House: A Psychological Horror Audio Drama

0:01 Speaker 1: When you sleep, you enter into another world. Beyond that world lies the doorway to nightmare. Come in. Welcome. I'm your host through the doorway to nightmare. Have you ever lived in a large house, possibly a mansion with multiple bedrooms? Do you remember the various sounds that would occur sometimes in the dead of night? Maybe you placated yourself by associating those sounds with normal house settling. You thought to yourself, that is simply a board creaking due to weather conditions. Or perhaps the house settling.

1:23 Speaker 1: was somehow changing.

1:26 Speaker 2: Do you believe that a house could actually be alive?

1:30 Speaker 3: Alive? You mean like a living being? Something like a spirit or entity?

1:35 Speaker 2: I'm not sure what I mean.

1:39 Speaker 3: How long have you been living here?

1:40 Speaker 2: About two months. Mike, I swear I never would have believed in a million years that something like this could happen to me.

1:52 Speaker 3: But what is happening to you?

1:55 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The House, was adapted from the short story and written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and stars Colby Jones. It is sponsored in part by Swanage Press. I'll be back shortly with Act One.

2:27 Speaker 1: Moving into a new home can be one of the most exciting and troubling times of a person's life. There is the packing and the unpacking, the various utilities that have to be hooked up, the small items that need to be purchased for the new house. For some, It can be quite traumatic.

2:51 Speaker 3: Let's see if we can't get the rights to that novel. Yes, sir. I also have the typed letters for the producers that you asked for.

2:57 Speaker 2: They're ready for your signature.

3:00 Speaker 1: Thank you.

3:00 Speaker 3: I'll get to those this afternoon.

3:02 Speaker 2: Oh, I almost forgot. This came for you earlier today.

3:06 Speaker 3: A telegram? I didn't think that they even sent these anymore.

3:11 Speaker 2: It was delivered by a young man.

3:13 Speaker 3: I gave him a tip for bringing it. Well, I'll be. What is it? Well, it's from Joel, Joel Musgrove. Another writer? No, no, just an old friend. Well, what does it say? Well, let's see. Must see you immediately. If you are the friend that I believe you to be, you will come at once.

3:34 Speaker 1: Hmm.

3:35 Speaker 3: Sounds desperate. Oh, no, that was one thing I never knew Joel to be. Let's see if you can find out where the hell Clifton Corners in Kentucky is and... Go ahead and print a map out for me to his address. I don't want GPS to suddenly take me into the middle of nowhere. Joel Musgrove. We'd been childhood friends all the way through high school. We lost touch with each other after college. I was doing pretty good in the entertainment industry. Ten years ago, I read an article on him in Fortune magazine.

4:12 Speaker 3: He had made quite a name for himself in the medical field. I wondered what was happening to him that made him reach out to me in such an antiquated form of communication. Eight hours of driving over mountains and through a raging thunderstorm, I finally found the house where my friend was staying. Mike!

4:54 Speaker 2: Thank God you made it in time. Come in quickly.

4:58 Speaker 3: Jesus, you look awful, Joel.

5:00 Speaker 2: Come into the living room. I have a fire going and some coffee already made.

5:11 Speaker 3: Well, this is some house you have here. Looks almost like a castle from the outside.

5:17 Speaker 2: I wasn't sure that you would be able to come. I'm very glad you did.

5:22 Speaker 3: How the hell were you able to send a telegram? I didn't think Western Union did that anymore.

5:26 Speaker 2: You will notice that the house has no modern electrical devices, such as televisions, computers, anything that can be connected to the internet. I don't even have a telephone.

5:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, I did kind of notice all the candles. Have you had a power failure?

5:43 Speaker 2: I have no power at all. I have removed all lines, including the power, telephone, cable, anything that might provide a means of communication.

5:53 Speaker 3: So you've completely shut yourself off from the world, living off the grid, as one might say.

5:58 Speaker 2: It isn't by choice. How was your drive up here?

6:04 Speaker 3: Well, except for going through the storm of the century, it was fairly quiet.

6:09 Speaker 2: I understand that you're some hot shot film producer.

6:12 Speaker 1: Oh, I'm doing okay.

