasp, with
its body pressed against my own, and
Speaker: all in the bright glare of
a large jet of gas, I absolutely
beheld
Speaker: nothing.
Speaker: Not even an outline of
vapor.
Speaker: I do not even at this hour
realize the situation in which I
found
Speaker: myself.
Speaker: I cannot recall the
astounding incident thoroughly.
Speaker: Imagination in vain tries
to compass the awful paradox.
Speaker: It breathed.
Speaker: I felt its warm breath upon
my cheek.
Speaker: It struggled fiercely.
Speaker: It had hands.
Speaker: They clutched me.
Speaker: Its skin was smooth like my
own.
Speaker: There it lay pressed close
up against me, solid as stone, and
Speaker: yet utterly invisible.
Speaker: I wonder that I did not
faint or go mad on the instant.
Speaker: Some wonderful instinct
must have sustained me for
absolutely
Speaker: in place of loosening my
hold on the terrible enigma.
Speaker: I seemed to gain an
additional strength in my moment of
horror,
Speaker: and tightened my grasp with
such wonderful force that I felt the
Speaker: creature shivering with
agony.
Speaker: Just then Hammond entered
my room at the head of the
household.
Speaker: As soon as he beheld my
face, which I suppose must have been
an
Speaker: awful sight to look at, he
hastened forward, crying, Great
Heaven,
Speaker: Harry, what has happened?
Speaker: Hammond, Hammond, I cried,
come here.
Speaker: Oh this is awful.
Speaker: I have been attacked in bed
by something or other which I have
Speaker: hold of, but I can't see
it, I can't see it.
Speaker: Hammond, doubtless struck
by the unfiend hurried expressed in
Speaker: my countenance, made one or
two steps forward with an anxious
Speaker: yet puzzled expression.
Speaker: A very audible titter burst
from the remainder of the visitors.
Speaker: This suppressed laughter
made me furious.
Speaker: To laugh at a human being
in my position?
Speaker: It was the worst species of
cruelty.
Speaker: Now I can understand why
the appearance of a man struggling
violently
Speaker: as it would seem, with an
airy nothing, and calling for
assistance
Speaker: against a vision should
have appeared ludicrous.
Speaker: Then so great was my rage
against the mocking crowd that had I
Speaker: the power I would have
stricken them dead where they stood.
Speaker: Hammond, Hammond, I cried
again despairingly.
Speaker: For God's sake, come to me,
I can hold the thing but a short
while
Speaker: longer.
Speaker: It is overpowering me.
Speaker: Help me, help me.
Speaker: Harry, whispered Hammond,
approaching me, you have been
smoking
Speaker: too much opium.
Speaker: I swear to you, Hammond,
that this is no vision, I answered
in
Speaker: the same low tone.
Speaker: Don't you see how it shakes
my whole frame with its struggles?
Speaker: If you don't believe me,
convince yourself, fill it, touch
it.
Speaker: Hammond advanced and laid
his hand in the spot I indicated.
Speaker: A wild cry of horror burst
from him.
Speaker: He had felt it.
Speaker: In a moment he had
discovered somewhere in my room a
long piece
Speaker: of cord, and was the next
instant winding it and knotting it
around
Speaker: the body of the unseen
being that I clasped in my arms.
Speaker: Harry, he said in a hoarse,
agitated voice.
Speaker: For though he preserved his
presence of mind, he was deeply
moved.
Speaker: Harry!
Speaker: Now you may let's go, old
fellow, if you're tired.
Speaker: The thing can't move.
Speaker: I was utterly exhausted.
Speaker: And I gladly loosened my
hold.
Speaker: Hammond stood holding the
ends of the cord that bound the
invisible,
Speaker: twisted round his hand.
Speaker: While before him,
self-supporting as it were, he
beheld a rope
Speaker: laced and interlaced and
stretching tightly around a vacant
space.
Speaker: I never saw a man look so
thoroughly stricken with awe.
Speaker: Nevertheless, his face
expressed all the courage and
determination
Speaker: which I knew him to
possess.
Speaker: His lips, although white,
were set firmly, and one could
perceive
Speaker: at a glance that, although
stricken with fear, he was not
daunted.
Speaker: The confusion that ensued
among the guests of the house who
were
Speaker: witnesses of this
extraordinary scene between Hammond
and myself,
Speaker: who beheld the pantomime of
binding the struggle, something who
Speaker: beheld me almost sinking
from physical exhaustion when my
task
Speaker: of jailer was over.
Speaker: The confusion and terror
that took possession of the
bystanders
Speaker: when they saw all this was
beyond description.
Speaker: The weaker ones fled from
the apartment, the few who remained
Speaker: clustered near the door and
could not be induced to approach
Hammond
Speaker: and his charge.
Speaker: Still, incredulity broke
out through their terror.
Speaker: They had not the courage to
satisfy themselves, and yet they
doubted.
Speaker: It was in vain that I
begged of some of the men to come
near and
Speaker: convince themselves by
touch of the existence in that room
of
Speaker: a living being which was
invisible.
Speaker: They were incredulous, but
did not dare to undeceive
themselves.
Speaker: How could a solid living,
breathing body be invisible?
Speaker: They asked.
Speaker: My reply was this.
Speaker: I gave a sign to Hammond
and both of us, conquering our
fearful
Speaker: repugnance to touch the
invisible creature, lifted it from
the
Speaker: ground, manacled as it was,
and took it to my bed.
Speaker: Its weight was about that
of a boy of fourteen.
Speaker: My friends, I said, as
Hammond and myself held the creature
suspended
Speaker: over the bed, I can give
you self-evident proof that here is
a
Speaker: solid, ponderable body
which, nevertheless, you cannot see.
Speaker: Be good enough to watch the
surface of the bed attentively.
Speaker: I was astonished at my own
courage in treating this strange
event
Speaker: so calmly, but I had
recovered from my first terror and
felt a
Speaker: sort of scientific pride in
the affair which dominated every
other
Speaker: feeling.
Speaker: The eyes of the bystanders
were immediately fixed on my bed.
