Madness, Guilt, and the Cellar Wall | Audio Drama Adaptation Poe's The Black Cat

0:00 Speaker 1: Hi, it's Crimson. We're hoping you're enjoying these stories, and do you want to hear some more? Join us on our YouTube channel, Doorway to Nightmare, if you dare.

0:10 Speaker 2: Within your dreams, there are many keys. One of them could open the doorway to Nightmare. Come in. Welcome. I'm your host through the doorway to nightmare. Have you ever wondered about the small, seemingly inconsequential things that happen to you in your everyday life? while at the time they may seem unimportant until they build up to a horrifying conclusion.

1:09 Speaker 3: No, I don't expect you to believe my story.

1:18 Speaker 4: I would be.

1:18 Speaker 5: Insane to expect that, yet I still have my sanity. While there is still time, I feel that I need you to understand what has happened to me. It was just a series of household events that have tortured, have destroyed me. Put me in this position. Perhaps someone less excitable, more logical than I could explain them for. I've not been able to. I can only tell you the facts.

1:55 Speaker 2: And that.

1:57 Speaker 5: I have to do now for tomorrow. Justice will be served and I will be put to death.

2:08 Speaker 2: Our mystery drama, The Black Cat, was adapted from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe and written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our stars include Crimson McKenzie, Winslow Swan, William Stafford, and Jonathan Rosignol. It is sponsored in part by Swanage Press. I'll be back shortly with Act One.

2:38 Speaker 1: Hi, it's Crimson.

2:40 Speaker 5: And Swan.

2:42 Speaker 1: You want to hear some more episodes?

2:43 Speaker 5: Join our YouTube channel at Doorway to Nightmare.

2:47 Speaker 1: And don't forget to subscribe. Hit that like button and tell all your friends.

3:04 Speaker 2: I am sure that you have heard the old saying about cat people and dog people, or that a person does not own a cat, but that they own you. Animals can be a wonderful addition to any household. until things start to go awry.

3:27 Speaker 5: No, there was nothing in my childhood that could have foretold of the events that I am about to relate to you. I was always a sweet and gentle child. I was kind to everyone and helped out when I could. Mostly, I liked animals, all kinds of animals. I married quite young and found that my wife also shared my interest. Very soon we had quite a collection. We had some birds and fish and a scruffy little dog and a cat. A beautiful cat. I'll never forget the day that my wife brought it home. Hello, my dear.

4:15 Speaker 2: Hello.

4:15 Speaker 4: Well, you're home early.

4:17 Speaker 1: Oh, look what I just brought home, Charles.

4:22 Speaker 4: Oh, look at it.

4:24 Speaker 1: Oh, my, it seems to have taken to you. But then all animals seem to.

4:31 Speaker 5: Where did you find it?

4:33 Speaker 1: Some mean old dogs were chasing it. Poor little thing. I managed to get him before the dogs did.

4:40 Speaker 5: Oh, such a beauty. Here, here, are you hungry? How about some milk?

4:49 Speaker 1: In such a small thing?

4:50 Speaker 5: Well, he certainly is hungry.

4:53 Speaker 2: Yes, yes.

4:54 Speaker 4: Is that good?

4:56 Speaker 5: Hey, what's your name?

4:59 Speaker 1: I don't suppose he has one. He's so young. I don't think that anyone owns him.

5:06 Speaker 5: Well, then we have to give him a name.

5:08 Speaker 1: You mean we can keep him?

5:10 Speaker 4: Keep him?

5:11 Speaker 5: What are you talking about? Of course we can keep him. He has no home. We can't turn him out into the streets, can we?

5:20 Speaker 1: Oh, Charles, I was hoping that you would let him stay.

5:24 Speaker 5: But he must have a name. Yes, yes, now let's see. Look how dark he is. As dark as the night sky. Oh, I know. He's as black as the devil. Let's call him Pluto.

