Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque of the Red Death | Full Horror Audio Adaptation

0:05 Speaker 1: It lies in wait amidst your dreams, where nothing is ever how it seems. It is a portal to a terrifying world beyond the doorway to nightmare. Nightmare. Come in. Welcome. I'm Artemis Black. We are all bound thither. We are hastening to the same common goal. Black death calls all things under the sway of its laws. This short phrase from the Roman poet Ovid sets the tone for tonight's bit of horror.

1:09 Speaker 2: It's the Red Death, all right. Look at the blood coming out of every pore of her body.

1:15 Speaker 3: How long do you think that she has?

1:17 Speaker 4: Most victims die within half an hour at the most.

1:20 Speaker 1: Then we must hurry to the house. Before we become victims.

1:30 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The Mask of the Red Death, was adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe classic by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our stars include Darren Mahler, Mick Davis, and Crimson McKenzie. I'll return shortly with Act One.

2:06 Speaker 1: From the years 1346 to 1353, the plague, known as the Black Death, reigned over Europe. It was estimated that over 50 million people died from the effects. With that in mind, if you will look to where I am pointing, you will see a very large mansion sitting on top of a cliff. Inside, you will find a party, one that has been going on for several days now.

2:43 Speaker 5: What a wonderful idea! A masquerade!

2:47 Speaker 3: I thought that you'd approve, my dear Shelley.

2:51 Speaker 1: Prosper.

2:52 Speaker 2: Do you honestly think that we are protected from the Red Death?

2:55 Speaker 3: I told you I forbade those words from this house. Yes, Edward, I do think that. We have plenty of food and drink and.

3:05 Speaker 5: Entertainment! Oh, Edward, don't be such a killjoy. Have some fun for a change.

3:12 Speaker 2: Maybe we should at least go to the nearby town to see if there are any survivors and.

3:17 Speaker 3: And bring the Red Death right to our own doorstep? Have you lost your mind?

3:23 Speaker 5: How many people are here on the estate, Prosper?

3:26 Speaker 3: At last count, I would say close to 300.

3:30 Speaker 2: Yes, the wealthiest who had the good fortune of coming here.

3:34 Speaker 4: But what about everyone else?

3:36 Speaker 3: At least I did something. I fortified the house and grounds. I made sure that everyone who came here was well cared for.

3:45 Speaker 2: As long as they had the money. You disgust me, Prosper.

3:49 Speaker 5: Well, if you don't like it, Edward, you can always leave.

3:54 Speaker 4: I would, but Prosper has the place completely sealed.

3:58 Speaker 3: You bet I do. No one will leave.

4:06 Speaker 5: Why have you brought me here, Prosper?

4:09 Speaker 3: I wanted you to see my hall of colors. You see, each room is a different color. This one is the blue room.

4:19 Speaker 5: Beautiful! So bizarre.

4:24 Speaker 3: You know how I love the weird and unnatural.

4:30 Speaker 5: And this room? Purple!

4:33 Speaker 3: Each room's grand window is covered in stained glass, reflecting the color of the room. Here, the third room, a vibrant green.

4:44 Speaker 5: How many rooms are there down this hallway?

4:47 Speaker 3: Seven in all. Here's the fourth, the orange room.

4:53 Speaker 5: But what are they used for?

4:55 Speaker 3: For the party, of course. I had them built especially for the party.

5:02 Speaker 5: And the fifth room. A brilliant white.

5:05 Speaker 3: I'm going to open them to our guests after we return to the main hall. Here, the sixth room. A deep violet.

5:13 Speaker 5: I'm sure that everyone will have a wonderful time.

5:16 Speaker 1: Ah, but here.

5:18 Speaker 3: The seventh room.

5:27 Speaker 5: Oh my! It's... It's all black!

5:32 Speaker 3: Heavy curtains hanging from the ceiling. And the carpet.

5:37 Speaker 1: All in black.

5:39 Speaker 5: But the windows. They're tinted in red? A blood red color? It It's horrifying.

5:50 Speaker 3: Ah, isn't it?

5:51 Speaker 5: Oh, Prosper, let's go back. To the party. I'm frightened.

5:57 Speaker 3: Look at how the light from the window gives your face a blood-red color. Almost as if.

6:05 Speaker 5: Please, don't say it.