6:13 Speaker 2: Okay, 27 successful movies is just okay.

6:17 Speaker 3: Well, you, you're some hot shot doctor or scientist or something, if I remember the articles correctly.

6:26 Speaker 2: That was some time ago.

6:29 Speaker 3: Hey, do you remember the time when we dismantled the principal's car?

6:35 Speaker 2: And then you put the whole thing back together again on the roof of the science building.

6:40 Speaker 3: I wonder if old Mr. Smithers ever knew that it was us that did that.

6:45 Speaker 1: Wait.

6:48 Speaker 3: What is it?

6:50 Speaker 2: Just wait.

6:54 Speaker 3: What are you hearing?

6:55 Speaker 2: Don't you hear that?

6:58 Speaker 3: It's probably just as well. Joel, you look bad. Your skin is pale, you're thin, and your hands are shaking.

7:10 Speaker 2: Do you believe that this house could be alive?

7:13 Speaker 3: Are you saying something like a living, breathing entity?

7:17 Speaker 2: I don't know what I mean.

7:19 Speaker 3: Jesus, Joel, you're in a state. How long have you been here?

7:22 Speaker 2: About two months. Like, I swear, I never believed in a million years that something like this could happen, especially to me. I've always had an analytical mind. And I can easily discern the real from the unreal. Remember the show that we used to watch about hunting ghosts?

7:44 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I remember. And the times that you pointed out all the little tricks they used to make it look real.

7:50 Speaker 2: You know that if I tell you that I cannot find a bit of evidence of a natural phenomenon taking place in this house, you would believe me?

7:59 Speaker 3: Are you saying that there is something... supernatural happening here?

8:05 Speaker 2: That's why I asked you to come. It's also part of the reason I took great pains in sending you something that no longer exists. A telegram. I paid that kid who delivered it.

8:19 Speaker 3: I don't understand. Why did you have to send it that way?

8:22 Speaker 2: If I didn't, the house would have known. I'm going to try to prevent you from coming here.

8:28 Speaker 3: Wait, you mean something in the house?

8:32 Speaker 2: No, I mean the house itself. I believe that it's actually alive and it's trying to kill me.

8:45 Speaker 1: There are those religions that hold as part of their belief that everything has some form of a soul. That even the rocks on the ground have something that can only be described as alive. But a house that has a premeditation for murder? I'll be back shortly with Act Two.

9:26 Speaker 1: Mike Stanfield, successful film producer, has received a desperate plea from his childhood friend, Joel. Mike finds Joel has become a shadow of himself and is seemingly in a perpetual state of fear. Joel tells Mike that his house is trying to kill him.

9:50 Speaker 3: I take it that this is dinner.

9:52 Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but this is all I have.

9:54 Speaker 3: Oh, no, no, no. It's fine. Sandwiches and some fruits. I can make do.

9:58 Speaker 2: Since I did away with electricity, I have to go. have no way of cooking. I kept a cooler filled with ice so that meats don't spoil. It meant a ride to town every other day, but I didn't mind.

10:10 Speaker 3: Well, Joel, don't worry about it. This will do nicely.

10:13 Speaker 2: Is the bedroom okay? I can't thank you enough for staying the weekend.

10:17 Speaker 3: It looks quite comfortable. So tell me, whatever made you come all the way out here to live, tell me about this house.

10:26 Speaker 2: I need to be alone for a little while. I had been named the new chief of surgery, but after a year of fighting the insurance companies, hospital board, and basically playing a political game, I wanted a break. I was losing it. Not caring for my patients and heading for a mental breakdown.

10:45 Speaker 3: So you ran away.

10:46 Speaker 2: I suppose I did. I found an ad for this house, and that was the first strange thing that happened. When I contacted the number, the owner of the house told me that he never put an ad in the newspaper or magazine. I asked him if it was for rent, and he said it was, if I wanted it.

11:04 Speaker 3: Must have cost quite a bit.

11:07 Speaker 2: Surprisingly, no. I even told him he could get five times what he was asking.

11:14 Speaker 1: Okay, go on.

11:16 Speaker 2: When I saw the place, I couldn't believe it. Fully furnished. Everything I needed except for clothes and food. It was sheer luck.

