What Drains You While You Sleep? Guy De Maupassant's "The Horla" – A Haunting Gothic Mystery

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. There are two kinds of stories. Those that you can take to bed with you, like a warm blanket. They relax you and ease your mind. And then there is the other kind of story. The one that makes the blood run cold with fear and horror. This is the story we offer tonight.

1:23 Speaker 2: I know that you're there, sitting in my chair, reading that book. I saw the page turn as if by an invisible finger.

1:35 Speaker 3: There!

1:39 Speaker 2: It happened again.

1:42 Speaker 4: But what.

1:45 Speaker 5: Are you?

1:47 Speaker 2: What sort of being are you? What sort of King, are you? I must know, or I will go mad.

2:06 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The Horla, was adapted from the classic story by Guy de Maupassant by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our cast includes Winslow Swan, Crimson McKenzie, Annie Mick, and Mick Davis. I'll return shortly with Act One.

2:27 Speaker 4: The only witness to her murder cannot speak. Until now.

2:34 Speaker 3: Click.

2:35 Speaker 4: A Tale of Revenge by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

3:04 Speaker 1: Some years ago, I happened to be in an antique shop, looking over the various items. On a desk, I found an interesting book. But not just any book. A diary, written by what many would consider to be... Insane. May the 8th.

3:29 Speaker 2: What a glorious day. I have spent the better part of the morning lying in the grass, watching the boats float lazily down the river beside my property.

3:42 Speaker 6: I love my house.

3:44 Speaker 2: The one that my father built and I grew up in. Mr.

3:47 Speaker 1: Templer! Mr.

3:51 Speaker 2: Templer!

3:53 Speaker 1: Mr.

3:54 Speaker 2: Templer!

3:55 Speaker 5: Your lunch is ready inside.

3:57 Speaker 1: Oh, Marie.

3:59 Speaker 2: Must I go inside to eat? It's such a beautiful day that it seems such a shame to spoil it. Besides, I love to watch the boats going by.

4:11 Speaker 5: Oh, yes, sir. So do I. I've always loved to look at the river and the different flags of the boats.

4:18 Speaker 1: There, there.

4:18 Speaker 2: Did you see that one? A three-masted ship. being pulled by such a tiny tugboat. So tiny that from here it looks like a fly.

4:30 Speaker 5: I wonder where the ship is sailing from, sir.

4:34 Speaker 2: Oh, let me see. Yes, there's the flag. I believe it is Brazilian. Yes, definitely from Brazil.

4:45 Speaker 5: Well, the ships will have to wait. Unless he wants your lunch to get cold.

4:52 Speaker 2: All right, Marie. All right. I'm coming.

4:55 Speaker 1: I'm coming.

5:00 Speaker 2: May 16th. For a week now, I have not been myself. I don't know what sort of sickness that I have developed has taken hold of me. My doctor prescribed a tonic, but... Even that has not helped. Mr.

5:21 Speaker 4: Templer?

5:23 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes.

5:24 Speaker 2: I'm coming.

5:24 Speaker 5: I've brought you the medicine you asked for.

5:30 Speaker 1: No. No, no, no.

5:31 Speaker 2: Take it away.

5:32 Speaker 3: Yes.

5:34 Speaker 5: I'm sorry, sir.

5:35 Speaker 1: No, no, no, Marie.

5:37 Speaker 2: Marie, it's not your fault. I'm not sure what is wrong with me.

5:43 Speaker 5: Perhaps it is, as the doctor suggested. Just Slight case of indigestion.

5:49 Speaker 2: No, it's something more than that. I've had a fever for weeks now. There's this feeling that I have.

6:02 Speaker 4: Feeling, sir? What kind of feeling?

6:08 Speaker 2: Yesterday, I was walking through the forest down the pathway towards the towns. I swear, I felt as if someone or something was right on my heels. I turned quickly, but there was nothing there. Does that sound like indigestion to you?

6:47 Speaker 1: No. No, no. Go away. Go away.

6:56 Speaker 2: What are you? What in God's name are you?

7:00 Speaker 6: Sir! Are you all right?

7:03 Speaker 5: Sir!

7:10 Speaker 1: Marie?

7:11 Speaker 2: Marie, what's the matter?

7:14 Speaker 5: I heard you cry out, sir.

7:17 Speaker 4: What is happening?

7:21 Speaker 2: I must have had a nightmare. But I swear it was more than just a dream.

7:31 Speaker 5: You're frightening me, sir.

7:35 Speaker 2: I thought someone was standing over me. Watching me sleep.

7:41 Speaker 1: I felt him get closer.