Speaker: At a given signal, Hammond
and I let the creature fall.
Speaker: There was a dull sound of a
heavy body alighting on a soft mass.
Speaker: The timbers of the bed
creaked.
Speaker: A deep impression marked
itself distinctly on the pillow and
on
Speaker: the bed itself.
Speaker: The crowd who witnessed
this gave a low cry and rushed from
the
Speaker: room.
Speaker: Hammond and I were left
alone with our mystery.
Speaker: We remained silent for some
time, listening to the low,
irregular
Speaker: breathing of the creature
on the bed, and watching the rustle
Speaker: of the bedclothes as it
impotently struggled to free itself
from
Speaker: confinement.
Speaker: Then Hammond spoke.
Speaker: Harry, this is awful.
Speaker: Aye awful.
Speaker: But not unaccountable.
Speaker: Not unaccountable?
Speaker: What do you mean?
Speaker: Such a thing has never
occurred since the birth of the
world.
Speaker: I know not what to think,
Hammond.
Speaker: Good God, that I may not
mad and that this is not an insane
fantasy.
Speaker: Let us reason a little,
Harry.
Speaker: Here is a solid body, which
we touch but we cannot see.
Speaker: The fact is so unusual that
it strikes us with terror.
Speaker: Is there no parallel though
for such a phenomenon?
Speaker: Take a piece of a pure
glass.
Speaker: It is tangible and
transparent.
Speaker: A certain chemical
coarseness is all that prevents its
being so
Speaker: entirely transparent as to
be totally invisible.
Speaker: It is not theoretically
impossible, mind you, to make a
glass
Speaker: which shall not reflect a
single ray of light.
Speaker: A glass so pure and
homogeneous in its atoms that the
rays from
Speaker: the sun will pass through
it as they do through the air.
Speaker: Refracted but not
reflected.
Speaker: We do not see the air, and
yet we feel it.
Speaker: That's all very well,
Hammond, but these are inanimate
substances.
Speaker: Glass does not breathe, air
does not breathe.
Speaker: This thing has a heart that
palpitates, a will that moves it,
Speaker: lungs that play and inspire
and respire.
Speaker: You forget the phenomenon
of which we have so often heard of
late,
Speaker: answered the doctor
gravely.
Speaker: At the meetings, cold
spirit circles, invisible hands have
been
Speaker: thrust into the hands of
those persons round the table.
Speaker: Warm, fleshy hands that
seem to pulsate with mortal life.
Speaker: What?
Speaker: Do you think, then, that
this thing is?
Speaker: I do not know what it is,
was the solemn reply.
Speaker: But please the gods I will,
with your assistance, thoroughly
investigated.
Speaker: We watched together,
smoking many pipes all night long by
the
Speaker: bedside of the unearthly
being that tossed and panted until
it
Speaker: was apparently wearied out.
Speaker: Then we learned by the low
regular breathing that it slept.
Speaker: The next morning the house
was all astir.
Speaker: The boarders congregated on
the landing outside my room, and
Hammond
Speaker: and myself were lions.
Speaker: We had to answer a thousand
questions as to the state of our
extraordinary
Speaker: prisoner, for as yet not
one person in the house except
ourselves
Speaker: could be induced to set
foot in the apartment.
Speaker: The creature was awake,
this was evidenced by the convulsive
manner
Speaker: in which the bedclothes
were moved in its efforts to escape.
Speaker: There was something truly
terrible in beholding, as it were,
those
Speaker: secondhand indications of
the terrible rhythms and agonized
struggles
Speaker: for liberty which
themselves were invisible.
Speaker: Hammond and myself had
racked our brains during the long
night
Speaker: to discover some means by
which we might realize the shape and
Speaker: general appearance of the
enigma.
Speaker: As well as we could make
out, by passing our hand over the
creature's
Speaker: form, its outlines and
linaments were human.
Speaker: There was a mouth, a round,
smooth head without hair, a nose
which,
Speaker: however, was little
elevated above the cheeks, and its
hands and
Speaker: feet felt like those of a
boy.
Speaker: At first we thought of
placing the bean on a smooth surface
and
Speaker: tracing its outline with
chalk as shoemakers trace the
outline
Speaker: of the foot.
Speaker: This plan was given up as
being of no value.
Speaker: Such an outline would give
not the slightest idea of its
confirmation.
Speaker: A happy thought struck me.
Speaker: We could take a plaster of
it in plaster of Paris.
Speaker: This would give us the
solid figure and satisfy all our
wishes.
Speaker: But how to do it?
Speaker: The movements of the
creature would disturb the setting
of the
Speaker: plastic covering and
distort the mold.
Speaker: Another thought?
Speaker: Why not give it chloroform?
Speaker: It had respiratory organs,
that was evident by its breathing.
Speaker: Once reduced to a state of
insensibility, we could do with it
Speaker: what we would.
Speaker: Dr.
Speaker: Xavier was sent for, and
after the worthy physician had
recovered
Speaker: from the first shock of
amazement, he proceeded to
administer
Speaker: the chloroform.
Speaker: In three minutes
afterwards, we were enabled to
remove the fetters
Speaker: from the creature's body,
and a molder was busily engaged in
covering
Speaker: the invisible form with the
moist clay.
Speaker: In five minutes more, we
had a mold, and before evening, a
rough
Speaker: facsimile of the mystery.
Speaker: It was shaped like a man,
distorted, uncouth, horrible, but
still
Speaker: a man.
Speaker: It was small, but not over
four feet, and some inches in
height.
Speaker: And its limbs revealed a
muscular development that was
unparalleled.
Speaker: Its face surpassed in
hideousness anything I had ever
seen.
Speaker: Gustave Dor or Calo or Tony
Jonon never conceived anything so
Speaker:horrible.
Speaker: There is a face in one of
the latter's illustrations to Envoy
Speaker: Il Vu Pleias, which
somewhat approaches the countenance
of this
Speaker: creature, but does not
equal it.
Speaker: It was the physiognomy of
what I should fancy a ghoul might
be.
Speaker: It looked as if it was
capable of feeding on human flesh.
