I Can Hear Her Laughing | A Chilling Ghost Story of Madness and Fear "Little Girl's Laugh"

0:01 Speaker 1: When you sleep, you enter into another world. Beyond that world lies the doorway to nightmare.

0:14 Speaker 2: Come in. Welcome.

0:31 Speaker 1: I'm Artemis Black. The author and spiritualist Don Miguel Ruiz once said, Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower Just like the wind. Just like the ocean. Just like the sun.

1:10 Speaker 3: But don't you hear her? She must be somewhere nearby.

1:13 Speaker 4: Henry, there is no child anywhere around. Please come inside.

1:21 Speaker 3: Little girl, show yourself. It's all right. We don't want to hurt you. Are you telling me, Ruth, that you don't hear her?

1:31 Speaker 4: No, Henry, I don't. Because there is no child.

1:45 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, Little Girls Laugh, was written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our cast includes Darren Mahler and Annie Mick. I'll be back shortly with Act One. Victor Hugo once wrote, When people look back at their childhood or youth, their wistfulness comes from the memory, not of what their lives had been in those years, but of what life had been promised to be. The expectation of some indefinable splendor, of the unusual, the exciting, the great, is an attribute of youth, and the process of aging is the process of that expectation's gradual extinction.

2:49 Speaker 1: One does not have to let it happen, but that fire dies for lack of fuel. Under the great weight of disappointments.

3:03 Speaker 3: It just isn't fair. It wasn't my fault. Why should I be blamed? What's the use? What I need to do is find a gas station as fast as.

3:19 Speaker 5: Hey!

3:20 Speaker 2: Look out!

3:27 Speaker 3: Oh, man, my head. Oh, that stupid little girl. What is she doing out here on the road in the first place? I hope I can get my car started again. Hey,

3:47 Speaker 3: little girl, where are you? Hey, where are you, little girl? Are you okay? Where are you?

4:24 Speaker 4: May I help you?

4:26 Speaker 3: Yeah, at least I hope so. May I use your phone, please?

4:32 Speaker 4: I'm afraid that will not be possible.

4:34 Speaker 3: No, you don't understand. Look, I'm not a thief or anything like that. I just had a car accident down the road. I need to call the nearest garage.

4:43 Speaker 4: As I've said, I'm afraid that... Please!

4:47 Speaker 3: Look, I don't have to come in. You could call for me. I'm just not feeling very. I think I might have a concussion.

4:57 Speaker 4: We don't have a phone. And the local garage closed about an hour ago.

5:03 Speaker 3: Then call the police. I think, well, the reason I had the accident was because I almost hit a little girl.

5:12 Speaker 4: A little girl? Here?

5:15 Speaker 3: Yes. I don't know why she'd be out on the road in the middle of nowhere. You're the first house I've come across in I don't know how long. I've been walking. Please, just.

5:26 Speaker 4: But there aren't any children nearby. Are you positive you saw a little girl?

5:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm positive, yes. I'm not feeling very.

5:41 Speaker 4: Eric, come here, please.

5:48 Speaker 1: Yes, ma'am.

5:49 Speaker 4: Help me get him inside.

5:51 Speaker 5: I was hoping that after the last time.

5:56 Speaker 4: Never mind that. Just help me.

6:10 Speaker 3: Where... where am I?

6:13 Speaker 4: You're in my home, Mr.

6:15 Speaker 1: Ogden.

6:16 Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry. I must have passed out.

6:19 Speaker 4: You did. Eric and I brought you inside. You've been unconscious for about ten minutes.

6:27 Speaker 1: I apologize, sir.

6:30 Speaker 3: I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage.

6:32 Speaker 4: I'm Mrs. Morgan. Ruth Morgan.

6:35 Speaker 3: Thank you, Mrs. Morgan.

6:37 Speaker 1: Both of you.

6:37 Speaker 3: You and your husband.

6:39 Speaker 4: Oh, Eric isn't my husband. He's been with the family for over 20 years. My husband died about five years ago.

6:48 Speaker 2: Oh.

6:50 Speaker 3: I'm sorry to hear that.

6:51 Speaker 4: Eric went to your car to retrieve anything that you might need. He will contact our local mechanic in the mornings.

7:00 Speaker 3: I couldn't impose any further.

7:01 Speaker 4: Nonsense. Besides, where would you go? Now, I insist that you stay here tonight.

7:10 Speaker 3: I'm very grateful for your hospitality, Mrs. Morgan. Thank you. But how did you know my name?

7:17 Speaker 5: Mr. Ogden, I put your suitcase in the bedroom at the top of the stairs.

