What Lies Waiting Beneath the Eternal Ice? "Return To The Mountain Of Madness"

0:00 Speaker 1: Doorway to Nightmare is brought to you in part by Swanage Press. 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. Come in. Welcome. I'm Artemis Black. The animal known as a human being inhabiting this planet Earth is a rather strange creature He points out the vastness of space, wondering what could be out there, instead of looking to his own world and what wonders have yet to be discovered.

1:13 Speaker 2: Danvers saw something. Something that shattered his mind out there.

1:17 Speaker 3: And you of all people should know that some things should be left alone. Danvers has never said a word in over 50 years.

1:25 Speaker 2: Until last week.

1:27 Speaker 4: Uh, what are you saying, Alan?

1:30 Speaker 2: I played the recording received at the Institute, Greg. It had a rather profound effect on Danvers.

1:38 Speaker 4: What sort of effect?

1:41 Speaker 2: He said, no. He warned me to stay away. Don't go near the Mountain of Madness.

1:54 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, Return to the Mountain of Madness, was based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft and written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our cast includes Raven Adams, Darren Mahler, Patience Adams, and Mick Davis. I'll return shortly with Act One. It is in all of us.

2:25 Speaker 3: Waiting.

2:26 Speaker 5: Watching. Growing. Evil Within by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon.

2:34 Speaker 1: According to scientists, there is still... that is yet to be explored. Only 43% of the land area of our tiny planet is habitable. The other is desert and curiously mountainous.

3:18 Speaker 2: It has been over five decades since the tragic expedition of Professor Emmett Lake to the unexplored region of Antarctica, 50 years since the so-called rescue mission that shattered a man's mind and left him hopelessly insane.

3:41 Speaker 4: Are you sure that it's not some sort of hoax?

3:44 Speaker 2: We've been able to triangulate the signal, Greg. It's definitely coming from the region of the base camp.

3:50 Speaker 3: Remarkable.

3:51 Speaker 4: But how do you know it is Emmett Lake?

3:54 Speaker 1: I don't.

3:55 Speaker 2: All I do know is that I have to see Robert Danvers, the student who went out with Lake's nephew to search for him.

4:02 Speaker 3: From all accounts I've read, Alan, Danvers is still locked away at the asylum.

4:07 Speaker 2: Yes, and he has never said a word in over 50 years.

4:10 Speaker 4: Exactly. So what makes you think that you could make a difference?

4:13 Speaker 2: No, Greg, not me. Perhaps this recording will jar something in his mind.

4:22 Speaker 4: Naturally, you're planning an expedition yourself? Of course.

4:27 Speaker 2: Can you imagine what may be up in those mountains if Emmett Lake is indeed....

4:33 Speaker 1: Alive?

4:33 Speaker 2: I was only given a short time with Danvers at the asylum. I wanted to make the most of it. I didn't bother to introduce myself, but only played the tape of the Morse code that came from the region. Greg, I believe you know Amanda Reese.

5:24 Speaker 1: Uh, yeah.

5:25 Speaker 4: We met last year at the symposium. How are you, Amanda?

5:29 Speaker 6: Doing well, Greg. I take it that Alan has talked you into this little adventure?

5:35 Speaker 1: You know Alan.

5:36 Speaker 3: Once he gets a hold of something, he's like a dog with a meat bone.

5:39 Speaker 2: If you two are finished, I would like to go over the details of this expedition.

5:44 Speaker 6: You honestly think that after 50 years, Emmett Lake is still alive?

5:50 Speaker 2: It's what I want to find out, Amanda. Now here, right here on this map is where Lake made his base camp.

5:58 Speaker 1: Huh.

5:58 Speaker 3: Is that where William Dyer found the, uh, slaughter?

6:03 Speaker 7: Slaughter?

6:05 Speaker 6: What sort of slaughter?

6:07 Speaker 2: When Dyer and Danvers arrived, they found the bodies of the scientists mutilated beyond recognition, including all of the dogs. The theory was that Lake had gone insane and escaped toward the mountains.

6:19 Speaker 6: And this was proven?

6:21 Speaker 2: Dyers brought back Lake's notebook. Here, you can see where Lake drew the entrance on the mountain.

6:28 Speaker 3: Huh. If these figures are correct, this range of mountains is even higher than the Himalayans.

6:34 Speaker 2: And far more dangerous.

6:37 Speaker 6: So, how do we get there?

6:39 Speaker 2: I'm flying us first to the spot where the base camp was, and then on to the mountains. The so-called Mountains of Madness.

7:03 Speaker 1: Eleanor Roosevelt once said, The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. I'll return shortly with Act Two. Meet Jerry Connors, family man. businessman, psychopathic killer. The Convincer by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon. Jerry Connors. He can convince you to do anything. Even die.

8:01 Speaker 1: Noted astrologist Carl Sagan once said that exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still.

8:17 Speaker 3: I hope you packed your long johns. It's going to be a cold one.

8:19 Speaker 6: You keep your nose out of my long johns. Alan, how much further?

8:25 Speaker 2: Just over that bluff. Do you see? Lake had this part of his expedition pretty well mapped out.

8:31 Speaker 4: What exactly was he looking.

8:33 Speaker 1: For, Alan?

8:34 Speaker 2: According to what I read, Lake was part of the advanced group that discovered 14 prehistoric lifeforms frozen in the ice. They couldn't identify them as plants or animals. Six had been damaged, but eight of them remained in pristine condition.

8:50 Speaker 6: What happened to them?

8:51 Speaker 2: No one seems to know. Lake's party went radio silent. Which is why Dyer and Danvers went looking for them.

8:58 Speaker 4: Yeah, and found them.

9:01 Speaker 1: Butchered.