Speaker: Having satisfied our
curiosity and bound everyone in the
house
Speaker: to secrecy, it became a
question what was to be done with
our
Speaker:enigma.
Speaker: It was impossible that we
should keep such a horror in our
house.
Speaker: It was equally impossible
that such an awful being should be
let
Speaker: loose upon the world.
Speaker: I confess that I would have
gladly voted for the creature's
destruction.
Speaker: But who would shoulder the
responsibility?
Speaker: Who would undertake the
execution of this horrible semblance
of
Speaker: a human being?
Speaker: Day after day, this
question was deliberated gravely.
Speaker: The boarders all left the
house.
Speaker: Mrs.
Speaker: Moffat was in despair and
threatened Hammond and myself with
all
Speaker: sorts of legal penalties if
we did not remove the whore.
Speaker: Our answer was We will go
if you like, but we decline taking
this
Speaker: creature with us.
Speaker: Remove it yourself if you
please.
Speaker: It appeared in your house.
Speaker: On you the responsibility
rests.
Speaker: To this there was, of
course, no answer.
Speaker: Mrs.
Speaker: Moffat could not obtain for
love or money a person who would
even
Speaker: approach the mystery.
Speaker: The most singular part of
the affair was that we were entirely
Speaker: ignorant of what the
creature habitually fed on.
Speaker: Everything in the way of
nutriment that we could think of was
Speaker: placed before it, but was
never touched.
Speaker: It was awful to stand by
day after day and see the clothes
toss
Speaker: and hear the hard breathing
and know that it was starving.
Speaker: Ten twelve days, a
fortnight passed, and it still
lived.
Speaker: The pulsations of the
heart, however, were daily growing
fainter
Speaker: and had now nearly ceased.
Speaker: It was evident that the
creature was dying for want of
sustenance.
Speaker: While this terrible life
struggle was going on, I felt
miserable.
Speaker: I could not sleep.
Speaker: Horrible as the creature
was, it was pitiful to think of the
pains
Speaker: it was suffering.
Speaker: At last it died.
Speaker: Hammond and I found it cold
and stiff one morning in the bed.
Speaker: The heart had ceased to
beat, the lungs to inspire.
Speaker: We hastened to bury it in
the garden.
Speaker: It was a strange funeral.
Speaker: The dropping of that
viewless corpse into the damp hole.
Speaker: The cast of its form I gave
to Dr.
Speaker: Xavier, who keeps it in his
museum in 10th Street.
Speaker: As I am on the eve of a
long journey from which I may not
return,
Speaker: I have drawn up this
narrative of an event the most
singular that
Speaker: has ever come to my
knowledge.
Speaker: That was What Was It by
FitzJames O'Brien.
Speaker: And I want to actually just
first address a tiny little change
Speaker: that I made to the script.
Speaker: So if you are not new to
this podcast, then you know that I
am
Speaker: reading original classic
literature, how the author wrote it.
Speaker: It is very important to me
to stay true to how the author wrote
Speaker: it.
Speaker: And I do my best with
looking up the pronunciation of
various
Speaker: words where I'm like, huh?
Speaker: I've never heard that word
before, or oh, it's a different
language.
Speaker: Um, that's a city in a
different country, and my crazy
American
Speaker: self, I don't know how to
pronounce that.
Speaker: So I try to look up these
words before I get into the
recording,
Speaker: or at least um before I
finish my editing and make it live
to
Speaker: you, dear listener.
Speaker: However, um I don't know
what my luck is, but recently I've
been
Speaker: coming across text where
there are words being used where I
give
Speaker: pause, like, mmm, in modern
society here in 2026, that that word
Speaker: would be considered
offensive and that is a derogatory
term and
Speaker: all these things.
Speaker: So um I haven't really
recorded any of those stories up
until
Speaker: now, but don't you worry
because I'm going to explain.
Speaker: So, in this text, and I'm
just looking at my screen so that I
Speaker: give you the real deals.
Speaker: Can give you what exactly
what it says.
Speaker: Oi, okay.
Speaker: So I was really enjoying
this story, reading along, and then
I
Speaker: came across this bit of
text.
Speaker: And if you're on the video
version of this podcast episode,
then
Speaker: you're gonna see why I gave
pause.
Speaker: Here we go.
Speaker: So after a month of
psychological excitement, it was
with the
Speaker: utmost dissatisfaction that
we were forced to acknowledge that
Speaker: nothing in the remotest
degree of portraying the
supernatural
Speaker: had manifested itself.
Speaker: Oh, what a beautiful
sentence.
Speaker: Okay, there we go.
Speaker: Once the black butler as
severated that his candle had been
blown
Speaker: out.
Speaker: Once the black butler.
Speaker: And I had to stop
recording.
Speaker: I'm like, oh man.
Speaker: And mind you, when I was
recording, this was like four in the
Speaker: morning because where I am
right now, there are like lots of
birds
Speaker: chirping outside, and those
birds be starting early.
Speaker: So I'm like, I gotta get
this done before the birds start
really
Speaker: singing in full force.
Speaker: Um, so it was early in the
morning, I'm tired, and then I come
Speaker: across the Black Butler.
Speaker: And then I had to scroll
through.
Speaker: Now, mind you, you could
say, Well, why don't you pre-read
all
Speaker: these stories to save
yourself the drama?
Speaker: I'm a busy girl.
Speaker: I've got more than one
podcast, and I have to make sure
that the
Speaker: Patreon for these uh
classic literature pieces that
there's stuff
Speaker: for the Patreon too.
Speaker: Some more delicious stories
for you and stories for me.
Speaker: And so I don't get paid for
this.
Speaker: I don't have the time or
bandwidth or the interest to sit
here
Speaker: pre-reading a whole bunch
of stories.
Speaker: When I start this podcast,
I was reading stories that I'd
already
Speaker: read before.
Speaker: I'm like, oh, this is such
a good story.
Speaker: Let me share.
Speaker: It's like wanting to share
a story with your friends, right?
Speaker: Um, but we've gotten past
that point now.