11:26 Speaker 3: Until now.

11:28 Speaker 2: That first night, I was in bed. I had the window open because of the warm air. I must admit that it was in the middle ground of being asleep and partially awake.

11:43 Speaker 3: What did you see? Or rather, what did you think you saw?

11:48 Speaker 2: The fireplace. It was directly across from me and I swear, I saw teeth coming out from the top and on the floor. There was something that looked like a fiery red tongue deep within it. I rubbed my eyes and when I looked again, it was gone. Just a fireplace.

12:11 Speaker 3: Doctor, I believe that your first diagnosis is correct. You were half asleep and your Mine played a rather cruel trick on you.

12:18 Speaker 2: That was only the first night. The next evening I was going up the stairs to bed, I was fully awake when I saw the staircase moving, undulating like a tidal wave. I saw horrible faces coming through the carpeting and the screaming. I shut my eyes and put my hands over my ears to try to drown it out. And just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

12:44 Speaker 3: Joel, have you had the water tested for lead? You know, these old houses, they still have the lead pipes and the paint, not to mention asbestos, all of which can not only make you hallucinate, but it can kill you.

12:58 Speaker 2: It didn't make my nurse hallucinate.

13:01 Speaker 3: What do you mean?

13:02 Speaker 2: She called me the next day asking if I was okay. She had been sent a message on her phone saying that I had died in a car accident. I told her it must have been a mistake, but she insists that it came from my number.

13:14 Speaker 3: That sounds like a very cruel practical joke.

13:17 Speaker 2: I was in a car accident.

13:19 Speaker 1: What?

13:21 Speaker 2: My car was in perfect order. I was driving into town when the gas pedal stuck. I managed to get it off the highway and barrel into a fence before stopping in a field.

13:30 Speaker 3: Well, did you have a mechanic check it out?

13:33 Speaker 1: Of course.

13:34 Speaker 2: He said that someone had tampered with the brakes in the gas pedal. Don't you see? They would have had to do something while I was in town. I would have lost control going home, not driving away from the house. No one comes out here. When I returned, I found tools lying all over the driveway.

13:55 Speaker 3: So you found some tools. Did you work on the car?

13:59 Speaker 2: You know me. Put me in an operating room and I know every inch of a human body. Cars are completely foreign.

14:06 Speaker 3: Well, how is it running now?

14:08 Speaker 2: I stopped driving it. I've had everything delivered, but Even that's become a threat to my life.

14:15 Speaker 3: What do you mean?

14:16 Speaker 2: The delivery man was bringing groceries. When he tried to ring the doorbell, he was almost electrocuted.

14:23 Speaker 3: Joel, there usually isn't enough power in those things to do that.

14:27 Speaker 2: Later, I was almost electrocuted by a light bulb.

14:31 Speaker 3: Could it have been bad wiring in the lamp?

14:33 Speaker 2: No, no, Mike. The bulb itself. I went to get a bulb out of the closet to change one that had blown in my bedroom. When I took it out of the box, I felt a jolt and the bulb exploded in my head.

14:47 Speaker 3: Jesus, Joel, I just don't know what to say.

14:50 Speaker 2: I was receiving threatening phone calls, emails, and I started hearing strange laughter coming from nowhere. That was when I pulled out every wire I could find.

14:59 Speaker 3: Then let's get out tonight.

15:01 Speaker 2: You don't understand. This house won't let me leave. Don't you think that I've tried?

15:08 Speaker 3: Look, get up, walk to my car... We will get in and we'll drive the hell away from here.

15:24 Speaker 1: Come on, come on. That's funny.

15:27 Speaker 3: I just had this thing serviced.

15:31 Speaker 2: I told you.

15:32 Speaker 3: It's the house. Now look, I refuse to believe.

15:35 Speaker 2: Let me prove it to you.

15:37 Speaker 3: What are you doing getting out of the car?

15:43 Speaker 1: Okay. That's weird.

15:49 Speaker 2: I told you the house won't let me leave.

