- 3 months ago
The Witch's Tale is a horror-fantasy radio series which aired from May 21, 1931, to June 13, 1938, on WOR, the Mutual Radio Network, and in syndication.The program was created, written, and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole (February 22, 1897, St. Paul, Minnesota - April 7, 1971).
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00:00The Witch's Tale
00:13The Fascinations of the Eerie
00:24Weird, blood-chilling tales told by old Nancy, the Witch of Salem
00:29And Satan, her wise black cat
00:32They're waiting, waiting for you
00:36Now
00:50Another 22-year-old I be today
00:54Yes, sir, a 122-year-old
00:58Well, Satan, tell everyone to douse their light
01:03That's it
01:05We want lots of darkness when we tell our bedtime stories
01:10Now, draw it to the fire
01:14And gaze into the embers
01:17Gaze into a beast
01:19And soon, by the light of the moon and the stars
01:22You'll see a barren stretch of land
01:24Where two roads meet in old Massachusetts state
01:27Three policemen stand a-talking there
01:30Beside their multisive awake
01:32And soon you'll hear the story of the haunted crossroads
01:38The haunted crossroads
01:41crossroads.
01:48Sure you're not scared to have a slave here alone, Tom?
01:51Of course he's scared, Sergeant.
01:53Look at his knee shaking.
01:54I'll probably yell for help the minute you guys
01:56get out of his sight.
01:58Sure, Gene. I don't think he is properly frightened.
02:01I guess not.
02:02Well, if he sees any spooks, he can't say we haven't
02:04warned him. Seriously, boy,
02:06you'll keep your eyes peeled for other scenes
02:08and ghosts on this patrol. You'll bet I will,
02:10Uncle Pat. And I owe it my luck to have
02:12the skunk who knocked up Smith and Barclay here
02:14start something with me. Well, I hardly think
02:16that'll happen. Those killings weren't done
02:18by the same man. They were both stabbed
02:20in the back in the same way. Oh, well, that doesn't prove
02:22anything. Several fellows were stabbed
02:24to death here right after the Civil War.
02:26And another about 20 years ago, according to
02:28all records. It wasn't the same
02:30murderer who got them and two cops
02:32at our troops. Well, unless you believe
02:34the crazy stories about this place being haunted.
02:37I must be riding back to troop headquarters
02:38for Captain Elton, Ritzkin, and the Hagerie.
02:41And you, Gina Hardy, you better be
02:42after getting on your return.
02:44Well, I'll get the old bike moving.
02:46Oh, and when you get home in the morning, Tom,
02:48remind your sister she's got a movie date with me
02:50tomorrow night. Kathleen's not apt to forget
02:52any date she has with you.
02:53Oh, but Hardy, your job at the moment
02:56is to keep your eye peeled for speeders
02:58and reckless drivers.
03:00Well, I'll try to remember that side.
03:03And good night.
03:04Good night, Gene.
03:05Good night.
03:09All right.
03:09Come.
03:10I'm coming back, kid.
03:24Coming back.
03:25Gene. Gene.
03:26I'm coming, Sarge.
03:29Sarge, what is it?
03:31What has happened?
03:32I'm here.
03:34What's happened?
03:36Tom!
03:38He's dead.
03:39He can't be dead.
03:41He just left him.
03:42I started right after you rode away.
03:44Then I heard him here.
03:46Oh, merciful God, I read that boy.
03:50He was like my own son.
03:51He's been stabbed in the back.
03:53Justice Smith was stabbed a week ago in Barclay.
03:56Here at least, these same rotten crossroads.
03:59Now pull yourself together, Sarge.
04:01Oh, God.
04:02You know what I thought of, Tom.
04:03But where are cops?
04:05Listen, you were back here before I did.
04:07You must have seen him.
04:07We saw no more than you see now.
04:09Whoever did it got away.
04:11Take it easy.
04:12Take it easy.
04:13Tom wasn't alone here more than a minute.
04:15No one could have gotten to him across these open fields
04:17and then away again between the time I left and come back.