Speaker: We're in the more of a book
club category as opposed to the, oh,
Speaker: hey friend, let me share
this story with you.
Speaker: That's more of a book club,
like, we're all on this together.
Speaker: Let's go, let's go.
Speaker: And so I was like, wow,
man, why does it matter if the
butler
Speaker: is black?
Speaker: Like, who cares?
Speaker: And so I had to scroll
through to see, is it mentioned
anywhere
Speaker: else about the butlers,
ethnicity, what's going on?
Speaker: Okay, now I'm gonna read
the next sentence.
Speaker: Here we go.
Speaker: So once the black butler
asseverated that his candle had been
Speaker: blown out by some invisible
agency while he was undressing
himself
Speaker: for the night, but as I had
more than once discovered, the
colored
Speaker: gentleman, okay, you just
said color, the colored gentleman in
Speaker: a condition when one candle
must have appeared to him like two,
Speaker: thought it possible that by
going a step further in his
potations,
Speaker: he might have reversed the
his phenomenon and seen no candle at
Speaker: all where he ought to have
beheld one.
Speaker: So all that to say, maybe
this black guy was drunk.
Speaker: Now, at first I was
annoyed, like, oh, it doesn't,
there's nowhere
Speaker: else, nowhere else do they
mention the butler.
Speaker: So the fact that you're
mentioning the butler right now and
his
Speaker: ethnicity with it, like, or
his race, I should say, you're
mentioning
Speaker: the butler and his race at
this point in the story.
Speaker: While it's good detail, and
I always talk to my writing students
Speaker: about, I need detail, I
need to know what's going on.
Speaker: Make us want to feel as if
we were there, make us visualize it.
Speaker: You've definitely helped me
visualize the situation, but it's
Speaker: not really adding anything
to the story.
Speaker: And so I read the story
without mentioning that the butler
was
Speaker: black or colored.
Speaker: Now, it wasn't until like a
day or so later where I go, oh,
actually,
Speaker: the writer did a good job.
Speaker: This wasn't useless
information, okay?
Speaker: So oftentimes, like there's
another piece that I am recording
Speaker: and it uses the phrase
Chinaman.
Speaker: And I'm like, oh, come on.
Speaker: Um it doesn't use a
completely offensive phrase.
Speaker: So I'm like, okay, well,
thanks for that, but why do I have
to
Speaker: say Chinaman?
Speaker: I mean, why can't I just
say Chinese man?
Speaker: Uh, which is probably what
I'm gonna do uh when I finish the
recording.
Speaker: However, in both cases, the
race or ethnicity of the character
Speaker: does matter to a certain
degree.
Speaker: We're not just throwing
things out.
Speaker: I mean, there's another
piece where the N-word is used and
someone's
Speaker: talking about, oh, well, I
don't want that person in my house
Speaker: kind of thing.
Speaker: So while it does give us
time context, and these stories were
Speaker: recorded very long time ago
where these words were the common
Speaker: language of the day.
Speaker: In this particular case,
O'Brien did two things that I
consider
Speaker: really quite amazing.
Speaker: One is that, and this story
takes place in New York City, okay?
Speaker: So we do have the word
black, not Negro, um not the other
N-word.
Speaker: And this is gonna be before
a term like African American would
Speaker: have been thrown into the
mixture.
Speaker: So O'Brien's actually using
the most positive term available.
Speaker: And then he adds in color,
but these terms were used
interchangeably.
Speaker: We are up north, we're not
in the south.
Speaker: And you're the the author's
using the language as is.
Speaker: It's not designed to be
offensive or in your face or
ignorant.
Speaker: It's actually quite
advanced thinking ahead of its time,
I should
Speaker: say.
Speaker: And so I'm like, well, I do
consider myself black.
Speaker: So where's the problem?
Speaker: And I think my initial
pause was this guy's last name is
O'Brien.
Speaker: So he must be white.
Speaker: Why is this my man talking
about this black butler?
Speaker: Why the butler gotta be
black?
Speaker: Okay, so I got all into my
feelings about it.
Speaker: But once I thought about
it, I was like, oh, actually, this
is
Speaker: this is this is actually
really good, the way the author
wrote
Speaker: it.
Speaker: And so I should have just
read the word.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Moving past that, what's
the second thing that I think was
really
Speaker: good about this?
Speaker: Um, the second thing that I
thought was really good was the fact
Speaker: that the author created
contrast using this character.
Speaker: So we have a black
character or African American
character.
Speaker: This is the 1850s.
Speaker: This character appears in
the story not as a victim.
Speaker: And if you are familiar
with modern horror movies, we always
victims
Speaker: and we generally die first
in these horror movies.
Speaker: But this character is there
in what would be a common job, a
position
Speaker: of servitude.
Speaker: And the character basically
says what is true to him, which is
Speaker: I'm experiencing something
that is crazy.
Speaker: This candle, it's getting
blown out.
Speaker: And the guy's accused of
being a drunkard.
Speaker: Well, he's he's had one too
many um many nights.
Speaker: The contrast is that we
have the narrator who is living in
this
Speaker: boarding house, a bachelor,
right?
Speaker: Um, he has the money to
live in this board house, but you're
living
Speaker: in a boarding house with a
bunch of other young-ish people or
Speaker: people who are not living
in their own grand estates.
Speaker: Okay, so he's not super
wealthy.
Speaker: There's a doctor who lives
in this boarding house.
Speaker: But we're getting to that
contrast part.
Speaker: We have both contrast and
irony, right?
Speaker: The pot calling the kettle
black.
Speaker: Um, our narrator is an
opium addict.
Speaker: He loves getting high, as
does the doctor.
Speaker: And so, on one hand, it's
like, oh, well, this doctor, he's a
Speaker: bachelor, yeah, it makes
sense that he's living with all
these
Speaker: other people.
Speaker: This doctor isn't super
young, and he's an opium addict too,
but
Speaker: he hides it really well.
Speaker: So we have these two guys,
the writer and the doctor, who are
Speaker: both addicted to drugs,
both hiding, hiding it pretty well.