7:43 Speaker 3: Closer.

7:47 Speaker 2: Until his hands reached my throat. I felt them tighten around me.

7:54 Speaker 5: I'll pour you some water from the craft.

7:59 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, thank you, Marie.

8:03 Speaker 5: Sir, there is no water, but I filled it before you went to bed.

8:13 Speaker 2: I must have drank it during the night. Who else?

8:20 Speaker 1: Could have....

8:22 Speaker 2: Marie, pack me a suitcase. I'm leaving for the city first thing in the morning.

8:31 Speaker 1: Let me read to you the passage that David Templer wrote. Quote, I struggle madly in the grip of the frightful impotence that paralyzes us in dreams. I try to cry out. I can't. I try to move. I can't. Panting with the most frightful efforts, I try to turn around to fling off this creature who is crushing and choking me. I can't do it. And suddenly I wake up terrified, covered with sweat. I light a candle. I am alone. End quote. I'll return with Act 2 shortly.

9:23 Speaker 4: It is in all of us.

9:25 Speaker 2: Waiting.

9:26 Speaker 4: Watching. Growing. Evil Within by Winslow Swan. Now available on Amazon.

9:51 Speaker 1: Edgar Allan Poe asked the question, Is all that we see or seem but a dream? within a dream?

10:06 Speaker 2: July 2nd. I was cured. After my visit to the country, I returned home with a renewed feeling of joy that almost overwhelmed me.

10:19 Speaker 1: That is.

10:21 Speaker 2: until I saw my driver.

10:23 Speaker 1: He looked pale.

10:26 Speaker 2: When I asked him of his condition, he couldn't explain what was happening to him, only that he had been troubled by restless nights.

10:38 Speaker 1: July 3rd.

10:39 Speaker 2: The sudden sickness has crept upon me.

10:46 Speaker 1: Again!

11:02 Speaker 5: Please, sir. You must go to bed. You really should get some rest.

11:08 Speaker 1: I would like to, Marie. But I'm.

11:14 Speaker 2: Afraid.

11:15 Speaker 5: Of what, sir?

11:17 Speaker 2: Last night, as I lay in bed, I felt something.

11:22 Speaker 1: On my chest.

11:23 Speaker 2: Something, someone pressing down. I felt lips press against mine, and I could feel my very life force being sucked out like a leech. Then he rose from me, replete, and I awoke so mangled and bruised that I could not move.

11:47 Speaker 5: It must have been a horrible dream.

11:49 Speaker 2: But look at the water carafe. I've experimented with it. I fill it up and go to bed. When I get up, the water is gone.

12:00 Speaker 1: No.

12:01 Speaker 2: No, I must get away again before this thing drives me mad. July 16th. I made my way across the country to visit my cousin, Sheila. She was delighted to see me My spirits were happy again. One night, she invited Dr. Parent, a specialist in nervous disorders.

12:31 Speaker 6: More coffee, Doctor?

12:33 Speaker 1: Oh, yes, please.

12:34 Speaker 6: And thank you, Miss Danvers.

12:36 Speaker 1: Dr.

12:37 Speaker 2: Parent, have you ever heard of a case where a patient claims that he or she is not entirely in command Of their soul?

12:55 Speaker 6: It is very curious that you ask me about this subject, Mr. Templar.

13:00 Speaker 2: Why is it curious?

13:03 Speaker 6: For many years, we have been studying something that has plagued humans for a long time.

13:09 Speaker 5: What are you talking about?

13:11 Speaker 6: Apparitions, my dear Miss Danvers. Invisible spirits. Oh, Doctor, you are always going on about such things.

13:20 Speaker 2: Always having to be so.

13:22 Speaker 5: Mysterious.

13:23 Speaker 6: Not at all. For more than a century now, we have had some presence of mind that something is putting us on a particular track. And we have just now arrived there. You're just trying to scare us, Doctor. No, really. Would you consider perhaps granting me permission to hypnotize you?

13:46 Speaker 2: It would be a novel experience if you can do it.

13:52 Speaker 6: Then make yourself comfortable. Clear your mind. Listen to the ticking of the clock. How soothing it sounds. Your mind is beginning to drift. Your eyes are getting heavy. Heavy. Heavy.

14:14 Speaker 2: Dr.

14:14 Speaker 1: Perrin? What is going on?

14:18 Speaker 6: She is asleep, Mr. Templer. Now if you will go and stand behind her, I will give her this piece of paper.

14:31 Speaker 2: All right, Doctor. I'm here.

14:34 Speaker 6: Now, Miss Danvers, are you asleep?

