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[00:00:00] Good evening, friends. This is your host again to welcome you through the creaking door into
[00:00:11] the inner sanctum. Come in. Come on in. I want you to meet Ambrose, our man-shy ghost.
[00:00:20] The other night in a graveyard he bumped into a human and was so frightened he turned flesh
[00:00:24] colored. Yes, poor Ambrose. He's got a bad case of ants in his fantasies. He's so upset
[00:00:33] he's just a ghost of his former ghost. Was a time when we held high hope for Ambrose.
[00:00:42] Oh yes, that abnormal you he was cited by his crass mates as the personality most likely
[00:00:50] to split. Now let's visit Murder Mansion. For over a hundred years the old house has
[00:01:04] stood on the cliff weathering the relentless ocean winds that have battered at its great
[00:01:10] now in the living room, the real estate agent and the new buyer are completing the arrangements
[00:01:15] to sell. Only one thing bothers me, Mr. Griffin, that graveyard just outside the window there.
[00:01:23] Are you sure nothing can be done about it? I'm sorry, Mr. Burleigh, you know the conditions
[00:01:28] set down in the deed. The Crandall family burial ground must remain on the property
[00:01:34] untampered with. Those Crandalls must have been a morbid family having themselves buried
[00:01:41] right next to the house they lived in. Yes, they were peculiar. I guess they figured it
[00:01:47] was a way of keeping the family together. You shouldn't laugh, Mr. Griffin. What are
[00:01:55] you doing here? I hope I'm not too late. This is the gentleman who's planning to buy the
[00:02:01] house. Mr. Burleigh has already bought it. Oh, I'm sorry. Hey look, what is this Griffin?
[00:02:07] Who is this woman? I'm Emily Robbins. Mr. Burleigh, please you must sell this house immediately to me.
[00:02:14] Sell it? That's ridiculous. I just bought it. Mr. Griffin never should have allowed you to. Now see here,
[00:02:20] Mrs. Robbins. Just a minute, Griffin. I want to hear what she has to say. Well, all right, but you can
[00:02:25] see she...she isn't exactly accountable. You're bad, Mr. Griffin. You promised to sell the house to me, but you
[00:02:34] couldn't wait until I had the money, could you? I'm in the real estate business, not charity. Mrs. Robbins,
[00:02:40] I still want to hear why Griffin shouldn't have sold me this house. Because, Mr. Burleigh, a house
[00:02:45] isn't just a thing made of wood and stone and mortar. It's...it's almost a living, breathing
[00:02:52] creature. It accepts and rejects people just the way we do. I was born a Crandall, and only a
[00:02:59] Crandall may live here. Anybody but a Crandall would be an enemy within its walls. You'd never spend a happy
[00:03:08] moment here. Oh, you see, Mr. Burleigh, I told you she doesn't make sense. Please, Mr. Burleigh, for your own sake, sell it.
[00:03:16] Ah, well, you can't frighten me into a quick sale. Now, I know a buy when I see it. My wife and I will be living
[00:03:23] here within a few days. I'm sorry, Mr. Burleigh, but I don't think you will. I don't think you will ever live here.
[00:03:38] Helen! Oh, Helen! Mr. Burleigh? Yes, Ada. Where's Mrs. Burleigh? I want to tell her I got that house at my price.
[00:03:44] Oh, sir, you'd better go upstairs. The doctor's still there. Doctor? What's the matter? Oh, Mr. Burleigh...
[00:03:51] What is it, Ada? What is it? Your wife is... is dead. What? She seemed so well after lunch. She was upstairs napping, and when she
[00:04:00] didn't come down at the usual time I went up. I tried to wake her, but... Helen's dead? Oh, no, it can't be. It just can't be.
[00:04:07] I tried to get you everywhere. But she hadn't been sick. There's no reason she should die. Dr. Hirschman said the same thing. He said...
[00:04:14] Hello? Well, Mr. Burleigh can't come to the phone right now. Oh, it's... it's all right, Ada. I'll take it. Yes, sir.
[00:04:25] Hello? Mrs...
[00:04:41] Can I bring you something, Mr. Burleigh? No, Ada, thank you. Sir, I know it's none of my business, but maybe you shouldn't have come to live in this
[00:04:55] house. Maybe you should have sold it to Mrs. Robbins. I had to come here. I have to prove to myself that a house can have no evil influence over life and death.
[00:05:04] Of course it can't. And yet, according to the doctor, my wife passed away almost at the very moment I... I bought this house. I... I'm so confused, I don't know what to think.
[00:05:19] I'm not one to butt in, but you are letting the house have an effect on you. Well, you haven't moved from that window all evening. I'm just trying to fathom things out.
[00:05:28] You've been standing there staring out at that graveyard. I'm all right now. Let me alone. Yes, sir. Good night, Mr. Burleigh. Good night.
[00:05:35] Hey, Ed! What is it, sir? That graveyard out there. When the lightning flashed just then, I saw it. Saw what?
[00:05:44] There was a new headstone among the old ones. A brand new headstone.
[00:05:54] How long ago was the last Crandall buried in the graveyard out there? The last one? Let's see. Oh, yes, it was Vincent Crandall. He died 20 years ago.
[00:06:09] 20 years. Then his headstone would have been a little worn by this time. Well, sure it would, but what are you...
[00:06:16] Ed, what is the meaning of a new headstone? New? Come to the window. I'll show you. Oh, now, Mr. Burleigh...
[00:06:22] There's a brand new headstone out there over a fresh grave. Oh, but that's impossible. I saw it first when the lightning flashed.
[00:06:28] You must be imagining things. Then see for yourself. Here, take this flashlight. Shine it out there on the graves and see for yourself. All right.
[00:06:37] Well... Mr. Burleigh, maybe you'd better see a doctor. Doctor? They're all old headstones out there. The new one is only in your mind.
[00:06:54] Give me that flashlight. Mr. Griffin, what... You've been under terrible strain. Your wife's sudden death and all.