9:07 Speaker 4: It's remarkable! Fifty years and the tents are still standing!

9:11 Speaker 6: Remarkable isn't the word. I'd say downright incredible.

9:16 Speaker 2: Come on, over here. This was the communication tent.

9:23 Speaker 4: Uh, what happened?

9:24 Speaker 6: There's the radio, but who was sending the Morse code?

9:28 Speaker 2: We checked the triangulation at least a dozen times. It had to be coming from right here.

9:33 Speaker 1: Alan, look.

9:35 Speaker 3: This radio hasn't been used at all. It's completely frozen.

9:39 Speaker 6: Then where did the signal originate from?

9:46 Speaker 1: You see? Here.

9:48 Speaker 2: The portable radio. You do hear it, don't you?

9:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, I do.

9:54 Speaker 4: It keeps saying the same thing. I am Professor Lake. Help me.

10:01 Speaker 2: The only other place that Lake went was toward the mountains, to what he and Dyer called the Ancient City.

10:17 Speaker 6: Alan Why has Danvers been in the asylum all of this time?

10:22 Speaker 2: According to Dyer, they were trying to escape from something. As they were flying out of the mountains, Danvers looked down and saw something that snapped his very sanity.

10:33 Speaker 6: And no idea as to what it was?

10:36 Speaker 2: No idea, Amanda.

10:39 Speaker 6: Perhaps this part of the world wasn't meant to be discovered.

10:45 Speaker 4: I know you don't really mean that, Amanda.

10:49 Speaker 6: I'm not sure.

11:01 Speaker 2: My God, Dyer was right. This is some sort of ancient city. And these carvings on the walls.

11:09 Speaker 3: Everything that we know as human beings is.

11:14 Speaker 4: It's all completely....

11:24 Speaker 7: And they, the elders, the ones who built this place so many eons ago, are returning.

11:34 Speaker 1: Former astronaut John Glenn once said, Exploration, of course, is going to new places, but I don't think we go to new places just solely to say, well, we've been there and come back. Interesting though it may be. I'll be back shortly with our final act.

11:59 Speaker 5: The only witness to her murder cannot speak. Until now.

12:05 Speaker 1: Click.

12:06 Speaker 5: A Tale of Revenge by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

12:26 Speaker 1: Helen Keller once said, It is curious to observe what different ideals of happiness people cherish and in what singular places they look for this wellspring of their life. Many look for it in the hoarding of riches, some in the pride of power, and others in the achievements of art and literature. A few seek it in the exploration of their own minds or in search for knowledge.

13:05 Speaker 2: It's incredible. You are Professor Emmett Lake.

13:10 Speaker 1: And you are?

13:11 Speaker 2: My name is Professor Alan Stanfield. This is Professor Gregory Scott and Professor Amanda Jameson.

13:18 Speaker 4: How do you do, Professor?

13:19 Speaker 6: A pleasure to meet you.

13:21 Speaker 7: You got my message.

13:25 Speaker 2: Indeed we did, Professor. But please, what happened to you? How are you still alive?

13:38 Speaker 7: It almost seems like a dream. We had awakened somehow one of the Shoggoths.

13:44 Speaker 4: Shoggoths? Well, what is that, Professor?

13:48 Speaker 7: Shoggoths were biological entities created to perform any task and assume any form and reflect any thought. There is a hint that all earthly life evolved from the cellular material left over from the creation.

14:03 Speaker 1: Of the Shoggoths.

14:05 Speaker 6: But what were they?

14:07 Speaker 7: They were created by the Elder Things, but they rebelled.

14:12 Speaker 1: And destroyed them.

14:14 Speaker 2: But that doesn't tell us how you survived all of this time.

14:18 Speaker 1: You haven't guessed, but I just told you.

14:24 Speaker 5: Alan, look at his legs.

14:29 Speaker 2: Lake, what's going on?

14:32 Speaker 7: We are simply part of the evolution of the Shogoths. They have survived all this time.

14:40 Speaker 1: Waiting. Waiting for us.

14:45 Speaker 4: To find them.

14:47 Speaker 3: Alan, we need to get out of here.

14:51 Speaker 1: Now! Alan! Greg! Look out!

15:01 Speaker 7: Look at me.

15:06 Speaker 1: They took me apart. They wanted to know what made us work. Then, they recreated me. Just as they will do to you. Danvers, do you remember me?

15:55 Speaker 7: Look deep into my eyes.

16:27 Speaker 1: Perhaps some things should remain a mystery. Some places should remain untouched by the species known as human. I'll return shortly with a final word.

17:10 Speaker 5: If you'd like to support us, visit our merchandise store. T-shirts, caps, mugs, and so much more. Visit doorwaytonightmare.com today.

17:37 Speaker 1: American journalist David Helvarg once said, We tend to think of America's days of frontier exploration as being behind us, but that's because we tend not to think of the other 71% of our blue planet. What lies beyond the region of exploration can either be wondrous or truly frightening. Our cast included Darren Marler, Raven Adams, Mick Davis, and Patience Adams. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan. And now, a preview of our next tale.

18:29 Speaker 7: By eight in the morning, only seven hours from now, you.

18:38 Speaker 1: Will be dead. Who is on the phone?

18:50 Speaker 5: I'm not sure, Richard.

18:51 Speaker 1: Didn't you at least recognize the voice?

18:55 Speaker 5: Yes, Richard, I did. And that It's a problem.

19:01 Speaker 1: What sort of problem?

19:04 Speaker 5: The voice. That voice. On the phone was my husband. My dead husband.

19:19 Speaker 1: Doorway to Nightmare is brought to you in part by Swanage Press. This is Artemis Black, inviting you to return with us through the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the terrifying world of your imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully.

19:45 Speaker 5: Epilogue. The butler did it.