Speaker: And so I just found it
really excellent writing because on
one
Speaker: hand, you have this man who
is not in a position of servitude,
Speaker: talking about the man who
is in a position of servitude being
Speaker: a drunker.
Speaker: I think he's had one too
many drinks, so it's mm-hmm.
Speaker: He must have been saying
things.
Speaker: Then you get to the
narrator, it's like, oh, wait a
minute, you
Speaker: think that guy might be
filming because he's been saying
things?
Speaker: Well, you're talking about
how you were attacked and nearly
choked
Speaker: to death by an invisible
creature, and everyone's looking at
you
Speaker: like, dude, an invisible
creature.
Speaker: Are you serious?
Speaker: We just see you wrestling
around over there.
Speaker: Oh, oh, I got him, I can't
let him go.
Speaker: People look at him like,
mm-hmm.
Speaker: So maybe his thought that
he was really hiding his um opium
problem,
Speaker: maybe he wasn't hiding it
as well as he thought he was.
Speaker: So, anyway, that is why I
say, hats off, O'Brien, sir.
Speaker: You have done, you have
done my people justice um by the way
you
Speaker: wrote this character.
Speaker: This character is not a
victim.
Speaker: Um, you're stating the
facts, and you even give a little
chuckle,
Speaker: give a little chuckle, and
not just leaving this character as
Speaker: uh, yeah, that black
person, he be a drugard, and that's
just
Speaker: how black people are.
Speaker: Like, no, this guy was
actually speaking the truth, and uh
he's
Speaker: just like everyone else.
Speaker: We got secrets and
problems.
Speaker: Okay, so let's get into
what this story is all about.
Speaker: You guys, this is my first
video visual for Echoes in the Dark.
Speaker: So I hope, I hope you're
okay with it so far.
Speaker: I hope you're not like, oh
my gosh, that's what she looked
like.
Speaker: Um, okay, let's and if
you're like that, who cares?
Speaker: I don't care.
Speaker: All right, I don't care.
Speaker: You're not paying me.
Speaker: If you want to pay me, join
my Patreon.
Speaker: Join my Patreon.
Speaker: Okay, so let's start
talking about some of the story here
in terms
Speaker: of why not just throw some.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: So I had some questions as
much as I like the story.
Speaker: I did have some questions.
Speaker: So once we got to the
figure that he'd been wrestling
with, and
Speaker: uh, you know, he managed to
brace it, get it in a chokehold or
Speaker: something.
Speaker: Um, and they're talking
about, well, how do we show what it
is?
Speaker: Okay, so this is after it's
been tied up.
Speaker: How do we show what it is?
Speaker: I thought that dropping it
on the bed was actually really
ingenious.
Speaker: I'm like, oh yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker: Because I was thinking,
like, um, well, I had I had some
thoughts,
Speaker: and I did think put it on
the bed, but dropping it on the bed
Speaker: is definitely more
effective.
Speaker: I'm like, that's good,
that's good.
Speaker: But when they were still
trying to figure out, okay, what
does
Speaker: it look like?
Speaker: Like, okay, we've shown
that something's here, but what does
it
Speaker: look like?
Speaker: We want to see it.
Speaker: My first thought was just
throw some flour on it.
Speaker: Like, really, I was
thinking, like, oh, just put some
makeup on
Speaker: it or something.
Speaker: But then I'm thinking, you
guys, you're not gonna have a bunch
Speaker: of makeup lying around.
Speaker: But there's gotta be a
kitchen there.
Speaker: Grab the flour, the cooking
flour from the kitchen, and throw
Speaker: it over the bound cords,
and you're going to get the shape,
impression,
Speaker: outline, be able to see
this creature.
Speaker: So simple.
Speaker: And the narrator goes
through the different options.
Speaker: Well, we could do this, but
that's not gonna work.
Speaker: We could do that, but
that's not gonna work.
Speaker: And so ultimately they
decide to use chloroform to knock
the thing
Speaker: out because it must have a
breathing organism, and then we're
Speaker: gonna get someone to put
plaster apparis over it.
Speaker: And my thought is really,
just like a man, you're gonna go
ahead
Speaker: and do the most complicated
option out there.
Speaker: What?
Speaker: Or you could have just
threw some flour over it and you
could
Speaker: see what it looks like.
Speaker: I guess you could like take
a picture at that time.
Speaker: I'm just trying to think
when was the actual photograph
invented.
Speaker: Um, but you would have had
your immediate opportunity to see
it.
Speaker: Now I'm also thinking in
terms of the person who came in and
did
Speaker: the plastering and the
doctor who administered the
chloroform.
Speaker: Um, I think they had to
have a separate doctor come in and
administer
Speaker: the chloroform.
Speaker: I'm trying to remember.
Speaker: I read this a couple days
ago.
Speaker: Well, uh, I know there was
at least one other person involved,
Speaker: but I think there were two
other people involved.
Speaker: Okay, so you have anywhere
from three to four people involved
Speaker: with this thing.
Speaker: How on earth, like getting
those people, committing them to
secrecy
Speaker: or not running away, like
how many times did it take for you
to
Speaker: get somebody to be like,
okay, I'll plaster this thing.
Speaker: This is gonna be weird, or
like, yo, I'm gonna plaster
something
Speaker: weird, but I'm getting
paid.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: I was just trying to
imagine like this interaction and
engagement.
Speaker: If all the other boarders
were like, yo, I'm out of here, that
Speaker: was crazy.
Speaker: I don't know what's going
on, but meow.
Speaker: So that was interesting.
Speaker: Um, so yeah, I I felt like
these guys really went to the
extreme.
Speaker: It could have been so much
simpler.
Speaker: But some people are like
that.
Speaker: Some people like that, they
will go to extreme.
Speaker: Um, I had a friend who was
like, Oh, I there was like slime in
Speaker: my hair, so I had to cut it
off.
Speaker: And I'm thinking, yep,
that's extreme.
Speaker: You cut all your hair off.
Speaker: That's extreme.
Speaker: That's extreme.
Speaker: Um were there in my book
there are other options that I
certainly
Speaker: would have tried before
doing that.