6:08 Speaker 3: As if you had contracted the Red Death. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

6:19 Speaker 1: Giovanni Bocascio wrote about the Black Plague, Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown, or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. I know what you should do, and that's return with me shortly with Act Two. The poet Percy Shelley wrote, I have made my bed in charnels and on coffins. where Black Death keeps record of the trophies won.

7:32 Speaker 5: I thought I would find you in here, Edward.

7:35 Speaker 2: Why aren't you with your husband, the mighty Prosper?

7:41 Speaker 5: He's currently playing the guitar for a group in the green rooms. I've heard everything that he can play. Besides, I wanted to talk with you.

7:51 Speaker 4: Talk to me?

7:52 Speaker 3: About what?

7:53 Speaker 5: Edward, you know that Prosper only wants what is best.

7:58 Speaker 2: Sure, but only saving the ones who can afford it and letting everyone else suffer and die.

8:03 Speaker 5: But the Red Death can't last forever. These people are going to be needed when it's finally safe.

8:11 Speaker 4: Those people?

8:12 Speaker 2: The ones who can't even take care of themselves? I mean, come on, Shelly. Prosper hired ten servants to take care of almost 400 people.

8:21 Speaker 5: They are being well paid.

8:23 Speaker 4: Sure, until they get sick.

8:25 Speaker 5: Now that's not fair.

8:27 Speaker 2: Was it fair to send that cook outside to face the Red Death? She.

8:33 Speaker 5: she was sick. She could have infected everyone.

8:37 Speaker 2: So, Prosper locks her outside and makes her walk down the road.

8:41 Speaker 5: Prosper did the right thing.

8:43 Speaker 2: The woman never made it to the end of the driveway. She's still laying out there.

8:50 Speaker 5: You can always join her.

8:52 Speaker 4: I would.

8:53 Speaker 2: Gladly.

8:54 Speaker 4: Anything is better than being in this gilded prison.

9:04 Speaker 3: Shelly tells me that you really want to leave.

9:07 Speaker 4: You bet I do, Prosper.

9:09 Speaker 3: You know, the only reason that you're even here is because you were friends with Shelly. She begged me, begged me to let you come.

9:20 Speaker 2: So here I am. Mighty Prosper. What can this lowly servant of the people do for you?

9:27 Speaker 3: Do not be impertinent. I brought you here for a reason. After all, you were a pretty good journalist.

9:34 Speaker 4: And you think... You mean you honestly think that... Now wait just a damn minute.

9:41 Speaker 3: When all of this is over, someone is going to have to tell the world how I, Jonas Prosper, saved this city.

9:51 Speaker 4: You are delusional.

9:54 Speaker 2: There is no way that I... I.

9:58 Speaker 4: What are you looking at?

10:01 Speaker 3: No it can't.

10:03 Speaker 5: Be prosper what are you doing in here your guests want to know no no what is.

10:15 Speaker 3: It your forehead The perspiration on your forehead, it's... It's blood.

10:22 Speaker 1: No.

10:23 Speaker 3: It can't be.

10:25 Speaker 5: Prosper. Please don't do it.

10:29 Speaker 3: Get out. Get out of this house. Now.

10:37 Speaker 5: Where do you think he is?

10:39 Speaker 3: Will you forget about him? He's dead. He's lucky we caught it before he infected anyone else.

10:46 Speaker 5: I wonder if he made it to the end of the driveway. I wonder.

10:51 Speaker 3: Well, stop wondering! Now, come on, Jelly. Let's go back to the party.

10:57 Speaker 5: I don't want to, Prosper. I just want to.

11:01 Speaker 2: to.

11:02 Speaker 5: I don't know.

11:03 Speaker 3: The party's getting boring, that's what it is. I think I have an idea to. Spice things up.

11:11 Speaker 5: I know that look in your eye, Prosper. What are you thinking?

11:16 Speaker 3: Ha ha ha! I've got it! Remember all of those old clothes I bought some time ago?

11:22 Speaker 5: What about them?

11:24 Speaker 3: As I recall, they were from an old theater group. I'm sure there are some masks and costumes.

11:30 Speaker 5: So? What of it?

11:32 Speaker 3: My dear, we shall turn this party into... A Masquerade Ball!

11:45 Speaker 1: Norman Cousins wrote, Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. I'll return shortly with our final act. The philosopher and inventor Blaise Pascal wrote, Let us imagine a number of men in chains and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows and wait their turn looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is an image of the condition of man.