5:40 Speaker 2: Pluto.

5:41 Speaker 5: Yes, yes, we will call you Pluto. Pluto grew up to be quite a remarkable cat. Of all the animals in our home, he was my favorite. A constant companion to me, even to the point of trying to follow me out into the street. But as the years went by, There was a change in me, a radical change that I am now ashamed to admit. Yes, I began to drink heavily, and my temper was shortened. As drinking became more and more necessary, I became more moody and irritable.

6:33 Speaker 1: Charles? Charles, where are you going?

6:36 Speaker 5: I don't have to tell you where I'm going!

6:39 Speaker 1: Charles, please! Why do you have to go out every night to the bar?

6:45 Speaker 5: Do you really want to know? Because it's the only way that I can get away from your nagging. Nag, nag, nag all day long.

6:55 Speaker 4: There.

6:56 Speaker 2: You see?

6:58 Speaker 5: You could learn something from Pluto. He'd never ask.

7:02 Speaker 2: Me where I'm going.

7:03 Speaker 4: Do you, Pluto? Yes, yes, you never ask. Come here.

7:09 Speaker 1: Charles, don't pick him up like that.

7:11 Speaker 5: You're hurting him.

7:12 Speaker 3: I'm not hurting him.

7:14 Speaker 4: I'm not hurting you, am I?

7:16 Speaker 1: Charles, just be careful.

7:18 Speaker 5: I'm just petting him the way he.

7:22 Speaker 4: Did you see that?

7:24 Speaker 5: Did you see? He bit me. He deliberately bit me.

7:28 Speaker 4: Oh, yes. Beast, you monster! I'll get you!

7:33 Speaker 5: I'll teach you!

7:35 Speaker 1: Charles, no!

7:36 Speaker 5: Don't! Yes, I hate to admit it, but my anger with the poor beast overwhelmed me. I caught him and held him fast, and pulling out my knife, I proceeded to cut out one of his eyes. After I had slept off the night's drinking, reason had returned to me by the next morning. I experienced half horror and half remorse for the crime of which I had committed. But that did not stop the drinking. In the meantime, Pluto recovered from his injury. The socket was indeed a ghastly sight. and he appeared to be in no pain.

8:30 Speaker 5: He would run from me, and this filled my heart with grief and remorse. That soon led to irritation, and one night, in a drunken madness, I slipped a noose around the poor creature's neck and hung it in the tree in the garden. I knew that it had loved me for no reason, This seemed to infuriate me. In my drunken stupor, I went to bed fully dressed. Charles! Charles! Wake up! What's the matter?

9:11 Speaker 4: Let me sleep. Charles!

9:14 Speaker 1: There's so much smoke! Something must be on fire!

9:17 Speaker 5: Oh, good Lord, Lucy! It's our house! Our house is on fire. Come on, quickly. Quickly, darling, or we will be burned alive. Come, this way. I can't breathe. Quickly, this way. I can get you through the flames. I can't breathe. Here, here is the door.

9:44 Speaker 2: Come on.

9:47 Speaker 1: Charles! Our house!

9:49 Speaker 5: At least we are alive. I went by the ruins the next day and noticed a small crowd of people staring at something.

10:11 Speaker 1: Will you look at that?

10:13 Speaker 4: A cat.

10:13 Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what it looks like.

10:15 Speaker 1: But look.

10:16 Speaker 6: It looks as if it's hanging by its neck.

10:18 Speaker 5: What are you talking about? What are you talking about?

10:22 Speaker 2: Don't you see it? That one wall. The only one left standing.

10:26 Speaker 1: Like a cat.

10:27 Speaker 4: It can't be.

10:28 Speaker 1: Hanging by the neck.

10:30 Speaker 5: No. You know who it is? I'll tell you who it is. It's Pluto.

10:39 Speaker 4: He's come back to haunt me.

10:43 Speaker 1: Leave me alone.

10:46 Speaker 5: Leave me!