Speaker: Like, hey, try using a
little oil to get that slime out.
Speaker: Just saying.
Speaker: But hey, moving right
along.
Speaker: Okay, so why okay, so
honestly, okay, this story.
Speaker: What was it?
Speaker: I think the story should
have a name, why was it?
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: Because it was very
descriptive, really wonderfully
done.
Speaker: I loved the wrestling scene
and trying to get this thing off of
Speaker: him, and I really loved the
the aftermath, but we'll get to
that.
Speaker: So, in terms of why was it?
Speaker: Well, we had the lore, we
had the uh disgraced financier who
or
Speaker: financier who flees New
York City and goes to Europe and
then
Speaker: dies in Europe.
Speaker: We never have, oh, this guy
had a child at some point.
Speaker: This guy actually moves
back to New York.
Speaker: This guy fled his home
because he felt it was haunted.
Speaker: We didn't have any of that
stuff.
Speaker: He committed a crime.
Speaker: Um, I don't even, I wasn't
even, I can't quite recall if he had
Speaker: been married before his
crime was committed, but I did
double-check
Speaker: the story.
Speaker: I didn't see any mention of
marriage.
Speaker: So we're just gonna go with
man commits crime and flees country.
Speaker: And then something is in
this house.
Speaker: So while was he away, did
something occupy the house?
Speaker: Was that creature like his
evil soul?
Speaker: Was it the evil part of him
that um uh lied to investors and he
Speaker: left behind his evil side
when he went abroad?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: We don't really know what
it was, and uh the title is what is
Speaker:it?
Speaker: But I think it should be
more why.
Speaker: Why was it there?
Speaker: Okay, because the concept
of being like this, it reminds me of
Speaker: like a 14-year-old boy.
Speaker: That's like the body size
of it, right?
Speaker: So let's assume it's all of
the evil energy, 14-year-old boy,
Speaker: or something to that
effect.
Speaker: This uh evil entity, this
creature, this manifestation,
whatever
Speaker: this thing was, um, and we
know it wasn't really human because
Speaker: it did not die after seven
or fourteen days without food or
water.
Speaker: Um, it initially people
reported seeing furniture move,
hearing
Speaker: noises, things closing, and
that's something you would think of
Speaker: uh a tricky teen to do,
right?
Speaker: Like, oh, let's let's scare
these people out of here.
Speaker: I'm gonna move some
furniture and stack it up.
Speaker: Hee hee hee hee.
Speaker: I'm gonna play with lights,
I'm gonna blow out candles.
Speaker: Okay, I guess maybe they
didn't have lights.
Speaker: I'm gonna blow out candles,
I'm gonna make creepy sounds with
Speaker: the doors.
Speaker: That's all funny.
Speaker: That's that's a funny
prankster thing.
Speaker: I was in the store the
other day, and some kid opened a
freezer
Speaker: door.
Speaker: It was a teenager, I say
kid, teenage boy, like old enough to
Speaker: drive, and he starts moving
the door back and forth to make a
Speaker: squeaky sound.
Speaker: He's like to his friends,
and I'm like, oh my gosh.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Teenagers.
Speaker: I remember being a
teenager, and they think that's
really cool
Speaker: and funny right now.
Speaker: Um, but good on them, good
on them for having some laughs and
Speaker: not being out there, uh,
you know, causing trouble on the
streets.
Speaker: So, anyway, we have these
really basic actions, and then we
get
Speaker: hey, creature plunges from
ceiling and tries to murder
somebody.
Speaker: Never before before this
moment has ever been mentioned of
murdering
Speaker: or trying to murder or
anything of that nature.
Speaker: So it's a it was very
unexpected.
Speaker: So why?
Speaker: Why is this good thing all
of a sudden like I'm gonna murder
somebody?
Speaker: Because that's not your
typical teenage action.
Speaker: Maybe try a little fight or
something, but at some point you're
Speaker: you're gonna give up.
Speaker: So yeah, why?
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: Not what is it?
Speaker: Why is it there?
Speaker: Why is it trying to kill
you, opium narrator?
Speaker: Why, why, why, why, why?
Speaker: Why is it attached to this
house?
Speaker: Why did it move furniture
around?
Speaker: Why didn't anyone else put
report these kind of events sooner?
Speaker: I mean, there's a big
difference between blowing out the
butler's
Speaker: candle and strangling a
resident.
Speaker: I'm just saying.
Speaker: Maybe there was more than
one entity, and once that one was
caught,
Speaker: like all the other ghosts
were like, Oh, we're out of here,
but
Speaker: I don't think so.
Speaker: So it just seems like a
really big turn of events, and I
really
Speaker: want to not, I don't even
care what it was, I want to know why
Speaker: it wanted to murder this
guy so bad.
Speaker: Um, yeah, so okay, we have
that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I didn't so what did I love
about the story?
Speaker: I really think it's nice
that the ghost didn't just disappear
Speaker: or this manifestation,
whatever it was.
Speaker: Oftentimes in these ghost
stories, you have creepy ghosts
appears,
Speaker: and then maybe the narrator
dies, or they find out where the
ghost
Speaker: came from and it goes back
to where it came from.
Speaker: Uh, you know, like the the
lady's maid's bell, right?
Speaker: Here, I'm not here.
Speaker: All is at peace.
Speaker: Um, and that's not a
spoiler.
Speaker: You still have to go back
and listen to that episode if you
haven't
Speaker: listened to it.
Speaker: Um, but just very common in
ghost stories.
Speaker: If there's a supernatural
being, maybe it caused a little bit
Speaker: of havoc, but overall, it's
it goes away.
Speaker: There's no like exorcism in
these old stories, it's kind of
gone.
Speaker: Um, but in this case, we
get the big reveal, and it doesn't
just
Speaker: go away.
Speaker: That character, the the
creature, think of a jig, it is
around
Speaker: for most the rest of the
story, pretty much.
Speaker: It's there.
Speaker: We get to see it suffer.
Speaker: There's no quick action
decline, all right?
Speaker: It wasn't like we found the
creature and then the story's done.
Speaker: It's like, no, no, we still
got a ways to go.