12:54 Speaker 3: Oh, look at them. They are having the time of their lives.

12:57 Speaker 5: I have to hand it to you, Prosper. This really was a great idea.

13:03 Speaker 3: And you, my dear, dressed as a leopard cat. Where did you find that leotard?

13:12 Speaker 5: It was at the very bottom of that old trunk. I couldn't believe it. And it actually fits this body of mine.

13:21 Speaker 3: Yes, it does.

13:25 Speaker 5: But you, Prosper, what are you supposed to be?

13:29 Speaker 3: Haven't you guessed?

13:31 Speaker 1: I'm a bum.

13:33 Speaker 3: A beggar?

13:40 Speaker 5: Prosper?

13:41 Speaker 3: Look.

13:43 Speaker 5: In the entryway of the ballroom.

13:44 Speaker 3: I don't see. Who are you talking about?

13:48 Speaker 5: Don't you see it? Oh, God! Look at the costume!

13:54 Speaker 3: I see it now. Come on. Let's find out who this is.

13:58 Speaker 2: Ah!

14:04 Speaker 5: Look at the mask. The skull covered in... in blood!

14:10 Speaker 3: I told everyone.

14:11 Speaker 1: Everyone!

14:12 Speaker 3: That costume was strictly forbidden!

14:15 Speaker 1: Who are you?

14:17 Speaker 3: I demand to know who you are!

14:20 Speaker 4: Don't you know, Prosper?

14:23 Speaker 3: How did you... How did you get in here? I know all of my guests, but I don't recognize your voice. Who are you?

14:31 Speaker 4: Walk with me, Prosper. Walk with me through your... Colored rooms.

14:37 Speaker 5: Prosper? Who is it?

14:41 Speaker 3: I don't know, but I will find out.

14:51 Speaker 4: Prosper!

14:52 Speaker 1: Quick!

14:53 Speaker 5: Everyone is.

14:55 Speaker 1: dying!

14:56 Speaker 2: I have been here before.

15:04 Speaker 1: Always.

15:05 Speaker 2: There was no escape.

15:07 Speaker 1: No!

15:08 Speaker 3: I demand to know who you are! Tell me!

15:16 Speaker 4: The final room. Black room with the red windows.

15:21 Speaker 5: Rosper! Help!

15:26 Speaker 1: Shelly!

15:27 Speaker 5: Rosper!

15:28 Speaker 1: Your face!

15:28 Speaker 5: Please!

15:31 Speaker 3: It's covered in blood!

15:32 Speaker 1: Help!

15:40 Speaker 3: Who are you?

15:42 Speaker 4: You know who I am.

15:45 Speaker 1: See? Edward? You?

15:48 Speaker 4: Once I was Edward.

15:52 Speaker 1: Now I am the Red.

15:56 Speaker 3: Death, death, death, death, death. No. I was protected. I thought of everything.

16:06 Speaker 1: No.

16:07 Speaker 2: No.

16:27 Speaker 1: As the blood pours from the body of Prosper, Edward begins to walk out of the mansion, carefully stepping over the bodies of the dead. I'll have a final word in just a moment. The very last part that Edgar Allan Poe wrote for The Mask of the Red Death goes like this. He had come like a thief in the night, and one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

17:37 Speaker 1: Our cast included Darren Mahler, Mick Davis, and Crimson McKenzie. The play was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan.

17:50 Speaker 1: And now, a preview of our next tale.

17:57 Speaker 2: Confess.

17:59 Speaker 3: You are a killer.

18:01 Speaker 1: Confess.

18:02 Speaker 4: Herman, you know me.

18:05 Speaker 5: I'm your... your.

18:07 Speaker 2: at least I thought I was your friend.

18:11 Speaker 1: Confess, Peter.

18:13 Speaker 2: Confess to what you have done and what you are.

18:20 Speaker 1: All right.

18:21 Speaker 2: I am what you say.

18:22 Speaker 4: I have done everything.

18:24 Speaker 2: I am.

18:27 Speaker 3: A werewolf.

18:41 Speaker 1: This is Artemis Black, inviting you to return with us to the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the terrifying world of your imagination. Until next time, slumber. Peacefully, Epilogue.

19:00 Speaker 5: The butler did it.