10:47 Speaker 4: Leave me!

10:51 Speaker 2: Well, get some water, somebody.

10:53 Speaker 1: This man has fainted.

11:00 Speaker 2: It is said that our actions, no matter how small, may have consequences. Charles would say that the fire was the consequence of the murder of his cat. Why don't you hang around until I return with Act Two?

11:22 Speaker 1: Mystery. Horror. Thriller.

11:26 Speaker 5: Suspense.

11:28 Speaker 1: Novels and short story collections from Winslow Swan, now available from Amazon.com.

11:48 Speaker 2: In the time of the pharaohs, cats were highly regarded, almost godlike, to the point of even being mummified and entombed.

12:07 Speaker 5: You must understand that I am only relaying the facts, a simple chain of ordinary events that led up to Well, what will happen to me tomorrow?

12:29 Speaker 4: Don't you think that you've had enough?

12:31 Speaker 5: Just give me another one.

12:34 Speaker 4: Yes, sir. How are things since the fire? Yes, the fire. I understand that you lost everything. Yes, everything.

12:47 Speaker 5: You should see the place I live in now.

12:50 Speaker 4: It's disgusting. What about that cat you were always talking about? Oh, yeah.

12:58 Speaker 2: Pluto.

13:00 Speaker 5: No, he's gone as well.

13:04 Speaker 7: You know, I really miss him sometimes. He was such a wonderful cat. And he loved me so much.

13:16 Speaker 4: Well, if you're broken up about him, why don't you get another cat?

13:21 Speaker 3: Why don't you get me another drink?

13:24 Speaker 4: No, sir. It's almost time to close up.

13:27 Speaker 5: I said give me another drink.

13:31 Speaker 4: I'll have to go get another bottle.

13:41 Speaker 3: Why don't I get another cat.

13:42 Speaker 4: He said. Well, Why don't I get another cat?

13:48 Speaker 5: There's nothing that says I can't get another one.

13:52 Speaker 3: Hey, where did you come from? I've been staring at that table for five minutes and didn't see you. Come here.

14:06 Speaker 4: Yes, yes, pretty kitty, yes.

14:10 Speaker 5: Come here and sit on my lap. There's a good cat. You know, you look a lot like Pluto. Only you have a small ashen patch on your chest.

14:32 Speaker 4: Here you are, sir.

14:33 Speaker 5: Say, who owns this cat?

14:36 Speaker 2: Cat?

14:37 Speaker 4: Oh, I didn't see it. Big one, too. I don't know who owns it. Matter of fact, I don't even know how it got in here.

14:46 Speaker 5: Well, yes, but does anyone own it?

14:49 Speaker 4: As far as I'm concerned, you own it. My wife hates cats. Silly woman. Well, if you want it, it's yours. Yes, I want it.

15:01 Speaker 5: Yes, I want it very much.

15:04 Speaker 2: Charles.

15:13 Speaker 1: This is such a wonderful cat. Just since last week, it's made itself so much at home. You would have thought that it lived here always.

15:24 Speaker 5: Yes, yes, I've noticed that.

15:26 Speaker 1: And it reminds me so much of Pluto.

15:29 Speaker 5: Yes, but this one has a patch of white on its chest. Don't forget that.

15:33 Speaker 1: Yes, dear, that's right. But I can't help wondering, whatever became of Pluto? He died. disappeared the day of the fire and.

15:45 Speaker 5: I know, I know he disappeared. Maybe he knew that the house was going to burn down.

15:52 Speaker 1: See how it loves you? It's rubbing up against your leg just the way Pluto did.

15:59 Speaker 5: Pluto! Pluto! Stop talking about Pluto!

16:03 Speaker 1: Darling, I didn't mean anything.

16:05 Speaker 4: No, no. I'm sorry.

16:08 Speaker 5: I'll just talk about how that hat resembles Pluto it just makes me nervous actually there's hardly any resemblance at all except that they are both black and this one has a white patch on it oh.