[00:07:04] I don't know. What made me think I saw a new headstone out there? I want to sell this house right away.
[00:07:15] Well, you know, it takes a little time to arrange a sale. What about that Robbins woman? She'll buy it. She's been bothering me all along to sell it to her.
[00:07:23] But Mrs. Robbins can't pay you a decent price. I don't care. I'll take anything she offers. I want you to get in touch with her.
[00:07:29] All right, Mr. Burleigh, I'll call her in the morning. No, no. I can't wait until then. I want this house sold tonight.
[00:07:40] You don't understand, Mr. Griffin, why Mr. Burleigh had to bring me out here this time of the night.
[00:07:44] Well, he's made up his mind to sell. He wants to close the deal tonight.
[00:07:48] You don't want me to have this house, do you?
[00:07:51] Look, Mrs. Robbins, I don't care who gets it just as long as it's at a decent price.
[00:07:56] So you can get a higher commission.
[00:07:59] You're a very selfish man, Mr. Griffin.
[00:08:01] I'm not in business for love.
[00:08:03] Your wife did well to leave you.
[00:08:05] She was as crazy as you are.
[00:08:09] Where doesn't he answer the door? What's taking him so long?
[00:08:12] Mercy! What was that?
[00:08:14] Someone screaming. It came from... say, the garage. There's a lot of noise.
[00:08:19] I'll go and get it.
[00:08:21] I'll go and get it.
[00:08:23] Mercy! What was that?
[00:08:25] Someone screaming. It came from... say, the garage. There's a lot of noise.
[00:08:28] I'll go and get it.
[00:08:30] We'll soon find out.
[00:08:35] Maybe it isn't safe for us to go in there.
[00:08:37] That's a chance I'm going to have to take.
[00:08:41] What? Ada!
[00:08:43] Mr. Griffin.
[00:08:45] Well, that was you who screamed, huh?
[00:08:47] Yes.
[00:08:48] Why? What happened?
[00:08:50] Mr. Burleigh, he...
[00:08:52] What is it, Ada? What about Mr. Burleigh?
[00:08:55] He's dead.
[00:08:57] What?
[00:08:59] He left the house an hour ago.
[00:09:01] I looked out of the window and noticed that the garage here was lit.
[00:09:04] I came out and I found him slumped over in the car, dead.
[00:09:07] How dreadful.
[00:09:09] Well, this place is filled with carbon monoxide fumes.
[00:09:13] It wouldn't have happened. None of it.
[00:09:16] If he hadn't bought the house...
[00:09:18] Now look, Mrs. Robbins, this is no time for that superstitious nonsense of yours.
[00:09:22] She's right, Mr. Griffin. It is nonsense.
[00:09:24] What do you mean, Ada?
[00:09:26] Here. Look.
[00:09:28] On the back seat of the car.
[00:09:31] Good Lord.
[00:09:33] A new headstone.
[00:09:46] Hey, everybody want to buy a house?
[00:09:49] The Crandall place is a real buy.
[00:09:51] All you have to give for it is your life.
[00:09:57] Too bad about our friend Mr. Burleigh, huh?
[00:10:00] Thought he was getting a bargain basement, but instead he's ended up in a basement he didn't bargain for.
[00:10:07] Yes, he should have taken old lady Robbins' advice, which in a phrase was...
[00:10:12] One man's menage is another man's maw.
[00:10:17] Well, now let's get back to our mystical manor.
[00:10:21] A week has passed since Burleigh's death, and the real estate agent Mr. Griffin has found a new buyer.
[00:10:28] Here's your check, Mr. Griffin.
[00:10:30] Thank you, Mr. Wagner.
[00:10:32] I consider this house a real buy.
[00:10:34] You're the only person who's had any interest in it since Mr. Burleigh died.
[00:10:38] Place has gotten a bad name.
[00:10:41] Most people are superstitious, I guess.
[00:10:43] Wouldn't live here if you paid them.
[00:10:45] Oh, superstition never bothered me.
[00:10:49] Uh, Mr. Griffin?
[00:10:51] Yes?
[00:10:52] What are you looking at that way?
[00:10:55] There's a graveyard out there I...
[00:10:59] I don't understand.
[00:11:01] Understand?
[00:11:03] What are you trying to say?
[00:11:05] There were always ten graves out there, I'm sure.
[00:11:11] But now there's eleven.
[00:11:16] I'm sorry, Mrs. Robbins, but nothing you say can persuade me to sell.
[00:11:23] Please, Mr. Wagner, for your own sake, don't be stubborn.
[00:11:27] It may cost you your life.
[00:11:29] You know what happened to Mr. Burleigh and his wife.
[00:11:32] Well, I've always prided myself on being a jink-worker.
[00:11:35] Oh, be sensible.
[00:11:37] That's a very silly reason to... to live here.
[00:11:40] Maybe I have another reason too.
[00:11:43] What do you mean?
[00:11:44] Charles Burleigh was a very close friend of mine.
[00:11:47] Oh, I... I didn't know that.
[00:11:50] I told it to Mr. Griffin. Now I'm telling you.
[00:11:54] I knew Burleigh like a brother. Everything about him.
[00:11:58] Mrs. Robbins, he wasn't the type to commit suicide.
[00:12:01] Oh, but he didn't commit suicide.
[00:12:04] Oh, you seem to know a lot about it.
[00:12:06] I do.
[00:12:08] Then maybe you can tell me who killed him.
[00:12:10] I can.
[00:12:11] Who?
[00:12:12] Who?
[00:12:13] This house is the killer.
[00:12:15] Now, look...
[00:12:16] Oh, it is, Mr. Wagner. I know.
[00:12:20] You don't believe me, do you?
[00:12:21] Of course not.
[00:12:22] Soon you'll find out that I'm telling the truth.
[00:12:26] That sounds like a threat.
[00:12:27] No, no, Mr. Wagner.
[00:12:29] I'm not threatening you. I'm just trying to help.
[00:12:32] I'm just giving you a... a chance to live.