14:40 Speaker 4: Yes, I'm asleep.

14:43 Speaker 6: In your hand, you are holding a mirror. Can you see it? Yes, I see it. What do you see in the mirror?

14:57 Speaker 5: I see my cousin, David, standing behind me. He's tugging at his earlobe, a nervous habit he has.

15:08 Speaker 2: But how can she see me? She's only holding a blank piece of paper.

15:19 Speaker 1: August 6th. I'm back at home now. And now I know it is useless to struggle.

15:28 Speaker 2: Somebody, something has taken control of me. Orders all of my acts. Everything I say and do. What? What is this thing?

15:44 Speaker 1: What?

15:51 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I can hear you, but what are you saying? I hear something whispering to me.

16:02 Speaker 4: In the darkness. The Horla!

16:07 Speaker 2: That is what you are!

16:10 Speaker 7: The Horla!

16:10 Speaker 3: Oh, oh, sir! Sir, please!

16:23 Speaker 1: Marie, Marie, what is going on?

16:25 Speaker 4: All of the servants are angry with each other.

16:29 Speaker 8: They say that the dishes are being broken. The maid blames the cook, the cook blames the butler, and the intern blames me.

16:35 Speaker 1: There, there.

16:37 Speaker 2: Calm yourself. I'm sure that everything will resolve itself. Peaceful in the garden. So peaceful. Oh, the flowers look wonderful and.

16:55 Speaker 2: What is that?

16:58 Speaker 1: A rose.

17:01 Speaker 2: Looks as if some invisible hand is plucking it from the vine and raising it to an invisible nose.

17:10 Speaker 1: No!

17:12 Speaker 5: It cannot be!

17:20 Speaker 1: Reading from another passage of David's diary, quote, I am lost. Someone has taken possession of my soul and is master of it. Someone orders all my acts, all my movements, all my thoughts. I am no longer anything. I am only a spectator, enslaved and terrified by all the things I do. End quote. I shall return shortly with our final act.

17:56 Speaker 5: Mystery.

17:58 Speaker 4: Horror. Thriller. Suspense. Novels and short story collections from Winslow Swan, now available from Amazon.

18:07 Speaker 1: The End We find David Templar in his room, writing in the diary about the things which have happened to him in the past months.

18:36 Speaker 2: August 17th. I sit here in my room, trying to rationalize this unseen thing that has made me its slave. Do unseen ones exist? Then why is it that since the world began, they have never manifested themselves in so unmistakable a fashion as they are now manifesting themselves to me? I have never read of anything like the things that are happening under my roof. That is, until yesterday.

19:13 Speaker 5: I brought the newspaper, Mr.

19:22 Speaker 2: Templer. Oh, thank you, Marie. Hey, look at this. On the front page.

19:30 Speaker 5: What is it?

19:33 Speaker 2: A strange piece of news reaches us from Rio de Janeiro. An epidemic of madness comparable to the contagious outbursts of dementia that attack the peoples of Europe in the Middle Ages is raging at this day in... in the city. People are leaving their houses, deserting their villages, abandoning their fields, declaring themselves to be pursued, possessed, and ordered about like a human herd by certain invisible but tangible beings. vampires of some kind who feed on their vitality while they sleep in addition to drinking water without apparently touching any other form of food.

20:24 Speaker 2: Quote, Professor Don Pedro Enriquez, accompanied by several learned doctors, has set out to study on the spot the origins and the forms taken by this surprising madness.

20:38 Speaker 1: End quote.

20:40 Speaker 5: What does it mean?

20:42 Speaker 7: Ah, I remember.

20:45 Speaker 2: I remember the lovely three-masted Brazilian that sailed past us on the 8th of last May, on her way up the river. The Horla was on board her, came from over the sea, where his race is born. He saw me. He saw my house, white like the ship, and he jumped from the vessel to the bank.

21:10 Speaker 7: Oh my God, now I know.

21:12 Speaker 2: I understand. The reign of man is at an end.

21:25 Speaker 1: August 19th. I have seen him.

21:34 Speaker 2: Well, not actually seen. But I know he exists.

21:40 Speaker 1: And he is afraid of.

21:46 Speaker 5: Me.

21:48 Speaker 2: The newspaper was sitting on the table next to my easy chair when I saw the pages begin to turn on their own, as if an invisible hand was turning them. I lost my senses and lunged at the intruder, but.

22:04 Speaker 4: I felt.

22:07 Speaker 1: Nothing.

22:08 Speaker 2: He managed to dart away, out the window, which slammed shut behind him.