16:27 Speaker 1: The poor thing what is it it has a wound just under its eye where I don't see see under the fur I never noticed it before neither did I It looks almost like a knife wound that goes all around his eye. Almost the way Pluto... I mean.

16:50 Speaker 5: No, no, go on. Say it. Say it. Just the way Pluto did when I cut out his eye.

16:56 Speaker 1: Oh, no, Charles. That's not what I meant. Maybe I got into a fight with another cat. It's just curious that we never noticed it before.

17:06 Speaker 5: Yes, you have no idea how curious it is. Now get that cat away from me.

17:16 Speaker 1: Charles, you're frightening it. You look crazed.

17:20 Speaker 5: How can you.

17:21 Speaker 1: Be that way to a poor animal? Especially one that loves you so.

17:26 Speaker 5: Now, I don't want to see it. Do you hear me? Get it out of here.

17:33 Speaker 1: To hear you talk, anyone would think that you didn't even like the poor cat.

17:39 Speaker 5: Like it? Like it? I can't stand the sight of it. I loathe it. I hate it, I tell you. I hate it. I hate it. And the more that I hated it, the more affectionate that it became toward me. It followed me everywhere that I went. Whenever I sat down, it would pounce and cover me with its caresses. If this were not enough, the white patch on its chest had come to take shape. It was becoming very distinguishable as the unmistakable shape of a hangman's noose, that instrument of pain, torture, and death.

18:44 Speaker 1: Charles, are you going out again tonight?

18:48 Speaker 5: Yes, I'm going out and I don't know when I'll be back.

18:51 Speaker 1: Before you go, do you think that you could help me bring up some wood from the cellar?

18:56 Speaker 5: Why do you need more wood?

18:58 Speaker 1: The house is very cold and you know that I've been sick. I can't carry the wood by myself. Please, Charles.

19:07 Speaker 5: Oh, all right, come on. You could have asked me earlier.

19:17 Speaker 1: Oh, Charles, look out!

19:22 Speaker 2: You beast, you monster!

19:24 Speaker 5: You tried to kill me!

19:25 Speaker 1: Oh, no, Charles, I'm sure that it didn't mean.

19:28 Speaker 5: I'll fix you.

19:30 Speaker 1: What are you doing with that stick?

19:32 Speaker 2: I'll show you, you wretched.

19:35 Speaker 4: Please, don't! Let go of my arm.

19:38 Speaker 1: No, Charles, please, don't!

19:40 Speaker 5: Let go of my arm.

19:42 Speaker 2: Please, Charles, don't do it!

19:43 Speaker 5: Are you going to let go of my arm? It didn't mean to, Let go of my arm!

19:50 Speaker 1: No!

19:56 Speaker 5: I told you. I told you to let go.

20:03 Speaker 2: There have been many reasons given for the act of murder. whether it be revenge for love, or in this case, purely by accident. It is what happens after the crime has been committed that makes things more interesting. I'll be back shortly with Act 3.

20:30 Speaker 5: If you're enjoying these stories, come over to our YouTube channel, Doorway to Nightmare.

20:38 Speaker 1: Where we add a few pics to color your imagination. See the faces behind the voices, too. Come on, you know you wanna.

20:58 Speaker 2: A series of incidents in the life of Charles has led up to the murder of his wife, Lucy. Incidents when taken apart seemed to be ordinary, but increasingly violent in nature.

21:24 Speaker 5: Lucy lay at my feet where she had fallen. She never made a sound when the stick hit her. I saw her, her still face and opened eyes, and resigned myself to the task of concealing the corpse. I found some loose bricks in the masonry near the fireplace. When I had made a large enough hole, I put her body inside. Then, with the skill of a bricklayer, I walled her up. No one, no one would ever know. Naturally, questions were asked about her. The police even came and searched the house twice but found nothing.