7:23 Speaker 3: Oh, thank you, Eric. Appreciate it.

7:25 Speaker 4: Perhaps you should get some rest. Unless you're hungry... Mrs.

7:29 Speaker 5: Morgan, I'm sure that our guest knows what is best for him.

7:35 Speaker 3: You read about this kind of stuff in books. You see it in movies or on TV. But that's just fiction, right?

7:47 Speaker 1: No.

7:48 Speaker 3: It was really happening to me. To me. Dr. Henry Ogden, a chemist of some renown. And who is this Mrs. Morgan or Herrick? And more importantly, who is the little girl?

8:06 Speaker 2: Eric! Eric!

8:13 Speaker 1: Yes, sir?

8:15 Speaker 3: Don't you hear her?

8:16 Speaker 4: Who, sir?

8:18 Speaker 3: That little girl. The one that I almost hit. Look down there in the courtyard. Don't you see her?

8:26 Speaker 1: I'm afraid that I don't. sir.

8:29 Speaker 3: But she's right there. Hey, little girl, don't go anywhere. I'm going to come down to you.

8:37 Speaker 5: I can assure you, Mr. Ogden, that there is no little girl.

8:43 Speaker 3: But I see her. I hear her.

9:02 Speaker 1: Well, I don't know about you, but I can certainly hear her. Is Eric perhaps playing some sort of psychological mind game on Henry Ogden? Perhaps we will discover the answer when I return with Act Two. Lewis Carroll once wrote, I give all the wealth that years have piled, the slow result of life's decay, to be once more a little child for one bright summer day.

9:55 Speaker 4: You've hardly touched your breakfast, Henry.

9:58 Speaker 3: I suppose I'm just not very hungry this morning.

10:01 Speaker 4: You're going to disappoint Cook. She rarely gets to prepare something for a guest.

10:09 Speaker 3: Why do you live out here in the middle of nowhere, Mrs. Morgan?

10:12 Speaker 4: Now, I've told you before. Call me Ruth. I suppose after the death of my husband, I wanted to be... Alone.

10:21 Speaker 3: You don't look alone to me. I mean, you do have Eric and your cook.

10:25 Speaker 4: True, but I don't have to interact with them or show them the real.

10:32 Speaker 3: Me.

10:35 Speaker 5: There!

10:36 Speaker 3: She, look, she's right out there.

10:38 Speaker 4: Who is out there?

10:41 Speaker 3: That little girl I told you about.

10:43 Speaker 1: She's there.

10:44 Speaker 3: Don't you hear her?

10:45 Speaker 4: Henry, please calm yourself.

10:48 Speaker 3: No, I do hear a little girl. I don't care if you do or not. I hear her laughing. Or else I'm going insane.

10:58 Speaker 4: Henry, I believe you.

11:00 Speaker 1: You do?

11:00 Speaker 3: You really do?

11:02 Speaker 4: Yes, I really do.

11:04 Speaker 3: Okay, but why? Why do you suddenly believe me?

11:08 Speaker 4: Because... Because I know all about you. That's why.

11:14 Speaker 3: Uh, yeah, and what do you know about me? I mean, we just met.

11:20 Speaker 4: No, no, no, Henry. We've known each other for a long time.

11:26 Speaker 3: I can assure you, Mrs. Morgan, I have never met you, never been to this property, never seen Eric, never met your cook, none of you, until last night.

11:38 Speaker 4: You hear her again, don't you? I see it in your face.

11:43 Speaker 3: Yeah, I do hear her. Who is she? Where does she come from?

11:47 Speaker 4: Dr. Henry Ogden, a chemist who invented a medicine specifically designed for children.

11:55 Speaker 3: How do you know all of that?

11:57 Speaker 4: A medicine that should have been tested more before going out on the market.

12:02 Speaker 3: Hey, I told them. I warned them it wasn't ready for human trials.

12:07 Speaker 4: Dr. Henry Ogden. Indicted on over 100 counts of second-degree murder. 100 children died due to a reaction to that medicine.

12:18 Speaker 3: But those charges were dropped, lady. I had nothing to do with the distribution of the stuff. I only invented it. Dammit, I was absolved of all responsibility.

12:32 Speaker 4: Were you, Henry? Were you really absolved?

12:50 Speaker 1: Have you told him, Mrs.

12:53 Speaker 2: Morgan?

12:55 Speaker 4: I tried, Eric.

12:57 Speaker 5: Do you think it will do any good?

12:59 Speaker 4: It's the one thing that we have never tried to do. To simply tell him. Perhaps then he can move on.