[00:12:37] One more chance to sell me this house at my price.
[00:12:43] And if I refuse?
[00:12:45] If you don't sell it to me now,
[00:12:47] then I'll buy it after your death.
[00:12:53] I see.
[00:12:56] Well, Mrs. Robbins, there's nothing more we can talk about.
[00:12:59] I'm sure you know your way out.
[00:13:02] Good afternoon.
[00:13:03] Good day, Mr. Wagner.
[00:13:06] Hello, Mrs. Robbins.
[00:13:07] Why, what...
[00:13:08] Ada, what are you doing here?
[00:13:10] Oh, didn't you know?
[00:13:12] I'm Mr. Wagner's new maid.
[00:13:22] Hello.
[00:13:23] Mr. Griffin?
[00:13:24] Yes?
[00:13:25] We've come to see you.
[00:13:30] What? Who is this?
[00:13:31] It's very important, Pat.
[00:13:32] Yes, but who is this?
[00:13:37] Hello.
[00:13:38] Hello. Hello!
[00:13:40] Operator, get me Maine 6539 and hurry.
[00:13:46] Yes, sir.
[00:13:47] Disconnected? What...
[00:13:49] Well, that's impossible.
[00:13:55] I just spoke to someone at that number.
[00:13:57] Try them again.
[00:13:58] I'm Sandra.
[00:14:00] Come in, Mr. Griffin.
[00:14:05] Mrs. Robbins, what are you doing here at the Crandall house?
[00:14:20] I was waiting for you, Mr. Griffin.
[00:14:23] I don't understand.
[00:14:24] Come in, please.
[00:14:26] I was the one who called you on the phone to come out here.
[00:14:29] I didn't say who I was because...
[00:14:31] I didn't want to mention names.
[00:14:33] But I tried to get the phone here right after you hung up.
[00:14:36] The operator said the line was disconnected.
[00:14:38] It is.
[00:14:40] The wire has been cut.
[00:14:42] I walked down the road to the mobile gas station
[00:14:44] to call you to come out here.
[00:14:47] Mrs. Robbins, just what is this all about anyway?
[00:14:52] Why are you here and where is Ada and Mr. Wagner?
[00:14:55] Why are you here and where is Ada and Mr. Wagner?
[00:14:59] Ada's left.
[00:15:01] She's gone away.
[00:15:03] Good.
[00:15:04] What?
[00:15:06] On the hall table over there,
[00:15:08] a note from Ada to Mr. Wagner
[00:15:11] explaining why she left.
[00:15:12] And what about Mr. Wagner himself? Where is he?
[00:15:15] In the dining room.
[00:15:17] Wait, wait, please don't go in there.
[00:15:19] Look it.
[00:15:21] He's dead.
[00:15:23] Mr. Wagner dead?
[00:15:25] When I came in, he was slumped over the table.
[00:15:28] When you came in, huh?
[00:15:31] By the way you say that, Mr. Griffin,
[00:15:34] you make it sound like you think I killed poor Mr. Wagner.
[00:15:38] Well, what should I think?
[00:15:40] Oh, I wouldn't do a thing like that.
[00:15:42] Then suppose you tell me exactly what you're doing out here tonight.
[00:15:45] Well, it's like this, Mr. Griffin.
[00:15:47] I was home in bed but I couldn't sleep.
[00:15:50] A strange feeling kept running through me
[00:15:53] that I should come out here and try to convince Mr. Wagner
[00:15:57] that he should sell the house before another day passed.
[00:16:00] Oh, a feeling, huh?
[00:16:01] You can believe me.
[00:16:03] Oh, sure.
[00:16:04] When I arrived out here, the door was open
[00:16:07] and everything is just as you see it.
[00:16:10] What about the police?
[00:16:11] I didn't call them.
[00:16:12] Why not?
[00:16:13] Because I wanted to speak to you first.
[00:16:15] Speak to me with a murdered man in the next room?
[00:16:18] It wasn't murder.
[00:16:20] It was just the will of this house.
[00:16:24] And I want this house.
[00:16:26] You'd do anything to get it, wouldn't you?
[00:16:29] Yes, anything.
[00:16:32] Even murder?
[00:16:34] Yes.
[00:16:35] Mrs. Robbins, I'm driving down the road
[00:16:38] to make a phone call to the police.
[00:16:44] Mr. Griffin!
[00:16:47] Mr. Griffin, wait!
[00:16:49] Ada, what are you doing here?
[00:16:51] I was watching you and Mrs. Robbins through the window.
[00:16:53] Mr. Wagner is dead.
[00:16:55] I know.
[00:16:56] But how could you?
[00:16:58] You left the house this morning.
[00:17:00] I saw his body slumped over the table.
[00:17:02] You think the same as I do, don't you?
[00:17:04] What do you mean by that?
[00:17:06] You suspect Mrs. Robbins too.
[00:17:08] In a way.
[00:17:10] But I also suspect you, Ada.
[00:17:13] Me?
[00:17:14] But I can't exactly figure out what your game is.
[00:17:18] Game? I have no game.
[00:17:20] Then why did you leave a note saying you were going away?
[00:17:23] What note?
[00:17:24] There's no use lying.
[00:17:26] I saw it myself on the hall table.
[00:17:28] But you must be mistaken.
[00:17:30] Today is my day off.
[00:17:31] I left the house early this morning.
[00:17:33] I didn't write a note.
[00:17:34] If you are telling the truth...
[00:17:38] I am, I am.
[00:17:39] Then I know who did write that note.
[00:17:42] You wait right here for me.
[00:17:43] I'll be back in 10 minutes.
[00:17:45] Keep your eye on the house.
[00:17:46] Where are you going?
[00:17:47] The phone inside is disconnected.
[00:17:49] I'm going down the road to call the police.
[00:17:51] I'll go with you.
[00:17:52] Why?
[00:17:53] I'd rather not stay here alone.
[00:17:54] Mrs. Robbins doesn't know you're out here.
[00:17:56] You're safe.