16:00 Speaker 1: Mike looks at his friend and sees the terrified eyes. He cannot explain away what has just happened. Joel slowly walks back into the house... that is apparently trying to kill him. We will return to the House of Horrors when I return with Act 3 shortly. Houses come in all shapes and sizes. from single bedrooms to large mansions. Some are newly built by developers. Others have been around for years. Mike has come to the aid of his friend Joel, whose house, he claims, is trying to murder him.

17:04 Speaker 2: This house is not just a house. It's not haunted by some evil spirit. It's alive. It can change, and it's trying to kill me.

17:14 Speaker 3: Joel, please, look, you have to see this from my point of view.

17:18 Speaker 2: What about the car?

17:19 Speaker 3: Okay, I grant you that that was a little strange, but a house that morphs at will?

17:26 Speaker 2: I can understand why you don't believe me. I'm just grateful you even came.

17:31 Speaker 3: Look, it's not a problem. Now, it's getting late. Why don't we both try and get some sleep and we'll tackle this thing in the morning.

17:39 Speaker 1: Ah.

17:43 Speaker 3: This bed does feel good. Jeez, it's almost midnight. I really need to get to... What the hell? Get away! Joel! Joel, for God's sake, snap out of it! The fireplace! It's trying to eat me! What are you doing? I'm opening your bedroom door and showing you that there is nothing in there. What are you doing? Don't open it! What the hell is that?

18:19 Speaker 1: Run!

18:20 Speaker 3: Get out of here!

18:22 Speaker 2: Did you see it?

18:23 Speaker 3: I never would have believed it. It looked like... I told you. I don't know what it looked like. Like the fireplace had fangs and this red tongue coming out of it. Come on, let's get the hell out of here.

18:40 Speaker 2: It won't let me leave.

18:43 Speaker 3: Come on, get to the stairs.

18:44 Speaker 2: The banister. Mike, look out! Ah!

18:47 Speaker 3: The railing. There's teeth coming out of it. It bit me.

18:51 Speaker 2: Get out while you can.

18:52 Speaker 3: Not without you, Joel.

18:53 Speaker 1: Mike! Help me!

18:55 Speaker 3: Joel, grab my hand! Joel! Jesus, the stairs. You're being eaten by the stairs. I gotta get out of here.

19:10 Speaker 1: Oh, dear Lord. The house.

19:13 Speaker 3: It's growing tentacles. Tentacles? God, the windows. They're becoming eyes. Oh, Jesus, it's coming after me. It's coming after me. There. Ten gallons of gas. That should do it. How about a little fire? How do you like that house? burn burn burn yes I'm calling about the advertisement about the house that's for rent can you tell me if it's still available Well, I'm looking at the ad right now. And you never placed the ad and don't know anything about it. Well, look, is the place for rent or not? Can you tell me what happened to the last tenant?

20:30 Speaker 3: Just up and moved away. Is there any way possible that you could tell me his name? Joel Musgrove. Well, house, you killed my friend.

21:16 Speaker 1: Do you remember?

21:17 Speaker 3: I tried burning you down, but here you stand. There has to be something buried inside of you somewhere that protects you. Well, let's see how you handle 30 gallons of gas 20 propane tanks right in the middle of the living room. I'll just lay this fuse down, walk down to the car, light the fuse, and I'll drive away. Let's see how you like that. Come on.

22:16 Speaker 2: Come on!

22:20 Speaker 3: You won't let me leave, will you? You won't let me leave!

22:30 Speaker 1: Mike sits in his car, the fuse to the makeshift bomb dropping from his hand. He slowly walks back into the house, removing a lighter from his pocket. I'll be back shortly. If you happen to be in the market for a house, I may know of one that is available. The rent is quite low and it is fully furnished. Our cast included Colby Jones, and Crimson McKenzie. The entire production was under the direction of Winslow Swan. And now, a preview of our next tale.

23:29 Speaker 3: It's the most remarkable thing that I have seen. Stan, I can assure you that no trickery was involved. Oh, I believe you, Jacob. I examined that rabbit and I would swear that it was completely dead. There was no signs of life at all. And yet, look at it now.

23:49 Speaker 1: Doorway to Nightmare is sponsored in part by Swanage Press. This is your host, inviting you to return with us through the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the world of your terrifying imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully. Epilogue. The butler did it.