Speaker: Um, and this thing is like
around alive for like another 30
days
Speaker: or something.
Speaker: So I thought that was
pretty cool.
Speaker: Oh, I thought the story was
almost over.
Speaker: I was looking for a quick
story for this podcast, and it
wasn't
Speaker: almost over.
Speaker: Uh, we're still going.
Speaker: So I really enjoyed that.
Speaker: I thought they often did a
very good job of showing how the
characters
Speaker: were dealing with this.
Speaker: Because so often in life we
encounter difficulties, we may
wrestle
Speaker: with something.
Speaker: Oh, lessons learned,
friends.
Speaker: We may wrestle with
something, and we face our demon,
we're in
Speaker: the moment, and then it's
like, okay, and now everything's
supposed
Speaker: to be perfect.
Speaker: Uh example would be maybe
someone has a problem with a
substance.
Speaker: Let's go with alcoholism
right now, right?
Speaker: So you wrestle your demon
of alcoholism, you go to AA, you do
Speaker: the 12 steps, and then now
problems solved.
Speaker: You're supposed to like go
back to having an amazing life.
Speaker: Um, you've asked for
forgiveness.
Speaker: Yay!
Speaker: Great job, you.
Speaker: But no, that's not the case
because there are people who don't
Speaker: forgive you.
Speaker: Um, there are people who
forgive you, but still have trouble
trusting
Speaker: you.
Speaker: You still have to fight
your addiction every day and you
know,
Speaker: do all the things you do in
life to function normally.
Speaker: You still have to go to
work and pay your bills and all the
things.
Speaker: The person who is
exonerated from committing a major
crime, they
Speaker: are out of jail.
Speaker: And now that's something
they fought so hard for, and now
they
Speaker: still have to function in
society every day.
Speaker: And so we get that through
these characters.
Speaker: They fought hard.
Speaker: And actually, isn't it
interesting that we have the
narrator and
Speaker: the narrator's friend, um
think it was Hammond, where they are
Speaker: both two people with an
addiction to opium.
Speaker: They are both people with
substance abuse problems, they both
Speaker: acknowledge this creature,
they fight the demon together, and
Speaker: together they are on this
journey of having to continue the
rest
Speaker: of the story, to continue
their lives, to figure things out.
Speaker: So that's really that's
really brilliant.
Speaker: Oh, Brian, me loving you.
Speaker: I this is my first time
reading a story by this author, and
I'm
Speaker: just it's so layered.
Speaker: I love it so much.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Um, so what else do we
learn?
Speaker: So, okay, we learned that
um when you face redeemons, you
battle
Speaker: your demons, that's not the
end of it.
Speaker: Life keeps going.
Speaker: You have to be vigilant
every single day.
Speaker: We get that lesson.
Speaker: We also learn seeing is
believing.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: We have this question,
seeing is believing.
Speaker: So the the other residents
are like, we don't see anything,
don't
Speaker: believe you.
Speaker: Ha ha.
Speaker: And they have to prove it.
Speaker: Okay, we're gonna tie it
up, and they're like, That's weird.
Speaker: Because there's definitely
something going off that rope.
Speaker: Is it a trick or something?
Speaker: Like, what's going on?
Speaker: Okay, now we're gonna drop
this creature onto the bed, and you
Speaker: will see from the weight
impression on the bed that there's
definitely
Speaker: something here.
Speaker: So they're trying to
convince others.
Speaker: You gotta see it to believe
it, right?
Speaker: But also think about other
areas in our lives where you can't
Speaker: see it, but you believe it
wholeheartedly.
Speaker: One thing would be
religion, but let's put religion
aside.
Speaker: Let's talk about love,
trust, friendship.
Speaker: We can't see these things,
we can see manifestations of these
Speaker: things, right?
Speaker: Um, I know we are friends
because we say hello to each other,
Speaker: we're nice to each other,
we like spending time with each
other.
Speaker: That is what I know equals
a good friendship.
Speaker: I know we trust each other
because I haven't stolen from them,
Speaker: they haven't stolen from
me, they haven't tried to murder me
in
Speaker: my sleep.
Speaker: Um, so this was must must
be what trust looks like.
Speaker: But trust, I can't hold
trust in my hand.
Speaker: I can't put trust
friendship in my hand or love in my
hand.
Speaker: I can't sniff it, eat it,
wash with it, I can't listen to it.
Speaker: And so it really does raise
the question.
Speaker: Um, one, what did it make
sense for the others to doubt?
Speaker: And two, how often in our
lives do we doubt things that we
cannot
Speaker: uh comprehend at face
value?
Speaker: We don't see, and so we
just say, well, it must not must not
be
Speaker: a thing, must be something
crazy going on here, but I don't
believe
Speaker: it because I can't see it.
Speaker: So there's that.
Speaker: Okay, and then we have the
really weighty issue.
Speaker: These are some big issues,
O'Brien.
Speaker: Okay, we have the really
weighty issue of what is right.
Speaker: What is right?
Speaker: Okay, so I would say uh
using chloroform to knock out this
creature
Speaker: that you've clearly
overpowered, um, and you now are
held held
Speaker: holding captive, and then
putting it in plaster so you can get
Speaker: an impression.
Speaker: I'm gonna say that's kind
of crossing some lines, but um they
Speaker: they have to figure things
out, right?
Speaker: We've got this creature.
Speaker: Um the landlady's saying,
you've got to get rid of it.
Speaker: You have to move out, you
have to get rid of it.
Speaker: And I love their response
with just, oh, sure, we'll move out.
Speaker: But um, this creature is on
your property and it's your tenant.
Speaker: It came with your house, so
we're not taking it with us.
Speaker: It's not ours.
Speaker: So we're we can leave.
Speaker: You you have to deal with
that though.
Speaker: I just I just love that
because she's like, oh, okay, never
mind.
Speaker: I can't get any more
tenants, but I'm not gonna be left
alone
Speaker: with that thing.
Speaker: So uh well, for like 30
days, she didn't have any extra
tenants
Speaker: to pay rent.