[00:17:57] Just the same.
[00:17:58] I'd feel better if I went with you.
[00:17:59] I'm not taking you with me.
[00:18:01] You act as if you're afraid of me.
[00:18:03] Maybe I am.
[00:18:04] But why?
[00:18:05] Why?
[00:18:07] Because when Mrs. Burleigh died,
[00:18:09] you were in the house.
[00:18:11] The same with Mr. Burleigh.
[00:18:13] And now Mr. Wagner.
[00:18:15] You were there when every victim died, Ada.
[00:18:19] I won't let you in this car with me.
[00:18:31] You called the police, Mr. Griffin?
[00:18:33] Yes, they're on their way out now.
[00:18:35] By the way, what are you doing here in this kitchen?
[00:18:38] Oh, I'm just walking through the rooms,
[00:18:41] recalling the happy moments I spent here when I was young.
[00:18:45] You sure that's the only reason?
[00:18:47] Yes.
[00:18:48] I thought maybe Ada had something to do with it.
[00:18:51] Ada?
[00:18:52] You know very well she's left.
[00:18:54] You saw her note.
[00:18:56] Ada didn't write that note.
[00:18:58] What?
[00:18:59] I talked to her outside this house 15 minutes ago.
[00:19:03] She was to wait out there for me until I got back.
[00:19:06] She wasn't there.
[00:19:08] What's happened to her?
[00:19:09] I didn't see Ada, but...
[00:19:11] But wait.
[00:19:13] What is it?
[00:19:14] About five minutes ago,
[00:19:16] I thought I heard something move down the cellar.
[00:19:19] The cellar?
[00:19:20] Yes, but then I thought it was just my imagination.
[00:19:24] Hold on a minute.
[00:19:25] What's the matter?
[00:19:26] Just now, I heard it too.
[00:19:29] Something or someone is down there.
[00:19:33] Come on.
[00:19:34] We're going down into the cellar to look around.
[00:19:38] Mr. Griffin, look.
[00:19:40] Look, it's lit down there in the cellar.
[00:19:42] Yes, go on.
[00:19:44] You're going first so I can keep my eye on you.
[00:19:51] Mr. Griffin.
[00:19:52] What is it?
[00:19:53] The hole in the floor here.
[00:19:55] Huh?
[00:19:56] One of the stone flooring slabs has been removed.
[00:19:59] There's an old well down there.
[00:20:01] I remember it was sealed up when I was a little girl.
[00:20:04] Yes.
[00:20:05] And I can see the slab was freshly removed.
[00:20:09] I wonder why.
[00:20:11] Mr. Griffin.
[00:20:12] What now?
[00:20:13] Behind you, in the shadows.
[00:20:16] Look, there's a woman's body.
[00:20:19] It's Ada.
[00:20:21] You're dead.
[00:20:23] Yes, I know.
[00:20:25] Why, you say it as if you were sure we would find this way.
[00:20:29] I was sure.
[00:20:31] You see, Mrs. Robbins, I killed her.
[00:20:35] Oh, no.
[00:20:36] I didn't have quite enough time to dispose of her body in the old well here.
[00:20:41] I heard you moving about upstairs in the kitchen.
[00:20:44] But why did you kill her, Mr. Griffin?
[00:20:46] Because she insisted on living in this house like the others.
[00:20:49] Then it wasn't this house.
[00:20:51] It wasn't because they weren't grand old.
[00:20:54] Of course not, but your idiotic superstition about this place helped my plan.
[00:20:59] Mrs. Burleigh's sudden peculiar death was a lucky coincidence for me.
[00:21:04] It gave me the idea for the others.
[00:21:07] I needed a series of deaths to completely destroy the value of this place
[00:21:12] so no one would ever live in it.
[00:21:15] But why?
[00:21:17] On several occasions you mentioned my wife, Mrs. Robbins.
[00:21:22] You see, you were wrong about her as everybody else was wrong.
[00:21:27] She didn't run away from me.
[00:21:31] She would have, but I killed her.
[00:21:34] And her body is down at the bottom of that well.
[00:21:37] Just as Ada's will be and just as yours will be.
[00:21:42] But the police are coming. They'll find you out.
[00:21:45] Foolish old woman. Do you think I really called them?
[00:21:48] Now, Mrs. Robbins...
[00:21:50] No, no, please don't come near me.
[00:21:52] You wanted to stay in this house. Now you will forever.
[00:21:55] No, no.
[00:21:56] You're going to get the thing you wanted most.
[00:22:00] You're not going to kill her, do you?
[00:22:04] Ada!
[00:22:05] Yes, Ada.
[00:22:06] No, no it can't be. You're dead.
[00:22:09] Not yet. Not completely.
[00:22:12] I've just enough life left.
[00:22:14] No, my leg! Let me go!
[00:22:16] Let me go! The well!
[00:22:18] I'll fall in there!
[00:22:24] Ada!
[00:22:27] Ada...
[00:22:28] You thought it was nonsense, didn't you, Mr. Griffin?
[00:22:38] But it was this house that kept her alive long enough to protect me.
[00:22:44] My house, Mr. Griffin.
[00:22:49] As they say, all's well that ends in a well.
[00:23:01] Say, folks, what about that Griffin character?
[00:23:04] Just goes to show how a property agent can sink to such an unreal estate.
[00:23:13] Yes, sir, that's what I call tripping over your own plot.
[00:23:18] Now, Mrs. Robbins will never be lonely.
[00:23:21] No, when things get dull, she can always step outside the house and dig up a relative or two.
[00:23:35] Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum.
[00:23:46] This is your host to welcome you through the squeaking door.
[00:23:51] Say, do you ever find that you can't get a certain face out of your mind?
[00:23:56] Until you do go out of your mind.
[00:24:02] Like me and a guy named Joe, for instance.
[00:24:04] I ran into Joe accidentally the other day over at the city mall.
[00:24:10] And Joe's been haunting me ever since.
[00:24:14] I can't get over the smug way he deadpanned me.