22:22 Speaker 5: The most important thing was that the black cat was gone. For three days, never a mew heard I slept peacefully, even with murder on my conscience. I slept so sound.

22:55 Speaker 4: Yes, yes, just a minute, just a minute. I'm coming, I'm coming.

23:03 Speaker 2: Oh, Sergeant.

23:06 Speaker 5: To what do I owe the pleasure of your company again?

23:10 Speaker 6: This is Officer Joe Andrews. He's helping me with the case. Sorry to bother you again, but there still has been no trace of your wife. Some of her friends have been down to the police station and, uh, well.

23:26 Speaker 5: You want to search the house again, is that it?

23:28 Speaker 6: If you don't mind.

23:30 Speaker 5: I do mind. You've already searched it twice. She's not here. I would like to know where she is as well.

23:38 Speaker 6: This will be the last time, I assure you.

23:41 Speaker 4: Fine, fine.

23:42 Speaker 5: Where do you want to start?

23:44 Speaker 6: I guess the cellar is a good place to start.

23:47 Speaker 4: Come on, Joe.

23:54 Speaker 6: Well, there's nothing down here. Guess we can start upstairs.

24:00 Speaker 4: You know, Sergeant, this.

24:02 Speaker 5: This is a very well-built house.

24:04 Speaker 6: Yeah, it seems to be.

24:06 Speaker 5: I don't think that there has been a better-built house than this one.

24:16 Speaker 4: You're not leaving, are you, gentlemen?

24:19 Speaker 5: Why, look at this wall. So finely crafted that it will probably last a hundred years.

24:26 Speaker 6: Hey, do you mind if we.

24:28 Speaker 4: Well, here, let me show you.

24:30 Speaker 5: I can take this stick... And beat on it all day long and there will not be a.

24:38 Speaker 6: What in the name of God was that?

24:42 Speaker 5: I don't know. Maybe it was the wind.

24:47 Speaker 6: That wasn't the wind. Whatever it was, it's behind that wall. Joe, take this crowbar. I want you to knock.

24:58 Speaker 2: That wall down.

25:09 Speaker 6: Good Lord! That's what we've been looking for, all right. His wife's body. But what is that thing sitting on her head?

25:20 Speaker 2: Wait.

25:22 Speaker 6: It's a cat. How did that get in there?

25:32 Speaker 5: I know how it got in there. Look, you see? It's been feeding off of her body. I must have walled it up with Lucy. I never even noticed. Look at its red eyes. Its blood-stained mouth. Oh, you beast. You horrible monster. You are the devil. You made me a murderer. For three days you've been in there waiting and waiting... To send me to the death chamber. I hope... I hope you're satisfied. I hope that you are satisfied.

26:26 Speaker 2: Charles collapses to the floor as he is handcuffed. As he looks up at the black cat, he notices... that it seems to smile at him. I'll return shortly. One of Edgar Allan Poe's darkest tales, The Black Cat, was first published in 1843 in the Saturday Evening Post. I find it interesting that Poe actually owned a black cat and was also known to imbibe. sometimes quite heavily. Our cast included Winslow Swan, Crimson McKenzie, Mick Davis, Rue Snow, William Stafford, and Jonathan Rosignol. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie, and the entire production was under the direction of Winslow Swan.

27:54 Speaker 2: And now, a preview of our next tale.

28:00 Speaker 1: Are you absolutely sure that you are home, Fred? Oh, I swear.

28:06 Speaker 4: I haven't left the house.

28:09 Speaker 5: I promise.

28:10 Speaker 1: Okay, so if you are home, what is that dark shape.

28:17 Speaker 3: In the corner?

28:18 Speaker 5: Dorothy, are you okay?

28:22 Speaker 2: Fred? Fred?

28:28 Speaker 1: I think the Carsons have a very serious problem.

28:32 Speaker 2: Doorway to Nightmare has been brought to you 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.