13:09 Speaker 5: I cannot stand what this does to you, Ruth. Knowing what is happening and not being able to do anything about it.

13:19 Speaker 4: Maybe this time, Eric, perhaps this time we can all move on.

13:30 Speaker 1: British biologist Richard Dawkins once said, I suppose if you look back to your early childhood, you accept everything people tell you. And that includes a heavy dose of irrationality. You're told about tooth fairies and Father Christmas and things. You're also told about medicine that is supposed to help you. But does it? I'll return shortly with Act 3. Act 3 The children's author Penelope Lively once wrote, I believe that the experience of childhood is irretrievable. All that remains for any of us is a head full of brilliant frozen moments already dangerously distorted by the wisdoms of maturity.

14:42 Speaker 3: What are you trying to tell me, Ruth?

14:45 Speaker 4: You are Dr. Henry Ogden. The same Dr. Ogden, who came up with a formula to help, not to hurt.

14:54 Speaker 3: Thank you, Captain Obvious. I know all of that.

14:57 Speaker 4: Yes, you know. But what you don't know is that.

15:02 Speaker 3: that.

15:05 Speaker 3: There she is. Again, I'm hearing her. Do you hear her, Ruth?

15:09 Speaker 4: Please, Henry, listen to me. Listen to reason.

15:15 Speaker 3: Don't you believe me? Can you not hear that little girl?

15:19 Speaker 4: Yes, Henry, I do hear her. But you must understand, she isn't alive.

15:34 Speaker 3: Of course she's alive. She's laughing at, at, she's laughing at me. At me?

15:45 Speaker 4: Please, Henry. Please, for God's sake, listen to me. She is not alive. And neither are you.

15:56 Speaker 3: Of course I'm alive. Have you lost your mind?

15:59 Speaker 4: For ten years now, you have been coming to this house every year on the same date we take you in and try to convince you that you are no longer alive.

16:14 Speaker 3: But I am alive, and I hear that wretched little girl laughing at me.

16:23 Speaker 4: The first year, yes, you were alive. You had a car accident. We took you in. You began hearing the little girl. You ran out of the house following the sound of the laughter. You didn't see the truck as it came around the curve and you.

16:41 Speaker 5: you.

16:42 Speaker 4: Oh, please, Henry. You must believe me.

16:49 Speaker 2: No.

16:50 Speaker 3: I can see her right there. I'm going to go catch her. I will catch her this time.

16:54 Speaker 4: Oh, Eric. Go after him.

17:01 Speaker 5: You know that it isn't any use.

17:04 Speaker 4: Please, Eric.

17:05 Speaker 1: Please.

17:06 Speaker 4: I don't want to see it happen again. Not again.

17:09 Speaker 2: Are you okay now, Ruth?

17:16 Speaker 3: No, Eric.

17:28 Speaker 5: Eric.

17:33 Speaker 4: I don't think I'll ever be all right again.

17:36 Speaker 5: Maybe next year.

17:40 Speaker 4: No, I don't think so. I don't believe that Henry Ogden will ever find peace.

17:51 Speaker 1: And what about you?

17:53 Speaker 4: Perhaps the little girl's laughing and the yearly death of Henry is his punishment. After all, He did invent that drug.

18:05 Speaker 5: What are you saying, Ruth?

18:08 Speaker 4: If that is his punishment, then perhaps mine is having to watch him die every year. Since I was the one who signed off on the test trials and put it on the market. I should have known better, Eric. But I was overcome with greed.

18:27 Speaker 3: And the little girl?

18:33 Speaker 4: Oh yes, Eric, I hear her. And not just her laughter, but the other children. The other 100 children who died. The ones that I was responsible for their deaths.

18:56 Speaker 1: Laughter Agatha Christie once wrote, until one looks back on one's own past, one fails to realize what an extraordinary view of the world a child has. I'll return shortly with a final word. I leave you tonight with the words of the American poet, Louise Bogan. But childhood prolonged cannot remain. a fairyland. It becomes a hell. Our cast included Annie Mick, Darren Mahler, and Winslow Swan. And a special appearance by Isabella Woogie. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan.

20:11 Speaker 1: And now, a preview of our next tale.

20:16 Speaker 3: How do we know that he's dead? I did my best to get in touch with you when Master Craven became ill.

20:23 Speaker 4: Just a little funny that he suddenly died. And after I was here only a couple of weeks ago.

20:31 Speaker 1: Yes, I do agree. It is rather.

20:37 Speaker 4: Mysterious.

20:39 Speaker 1: This is Artemis Black. 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.

21:00 Speaker 4: The butler did it!