[00:24:18] And then gave me the old cold shoulder routine.
[00:24:22] I don't want to cry, baby, but I dug down plenty time and again to keep Joe from going under.
[00:24:29] But no gratitude, no gratitude at all from Joe.
[00:24:33] Mister, I'm finished with Joe for keeps.
[00:24:41] Tonight's Inner Sanctum mystery, Murder Takes a Honeymoon, was written by John Robert and stars Everett Sloan in the role of George with Ann Shepard as Mary.
[00:24:56] And now for tonight's free lesson in how to improve your scream.
[00:25:03] Ever get that folksy, woodsy feeling until you're in an absolute frenzy to get away from it all and go native?
[00:25:13] Well, our honeymooning couple tonight got the urge.
[00:25:17] Until they found that living in the country was simply murder.
[00:25:22] To rhyme it, our twosome found it positively gruesome.
[00:25:29] Stand by, we'll demonstrate.
[00:25:32] We're on a milk train somewhere in the east, huffing through the rock and rubble of desolated whistle-stop country.
[00:25:40] The yellow train lights blink eerily.
[00:25:43] The hour is sometime between night and morning.
[00:25:46] One car holds just the young couple.
[00:25:49] They huddle closely half asleep as the train groans into another of its interminable stops.
[00:25:55] Oh, George. I heard him say Lewiston.
[00:26:06] Oh, Ravenwood. Lewiston's next.
[00:26:10] Oh, there must be a million of these one-horse towns.
[00:26:13] What's eating you, Mary? You look like you've just been declared an orphan.
[00:26:20] I feel like an orphan, George. It's cold. I'm home. Far from home.
[00:26:28] We're heading home, kid.
[00:26:30] At the next stop, there's a farm. More land than you can cover in a day and it's all yours.
[00:26:35] A wedding gift from me to you.
[00:26:37] I'm sorry, but the country's not for me.
[00:26:42] I'm a big city girl.
[00:26:44] Oh, give it a try, huh? Come on, smile.
[00:26:47] George, I'm frightened.
[00:26:51] Of me?
[00:26:52] I don't know. You've suddenly changed.
[00:26:56] Buying a farm, packing up without warning, leaving New York.
[00:27:00] All in such a hurry.
[00:27:03] I'm impulsive, kid. That's how I married you, remember?
[00:27:06] I dated you blind, waltzed you around once and boom!
[00:27:09] On an impulse, I hustled you to City Hall.
[00:27:11] I bought the farm the same way.
[00:27:13] The way it happened, it's as if you were running away from something.
[00:27:17] Running to something, kid.
[00:27:19] I'm tired of the creeps and the phonies and the crumbs.
[00:27:21] I'm tired of stale beer, cheap movies and crowds.
[00:27:25] Ah, okay. Skip it.
[00:27:28] I'm thirsty. You want me to fetch you a drink?
[00:27:31] No, thanks.
[00:27:32] All right, I'll be back in a minute.
[00:27:41] Hey, watch it!
[00:27:44] George!
[00:27:46] Hey, you've got the jitters.
[00:27:49] There was a hand out there in the darkness,
[00:27:52] reaching toward me through the window.
[00:27:55] Oh, kid, your imagination's gone crazy. You're over-tired.
[00:27:59] George, look.
[00:28:00] What's that?
[00:28:01] An envelope.
[00:28:03] Someone dropped it on my lap.
[00:28:05] It fell to the floor.
[00:28:06] Give it to me.
[00:28:10] What does it say?
[00:28:12] A crank note.
[00:28:14] Some country idiot's playing black hand.
[00:28:16] Let me read it.
[00:28:18] We don't like strangers in Lewiston,
[00:28:21] especially New Yorkers.
[00:28:23] Better be smart and read the train schedule back.
[00:28:27] There's a return train schedule attached to it.
[00:28:32] You look as if you were already on that train back.
[00:28:35] You scare easy, huh?
[00:28:37] How did anyone know we were coming?
[00:28:38] Well, that's easy.
[00:28:39] The real estate man who sold me Raintree Farms
[00:28:41] no doubt stuck the item in the local papers.
[00:28:44] Come on, shrug it off as a crackpot practical joke.
[00:28:48] A joke?
[00:28:50] You really want me to believe that someone drove ten miles
[00:28:53] in the middle of the night to warn us all?
[00:28:55] Just to be funny?
[00:29:17] All right, easy does it.
[00:29:27] Come on, we'll camp under that station shed.
[00:29:29] It's nine miles out to Raintree Farms
[00:29:31] and we'll need somebody to drive us there.
[00:29:33] I may steer that, drive you out,
[00:29:37] and wait half the night for you.
[00:29:40] Who are you?
[00:29:41] Ben, Ben Myers.
[00:29:44] Lizzy's parked to the side of the chair.
[00:29:47] You said you've been waiting for me?
[00:29:50] I did.
[00:29:51] I'm your neighbor.
[00:29:53] My shanks used to round the bend from Raintree Farms.
[00:29:56] I thought you and the lady would be glad
[00:29:58] not to spend the night in the weather.
[00:30:00] Ah, we're glad, all right,
[00:30:02] but how did you know we were coming?
[00:30:04] I read in the papers you bought the old place.
[00:30:06] But why tonight?
[00:30:08] Why not last night or tomorrow?
[00:30:10] How did you know I was coming tonight?
[00:30:13] I've been waiting last night.
[00:30:16] If you didn't come tonight, I'd watch for you tomorrow.
[00:30:19] The time ain't worth the leaking bucket.
[00:30:22] You coming?
[00:30:24] Yeah, sure.
[00:30:25] Come on, Mary.
[00:30:29] Yes, Lizzy, son.
[00:30:31] I'll light my pipe and we'll be going.
[00:30:35] Bring your face to the light, son.
[00:30:37] I've seen you before, ain't I?
[00:30:42] I don't think so.
[00:30:45] You never been around Raintree Farms?
[00:30:47] No, I've never seen the place.