04:20Yet I saw no one but him and you.
04:25What was that?
04:26A woman's laugh.
04:27A woman's laugh.
04:29You hear me, too?
04:29It sounded here, beside me.
04:31Right here, beside us.
04:32At me, Billy Elbow.
04:34If no one's here, that we can see.
04:36An invisible woman.
04:52That's the craziest part of your whole crazy story.
04:54But we did hear it, Captain Elton.
04:56It's true.
04:57Don't hurt me.
04:58But there wasn't any woman, by your own confession.
05:00You said you searched and couldn't find her.
05:02We looked everywhere around, sir.
05:04But there's no place there for anyone to hide.
05:06And like the hicks around here, you come to the conclusion those old crossroads are haunted.
05:11A female ghost stabbed Tom Fallon with a very ungauntly steel knife, I suppose.
05:17Which he carried away with her because you couldn't find it either.
05:20That's a fine way for two policemen to explain a murder.
05:22They're only telling you what really happened.
05:24But it couldn't have happened.
05:25Just the same it did.
05:27Now look here, sir.
05:28Tom Fallon was my closest friend.
05:30I'm engaged to marry his sister.
05:32And Sergeant McGee here is his uncle.
05:34You don't think we'd lie to you when Tom's dead body lies out there in the squad room?
05:37He would like me on, son.
05:40Oh, yes, Sergeant Pat.
05:41Sit down.
05:43I'm sorry I have to pound it like this.
05:45But Tom is the second in the troop that has been killed inside a week.
05:48At the same place.
05:49In the same way.
05:51And last year we found Barkley dead there.
05:54Three policemen stabbed to death and we haven't a single lead to the rattles in it.
05:57You think the same person killed them all, sir?
05:59Yes.
06:00And that person's a man.
06:01Not a laughing, invisible woman.
06:03A man with strength enough to kill with a single blow.
06:06Hardy.
06:07You say, Fallon, wasn't out of your sight for more than a few minutes before you heard him scream.
06:11Well, I'd only passed the first turn south of the crossroads, sir.
06:13A minute and a half at most.
06:15And they got back to him in about half that time.
06:17How about you, Sergeant McGee?
06:19I, I just come right after Trooper Halley rode away, so.
06:22And they headed north.
06:23And neither of you saw any vehicles approaching from the east or west, nor past any?
06:27No, sir.
06:27There was no traffic at all.
06:29Then, in the 70 or 80 seconds that Fallon was alone, someone ran across that completely
06:33open space, drove a knife into Tom Fallon's back, and then ran away again.
06:38It's crazy, but that's the way it must have happened.
06:40It's the only way it could have happened.
06:42It didn't happen!
06:43It's impossible!
06:43The world's greatest sprinter couldn't have covered the necessary distance in that short
06:48time, and the running man must make a little noise.
06:50The Fallon saw and heard nothing, until a knife was in his back.
06:54You're lying to me, both of you!
06:56By the Lord!
06:57If I didn't know how close you were to the boy, I'd say you bumped him off yourself!
07:01Captain, how do I say that?
07:03Oh, I...
07:04I'm sorry.
07:06I don't mean that, of course.
07:08But unless you fellas change the story, the coroner's jury is going to ask some mighty
07:12embarrassing questions.
07:14You've established yourselves as the only persons in the vicinity who could have come
07:18close enough to Fallon.
07:19No one's going to think we had anything to do with this when they recollect those other
07:22killings at the crossroads, even if they won't believe we heard that woman laugh.
07:26You've forgotten, Captain, that Tom is the third to die out there, by the same man's hand,
07:31you say?
07:32Last week when Smith was killed, Sergeant McGee and I were on duty with you in this station
07:36from the time Smith left here until his body was found.
07:40And when Barclay got here a year ago...
07:41Then, George, you and I were up in Maine, so we were doing some fishing, don't you remember,
07:45in Jane here?
07:46And I was serving a motorcycle escort for the governor.
07:48Now, no one will question that alibi.
07:50Yeah, you're right.
07:52But if you've told me the truth about tonight, what's the answer?