22:14 Speaker 1: Now I know. I know how I.

22:19 Speaker 2: Can destroy him.

22:35 Speaker 1: September 10th.

22:37 Speaker 2: I have had steel shutters placed in the windows of my room. A steel door has replaced mine. I will trap this being which has controlled me. I see you pouring the water into a glass. I see your invisible hand picking up the glass and drinking the water. I shall walk over to the window. closing the shutters, the steel shutters, locking them very casually as if I were getting ready for bed.

23:19 Speaker 3: Then I walk over to the door, slowly, so I don't alarm this evil thing.

23:32 Speaker 5: And then, then, There.

23:44 Speaker 2: I have you. You're trapped in my room. There is no escape. Quickly, run down the stairs where I put the gasoline and matches. I pour the gas onto the floor and I light it. You won't get away.

24:05 Speaker 8: I have you now.

24:09 Speaker 2: Run out of the house. The flames are licking at the night sky.

24:13 Speaker 3: Marie!

24:19 Speaker 2: And the other servants! Someone, anyone, help! The house is on fire! Marie is trapped inside!

24:27 Speaker 3: Marie!

24:46 Speaker 2: Did we escape.

24:49 Speaker 3: Him?

24:49 Speaker 5: Oh, Marie.

24:51 Speaker 1: I'm so, so sorry.

25:12 Speaker 2: The Horla is surely dead, isn't he? Suppose he's not dead. Perhaps only time has power over the invisible and dreadful one. After man comes the Horla.

25:40 Speaker 1: No. No, I... I know. I know. He.

25:47 Speaker 2: He's not... He's not dead.

25:50 Speaker 1: So... So.

25:54 Speaker 1: I must.

25:56 Speaker 2: Kill myself.

26:03 Speaker 4: Now.

26:05 Speaker 2: Now!

26:08 Speaker 6: Here!

26:08 Speaker 3: And now!

26:09 Speaker 1: No! No! No!

26:12 Speaker 2: Take your hands off of me. I know who I am.

26:17 Speaker 2: I am Swan. I'm Winslow Swan.

26:19 Speaker 7: No, I'm not the character.

26:21 Speaker 2: And I know that this is only a story. I know it's by DeMopisana. I know that it's Friday night. And this is doorway to nightmare. But DeHala, he's not dead.

26:35 Speaker 5: Swan.

26:35 Speaker 2: Swan, stop it.

26:36 Speaker 5: He's here.

26:37 Speaker 2: Let me go.

26:38 Speaker 8: What is going on?

26:41 Speaker 3: Stop.

26:42 Speaker 1: It's okay.

26:43 Speaker 4: It's okay.

26:46 Speaker 2: Forgive me, ladies and gentlemen, for my behavior. Oh, but we did warn you at the beginning that this was a very uncomfortable.

26:58 Speaker 1: Story. Is it alright now? Is everything okay?

27:04 Speaker 4: Good.

27:06 Speaker 1: I will return with a final word.

27:10 Speaker 8: If you'd like to support us, Visit our merchandise store. T-shirts, caps, mugs, and so much more. Visit doorwaytonightmare.com today.

27:38 Speaker 1: The Horla was originally published in 1887 by French writer Guy de Maupassant. The word Horla is not exactly French, but simply a coinage. Charlotte Mandel, who has translated the Horla for publisher Melville House, suggests in an afterword that the word Horla is a portmanteau of the French words hors, meaning outside, and la, meaning there. and that le hola sounds like the outsider, the outer, the one out there, and can be transliterally interpreted as the what's out there.

28:31 Speaker 1: Our cast included Winslow Swan, Crimson McKenzie, Annie Mick, and Mick Davis. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan. Doorway to Nightmare is brought to you in part by Swanage Press. And now, a preview of our next tale.

28:54 Speaker 6: Calm yourself, Andrew, and just tell me what happened.

28:58 Speaker 7: I told you, Lyle! I murdered Rita.

29:01 Speaker 1: But how?

29:02 Speaker 2: How did you kill her?

29:04 Speaker 7: We were just playing a game, that's all. We were just playing a silly little game.

29:10 Speaker 6: Are you positive that she's dead?

29:13 Speaker 7: Yes, Lyle, she is most definitely dead. She's just lying on the bed, bruises on her neck where I must have strangled her. Lyle, you have to help me!

29:27 Speaker 4: Please!

29:27 Speaker 1: This is Artemis Black, inviting you to return with us to the doorway to nightmare for yet another adventure into the terrifying world of your imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully.

29:50 Speaker 4: Epilogue The butler did it?