[00:30:50] I knew you should buy it then.
[00:31:02] Nobody's tried living in Raintree Farms
[00:31:04] now two years.
[00:31:06] Why?
[00:31:08] Some say that it's haunted.
[00:31:10] Some say there's a black curse in the house.
[00:31:13] You keep asking questions, kid.
[00:31:16] He'll have you seeing ghosts coming out of the chimney.
[00:31:19] Not ghosts, son, but corpses.
[00:31:22] Corpses?
[00:31:25] The last couple that tried living in Raintree Corners.
[00:31:29] They're dead in the parlor floor.
[00:31:32] I seen them with my own eyes.
[00:31:36] Dead.
[00:31:38] Nobody ever found out what killed them.
[00:31:46] Now, the milder Raintree Farms, folks.
[00:31:48] Two by inches.
[00:32:04] Check. Almost a bullseye.
[00:32:06] Nobody's no slouch with a rifle.
[00:32:09] What's the angle on this, Myers?
[00:32:11] Can't say.
[00:32:13] Except that shooting comes naturally to these parts.
[00:32:17] This is hunting country.
[00:32:19] In the middle of the night in the dark?
[00:32:21] Oh, night's light enough for shooting.
[00:32:24] Folks around here'd rather shoot than sleep.
[00:32:26] I'm not swallowing that.
[00:32:28] Somebody tried to kill me!
[00:32:31] That's a pretty big idea, son.
[00:32:33] Yeah, well, the idea's even bigger.
[00:32:36] I figure maybe someone waited along that road in ambush
[00:32:39] and you fingered me.
[00:32:41] Maybe that's why you waited around all hours at the depot.
[00:32:44] You were to drive me to my murder.
[00:32:50] Raintree Farms.
[00:32:57] House is up that walk.
[00:32:59] All right, hand me the luggage, Mary.
[00:33:01] Yes.
[00:33:02] Uh, thanks for the lift.
[00:33:04] Your young man ain't thanking me.
[00:33:07] He's just busy turning with big ideas.
[00:33:11] Goodbye, son.
[00:33:13] I'll be coming around, maybe.
[00:33:15] With some more of your big ideas.
[00:33:17] Look, if I ever see you around here,
[00:33:19] I'll shoot you full of holes on sight!
[00:33:21] For trespassing!
[00:33:24] George.
[00:33:25] Yeah?
[00:33:26] About that shot on the road coming here,
[00:33:38] why would anyone want to murder you?
[00:33:40] You're a stranger.
[00:33:42] To keep me away from Raintree Farms, I guess.
[00:33:44] Why, if you own it?
[00:33:46] Why is a big letter, kid.
[00:33:49] George, you're concealing something.
[00:33:52] Who are you?
[00:33:54] George Stretch, your husband.
[00:33:57] A stranger to me until ten days ago.
[00:34:00] Who are you, really?
[00:34:02] Oh, look, kid, you're letting some local crackpot
[00:34:04] give you the willies.
[00:34:06] Mary, a guy said something about for better or for worse
[00:34:09] just before I slipped a ring on your finger.
[00:34:12] Was it all a lot of idle talk?
[00:34:15] No, George.
[00:34:17] I meant it deep down.
[00:34:20] I'm sorry.
[00:34:21] That's more like it.
[00:34:23] What do you say we forget the spook stuff and hit the sack, huh?
[00:34:25] Coming?
[00:34:26] Mm-hmm.
[00:34:28] Boy, this joint sure needs a loving touch.
[00:34:30] And a coat of paint.
[00:34:32] Well, now to find the key.
[00:34:36] Uh-uh, wrong key.
[00:34:39] The real estate office nailed me five different keys.
[00:34:43] George!
[00:34:44] Now what?
[00:34:46] Somebody's inside.
[00:34:47] I see a moving light.
[00:34:49] Yeah.
[00:34:50] And footsteps coming to the door.
[00:34:54] What do you have for me, missus?
[00:34:56] What do you have for me, mister?
[00:34:58] Well, I was trying to get in.
[00:35:01] What's the shotgun for?
[00:35:05] Protection.
[00:35:07] You need it here.
[00:35:10] I've seen you somewhere before, haven't I?
[00:35:13] No, you haven't.
[00:35:15] I've never been somewhere.
[00:35:18] Who are you?
[00:35:19] I'm George Stretch.
[00:35:20] This is my wife.
[00:35:22] We're the new owners.
[00:35:23] Who are you?
[00:35:24] Parker.
[00:35:25] Willis Parker.
[00:35:27] You mean, what are you doing here?
[00:35:29] Squatting.
[00:35:31] You broke in.
[00:35:32] No, I moved in.
[00:35:35] Just like that?
[00:35:36] Uh-huh.
[00:35:38] Abandoned place, loaded down with county tax warrants.
[00:35:43] I bought a tax warrant and I'm in.
[00:35:46] I don't get it.
[00:35:47] Squatter's right.
[00:35:48] Go see a lawyer.
[00:35:50] What?
[00:35:51] You mean you won't get out?
[00:35:52] That's right.
[00:35:53] On what ground?
[00:35:54] Look, fella.
[00:35:55] Right now I've got possession of the premises.
[00:35:58] That's a big chunk of the law around here.
[00:36:01] I'm not going to stand out here in the dark arguing it out with you.
[00:36:05] Now beat it, fella.
[00:36:07] And take your police's hand to Dame.
[00:36:09] You're trespassing.
[00:36:10] Now this is a trick to turn me back.
[00:36:12] I'll throw arguing with you.
[00:36:13] Start moving.
[00:36:14] The next one goes right in your bread basket, fella.
[00:36:18] And keep going.
[00:36:20] Mary.
[00:36:21] Yes, George.
[00:36:22] I'm sick and tired of being shot at.
[00:36:24] George, put that gun away.
[00:36:26] Down, I said.
[00:36:27] I'm not heading back with my tail between my legs.
[00:36:31] Bull's eye for me.
[00:36:34] Who was it that said this was a shooting country?