Speaker: Like eventually the thing
dies, other people would forget
ideally
Speaker: that uh there was ever a
problem at that house, and she'll
get
Speaker: some new tenants, so not a
big deal, lady.
Speaker: She got it a really good
price, so I don't feel sorry for
her.
Speaker: I do think it's funny.
Speaker: Okay, but the big issue of
do we kill it?
Speaker: Well, neither one of us
wants that on our conscience.
Speaker: Okay, we've got to keep it
captive because we can't.
Speaker: Just set it free.
Speaker: I thought that was really
interesting.
Speaker: Well, let's just uh set it
free.
Speaker: Like, what?
Speaker: No, you're just gonna put
it out on the streets.
Speaker: Um, and we're trying to
feed it.
Speaker: We're like, okay, well, if
we're gonna have to keep it captive,
Speaker: we might as well make sure
that it lives comfortably.
Speaker: Uh, but it doesn't want to
eat anything, so I guess we'll just
Speaker: keep it here until it dies.
Speaker: We hope it dies soon.
Speaker: That's pretty weird, too.
Speaker: Um, and you know, actually
I'm thinking about like, did they
even
Speaker: think about killing it?
Speaker: I think they did.
Speaker: Anyway, with that being
said, um, were there other
alternatives?
Speaker: Sure, they could have
reached out to the scientific
community
Speaker: or something and been like,
we have this thing that we think you
Speaker: need to take care of and
look into.
Speaker: They could have reached out
to the police and been like, hey,
Speaker: there's this crazy thing,
come on on over here.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: They're like, no, we got
our nice rooms here.
Speaker: We don't know what to do
with this creature, but we do have
our
Speaker: rooms.
Speaker: They probably didn't have
to pay rent for that month.
Speaker: Just saying.
Speaker: Okay, so what is right?
Speaker: This really, really, really
strongly connects with the prison
Speaker: system in the United
States.
Speaker: What do we do with our
prisoners?
Speaker: We know they've done wrong,
and so therefore, they can't be let
Speaker: free into the world.
Speaker: Like they've committed
heinous crimes, right?
Speaker: And I'm not talking about
the person who, you know, robbed a
liquor
Speaker: store or was a drug fiend
and then accidentally um their they
Speaker: gave some drugs to their
friend who accidentally overdosed.
Speaker: I'm not talking about those
kind of principles.
Speaker: I'm talking about the ones
who are just like, yep, I just
murdered
Speaker: five people just for fun.
Speaker: And then I decided to eat
their liver or something, right?
Speaker: Or just murdering people
just for fun.
Speaker: The people who have zero
conscience, zero um feelings,
remorse.
Speaker: Just like, no, I just like
killing people.
Speaker: That's what I did.
Speaker: It's good, good on me.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: What do you do with them?
Speaker: A lot of people say the
prisons, we don't do no prisons.
Speaker: It was a few years ago.
Speaker: Uh we were gonna defund the
police and we gotta reduce the
prison
Speaker: complex.
Speaker: And I do think the prison
comp system in the United States is
Speaker: a big money-making system
and it is out of control.
Speaker: There's the number of
people who were in prison because
they murdered
Speaker: and ate a bunch of people
was very slim.
Speaker: Um, so with that aside,
we're right, we're just gonna focus
on
Speaker: the most extreme.
Speaker: If we look at just dealing
with the most extreme individuals,
Speaker: we can't let them out
because they're gonna keep
murdering, and
Speaker: that's not good.
Speaker: Um, we say, well, you can't
kill them, right?
Speaker: A lot of people and states
oppose the death penalty.
Speaker: I'm not really for the
death penalty either.
Speaker: Um, so do you just keep
them captive?
Speaker: And just wait till they
die?
Speaker: I mean, that's the
alternative, right?
Speaker: And then there's the
comment of, well, let them die.
Speaker: And there are a number of
people who take their own lives in
prison
Speaker: on a regular basis.
Speaker: And people who want to take
their own lives, but they're put on
Speaker: uh suicide watch.
Speaker: People who refuse to eat,
and actually, if you refuse to eat,
Speaker: in many cases, uh, the
prisons will take it a step to force
feed
Speaker: these individuals.
Speaker: Um Alexi, I'm I can't
pronounce the last name, but this
gentleman
Speaker: who was opposition to
Russians uh current leader, Vladimir
Putin,
Speaker: he was refusing to eat
because he said that the food in the
prison
Speaker: was being poisoned.
Speaker: So he's like, I'm not
eating that, uh-uh.
Speaker: And he was wasting away, so
they're like, Well, we're gonna have
Speaker: to force feed.
Speaker: I was like, wait a minute.
Speaker: If the guy eats, he's gonna
be poisoned, and if you feed him,
Speaker: he's gonna be poisoned.
Speaker: If he doesn't eat, he's
dying anyway.
Speaker: This is not a good system
to be in.
Speaker: And so, really, what is the
right way to do things?
Speaker: I ain't got an answer, but
it gives us a lot to think about,
and
Speaker: that is what makes this
story by FitzJames O'Brien
brilliant,
Speaker: here, especially in 2026.
Speaker: Um, and if you're watching
this in the future, if it's 2030, I
Speaker: bet you most of these
questions are still on the table, my
friends.
Speaker: This story was written in
1859.
Speaker: So we have well over a
century later, still dealing with a
lot
Speaker: of these issues.
Speaker: Well over a century later.
Speaker: All right, my friends.
Speaker: Well, I hope you found this
little deep dive somewhat
interesting.
Speaker: And I hope you like the
story, and I hope you're okay with
seeing
Speaker: me.
Speaker: Yay!
Speaker: Um, you know, maybe I'll do
my hair next time.
Speaker: All right, my friends, and
I look forward to reading another
story
Speaker: with you.
Speaker: So come back and visit me
or check me out on Patreon and let's
Speaker: uh let's talk about these
stories together.
Speaker: I want to know what you
think of the story, and um, what do
you
Speaker: think of the butler?
Speaker: Okay, till next time.
Speaker: I hope you enjoyed this
story and do come back for another
got
Speaker: it.