[00:36:38] He's dead.
[00:36:40] Gee, I just meant to nick him.
[00:36:49] But you killed him in cold blood.
[00:36:51] In self-defense.
[00:36:52] He was planning to tail us down the road and blow us to kingdom come.
[00:36:55] George, you're making that up.
[00:36:56] Just as an afterthought.
[00:36:57] Am I, kid?
[00:36:59] Who do you suppose took that shot at us driving up here?
[00:37:02] And that couple found mysteriously dead, the couple old Meyers mentioned.
[00:37:05] Who do you suppose killed them?
[00:37:07] Oh, what the whole truth.
[00:37:08] Why were you marked for murder?
[00:37:10] I said why was a big letter.
[00:37:13] You got a ditch pocket somewhere.
[00:37:16] Ditch it?
[00:37:17] Hide him to protect ourselves.
[00:37:18] Then forget that it ever happened and go about our business.
[00:37:20] You're not going to the police?
[00:37:22] No, I'm going about my business.
[00:37:25] I said.
[00:37:26] George, what are you afraid of?
[00:37:30] You got me confused with the answer, ma'am.
[00:37:32] I've got to know or I'll lose my mind.
[00:37:34] Both Ben Myers and Parker thought they recognized you.
[00:37:38] You have been here before.
[00:37:40] Never, I swear, never.
[00:37:42] They had me confused with somebody else.
[00:37:46] I'll play along my way for a while.
[00:37:49] My way is the only way, Mary.
[00:37:52] Any other way is no good.
[00:37:55] Get that kerosene lamp and follow along.
[00:37:58] I'm giving Parker's squatters rights to the first big ditch I find.
[00:38:03] Put now, kid, dry your eyes.
[00:38:13] You got to take the breaks as they come and play along for better or for worse.
[00:38:18] For better or worse?
[00:38:20] Murder and burial?
[00:38:22] How far can we get together now?
[00:38:24] As far as the house anyhow.
[00:38:27] That's as far as I want to get.
[00:38:30] And I don't care how stiff the price is.
[00:38:33] You get it, Mary?
[00:38:35] I don't care!
[00:38:41] All right, now set the lamp on that table, Mary.
[00:38:46] And stop staring at me as if I were some kind of a man-eating monster.
[00:38:49] You're getting on my nerves.
[00:38:51] I'm sorry, George.
[00:38:52] All right, that's better.
[00:38:54] Look around you.
[00:38:56] What do you see?
[00:38:58] The room is a wreck.
[00:39:00] Check and double check.
[00:39:02] Check and double check.
[00:39:04] The paneling's ripped out, the floorboards are up.
[00:39:06] Someone started taking the fireplace apart brick by brick.
[00:39:10] That property buy doesn't look so good, huh?
[00:39:12] George.
[00:39:13] What?
[00:39:14] What does it mean?
[00:39:15] Vandals always have a field day with an abandoned property.
[00:39:18] No, it means something else.
[00:39:20] Check, kid.
[00:39:22] Parker, hold up here.
[00:39:24] Looking for something.
[00:39:25] And you're looking for something too.
[00:39:28] You're catching on, kid.
[00:39:29] That's why we're in this forsaken country.
[00:39:32] That's why you were marked for murder.
[00:39:35] What are you looking for, George?
[00:39:38] A couple of things.
[00:39:41] One of them is a stiff.
[00:39:44] A fresh-faced kid who called himself Johnny Morrow came out here about two years ago.
[00:39:49] He was never seen again.
[00:39:51] Alive.
[00:39:53] And you know why, Mary?
[00:39:55] Why?
[00:39:56] Because he's still here.
[00:39:58] My kid brother never left this house.
[00:40:01] Alive or dead.
[00:40:07] Whoever bricked up this fireplace bricked it up to keep.
[00:40:11] George, if you find your brother, what then?
[00:40:16] Then I go right for item number two, the jackpot.
[00:40:20] The jackpot?
[00:40:22] Doremi cash.
[00:40:24] Money piled as high as the Empire State.
[00:40:27] We parlay the corpse into a fortune.
[00:40:30] There.
[00:40:31] That does it.
[00:40:33] The hole's big enough to drive a truck through.
[00:40:35] Bring that lamp over.
[00:40:38] Closer.
[00:40:39] Closer, you dummy!
[00:40:41] Yes, George.
[00:40:44] See what I see?
[00:40:49] Walled in as if he was part of the building layout.
[00:40:54] Meet your brother-in-law, Mary.
[00:40:58] Now, help me drag him out.
[00:41:01] Yes, George.
[00:41:03] Set him down over here.
[00:41:05] When he was a kid, he always came running to me when he got into a jam.
[00:41:11] It was a year's difference, but we were look-alikes.
[00:41:14] That's why the old man and Parker thought they'd seen you before.
[00:41:18] Check.
[00:41:19] They'd seen Johnny.
[00:41:20] Who killed your brother?
[00:41:22] His partner, a hoodlum named Wiley.
[00:41:25] Johnny and Wiley had pulled a payroll stick, about $50,000 job.
[00:41:29] Wiley tried to double-cross Johnny.
[00:41:31] Johnny holed up here with the payroll money.
[00:41:34] Wiley trailed Johnny out here, tortured him for weeks, and then killed him.
[00:41:38] Why?
[00:41:40] Why did Wiley torture Johnny?
[00:41:42] To find out where Johnny had stashed the money.
[00:41:45] But Johnny never told him.
[00:41:47] Johnny knew his goose was cooked anyway.
[00:41:50] How did you find out these things?
[00:41:52] Johnny smuggled a letter out addressed to me through old Ben Myers.
[00:41:55] The letter said nothing but said a lot.
[00:41:57] Small talk, everyday brother stuff.
[00:42:00] Wrapped around two key words.
[00:42:02] The words were, search me.
[00:42:05] As kids we used to play treasure hunt with maps we made up and sewed in the lining of our clothes.
[00:42:10] A dollar gets you a thousand that Johnny has a map sewn in his clothes.
[00:42:15] Now you don't have to ask why anymore, kid.
[00:42:18] But...
[00:42:19] But what?
[00:42:20] Who was Parker, the man we found here?
[00:42:23] A crook who hung around with Wiley.
[00:42:26] And all the time that's elapsed, why didn't you come here sooner?
[00:42:31] I was busy looking for Wiley.
[00:42:32] For two years, across the country and back again.
[00:42:34] In South America, Mexico.
[00:42:36] Wiley was always one jump ahead of me.
[00:42:39] I caught up with him a month ago in Tampico.
[00:42:42] You caught up with him?
[00:42:44] Well what did you do?
[00:42:46] I gave him a dose of what he gave Johnny.
[00:42:49] And then I killed him.
[00:42:58] You'd have lost that dollar bet, kid.
[00:43:00] Same trick we had as kids.
[00:43:03] A map inside his coat lining.
[00:43:05] You can read it?
[00:43:06] Sure, like the ABC.
[00:43:08] The dough is buried in a can five steps from the back door to the barn.
[00:43:12] The dough is practically in my hand.
[00:43:14] George, you'll have to give the money back.
[00:43:16] Back?
[00:43:18] And give myself up with it, huh?
[00:43:20] Yes, if you can find the courage.
[00:43:21] And tell Johnny he died like a chump for nothing.
[00:43:24] And tell myself I was just a sentimental sap, dogging it after Wiley right into Tampico.
[00:43:29] And maybe get down on my knees in front of that ditch out there.
[00:43:32] And apologize to Park if I haven't put a slug in him.
[00:43:34] George, you're mad.
[00:43:36] Out of my mind if I listen to you.
[00:43:39] I'll lend a hand.
[00:43:40] Grab Park a shotgun and watch for intruders while I dig that can up.
[00:43:44] And then I'll bury Johnny right on the same spot.
[00:43:47] Yeah, I'll bury Johnny right where he stashed those 50 G's for his big brother to come and get.
[00:43:51] That's it.
[00:43:57] Clinkers the jackpot.
[00:44:02] Like music, eh, Mary?
[00:44:05] Listen to it.
[00:44:07] Now look.
[00:44:10] You see the money, Mary?
[00:44:11] Green as grass.
[00:44:12] Just as I dreamed of it for two years.
[00:44:15] Just as Johnny and I dreamed of it as kids.
[00:44:17] Green money, green as grass.
[00:44:20] And nothing under a hundred.
[00:44:22] You ever see a bank roll with nothing under a hundred before, Mary?
[00:44:25] Did you?
[00:44:26] No, George.
[00:44:28] Just as I can recollect, I ain't either, son.
[00:44:32] What?
[00:44:33] I seen small change.
[00:44:36] Five dollar bill once.
[00:44:40] But I ain't ever seen a hundred before.
[00:44:43] What are you doing here, Ben?
[00:44:45] Rejoicing with you, son.
[00:44:47] I've been waiting and watching a long time for one of you to find that money.
[00:44:51] I knew it was hid somewhere around here.
[00:44:55] And I'm an old man.
[00:44:57] Very much time for me to enjoy my share.
[00:45:00] How much is your share?
[00:45:03] Calculating on a quarter, maybe.
[00:45:06] I saw you put Parker away.
[00:45:09] Right now I'm calculating on, say, half.
[00:45:15] What are you calculating on doing with half?
[00:45:19] I don't know.
[00:45:20] Sure.
[00:45:22] Treat myself to something good.
[00:45:25] Maybe buy myself some more land.
[00:45:29] What do you say, son?
[00:45:31] You made yourself a deal, Pop.
[00:45:33] I'm gonna give you all the land you need.
[00:45:36] You're aiming to kill me.
[00:45:37] George, no!
[00:45:38] I got to, Mary.
[00:45:40] I'm not killing you, old man.
[00:45:42] When you came visiting just now, you committed suicide.
[00:45:45] Get up against that tree and turn around.
[00:45:47] Maybe if I go back to calculating the quarter?
[00:45:49] I said you committed suicide.
[00:45:52] And I'll bury you with a hundred dollar bill in your hand
[00:45:54] so you can treat yourself to something good while you're gone.
[00:45:57] Ready?
[00:45:58] I said you was a winner, son.
[00:46:01] Guess I'm a loser.
[00:46:03] So long, sucker.
[00:46:05] Oh!
[00:46:07] Mary, you fool.
[00:46:10] You shot me.
[00:46:13] I had to do it, George.
[00:46:16] I had to save you from yourself.
[00:46:19] You silly fool.
[00:46:22] I was gonna make you a queen.
[00:46:26] No, George.
[00:46:28] It wouldn't have been that way.
[00:46:31] After then, you would have had to kill me.
[00:46:34] You see, no power on earth would make me go your way.
[00:46:39] And no power on earth would make you go mine.
[00:46:44] You saved my life, Mom.
[00:46:48] How can an old idiot ever thank you?
[00:46:52] By going to the police,
[00:46:56] my husband has a confession to make.
[00:47:09] So she couldn't see the trees for the bodies.
[00:47:12] You know, until tonight, I thought only Santa Claus came through the fireplace.
[00:47:16] Well, I guess everybody's doubling up everywhere nowadays.
[00:47:20] Like George.
[00:47:22] Mary's bullet left him doubled up.
[00:47:28] Still, that was a good choice of location.
[00:47:31] The fireplace for a cough.
[00:47:33] Sort of, uh, how to keep from growing cold.
[00:47:38] Mm-hmm.
[00:47:46] This has been a Cryptic County podcast.
[00:47:52] To check out our other storytelling podcasts,
[00:47:54] like Let's Not Meet and Odd Trails,
[00:47:57] go to crypticcountypodcasts.com.
[00:48:00] We'll see you next time.
[00:48:04] You know what ought to happen next?
[00:48:06] If this was a horror story?
[00:48:08] That's what ought to happen next.
[00:48:11] It did.