07:55I didn't have to listen to such a nutty yawn about Smith's and Barclay's murders,
08:00for no one was near them when it happened.
08:03They'd been there for hours when found.
08:05Oh, excuse me, boys, the things I've said.
08:08If I don't find someone to pin these stabbings on pretty soon,
08:12I'll be believing those damn crossroads are haunted.
08:16That's all.
08:17Just a minute.
08:18Come.
08:20There's a problem, Mr. Sir, sir.
08:21Bring him in.
08:21Yes, sir.
08:21Does she know her brother is...
08:25No.
08:26I telephoned her to come down here.
08:27That's all.
08:28You'd better like some news, Pat.
08:30You are her, Uncle.
08:31No.
08:32No, not me.
08:33I can't even see her now.
08:34Let me out this other door before she...
08:36Quiet, here she is.
08:37Captain Nelson, why did you telephone me to come down here?
08:40Jane.
08:41Uncle Pat.
08:42Why are you here?
08:43What's wrong?
08:44Let me out of here.
08:45Let me out.
08:46Uncle Pat.
08:47It's Tom.
08:48Something's happened to Tom.
08:49Don't look at me.
08:50I don't know anything about you.
08:52Kathleen, dear.
08:53Miss Fallon.
08:53Tom was posted at the car store tonight.
08:56He's been killed there, like the others.
08:57Yes.
08:59Your brother is...
09:00Oh, Tom.
09:01Dear Kathleen, let me out.
09:03Then we'll all let me out.
09:05Oh, Pat.
09:06I can't bear to hear a cry like that.
09:09I can't bear to have her eyes upon me.
09:11She has eyes like Tom, but they accused me.
09:13They accused me.
09:15Accused?
09:16Oh, God, I swear I didn't mean to kill him.
09:18Are you?
09:19Oh, yes.
09:20I killed him.
09:21I...
09:22I didn't tell you the truth.
09:24I never let him at his portrait on.
09:26I killed a boy I love because something from the blackest hell got into me.
09:31I stabbed a knife into his back because I couldn't help myself.
09:35I was mad to do it.
09:36Mad to do it.
09:37No, I'll pay for what I've done.
09:40Nothing in getting guns.
09:43He shot himself.
09:45Uncle Pat.
09:46He's dead.
09:48Tom Fallon's murderer has just killed himself.
09:51He's dead, my brother.
09:52Oh, no.
09:53No, he couldn't.
09:54You heard what he said, Miss Fallon.
09:56But who killed Smith and Barclay?
09:58McGee couldn't have done that.
09:59No.
10:01Why did he say he couldn't help himself?
10:05That he was made to kill his nephew.
10:06And what was the meaning of that woman's laugh I heard?
10:10You and that car!
10:34Drive on, no stuff in here!
10:35It's only me, Dean.
10:37Kathleen!
10:37You're going to put away your gun.
10:39But I'm glad to know you're being so careful here.
10:41Why drive away out here at this hour, honey?
10:43Oh, I couldn't.
10:43Police knowing you were posted alone at these crossroads tonight.
10:46Yeah, I told you not to worry.
10:48A troop has been posted alone here every night for three weeks now.
10:51Ever since poor Tom was killed.
10:53And nothing's happened.
10:54You think there's no danger here anymore?
10:55Now that Uncle Pat's dead?
10:57Look, you mustn't stop thinking about him now.
10:59Well, it's rather difficult not to think about him.
11:01I'll never understand why...
11:02He was out of his mind.
11:03That's the only explanation.
11:04But what drove him out of his mind?
11:06That could have made him destroy someone he loved.
11:08As we know, he loved Tom.
11:10And he said he was made to do it.
11:12I don't know.
11:14Dean, you're all I have left.
11:16If anything should happen to you now...
11:17Oh, nothing's going to hurt me, dear.
11:19Come on.
11:20Get a hold of yourself, sweetheart.
11:21But Uncle Pat had nothing to do with the other death here.
11:24He was miles away when Smith and Barclay were stabbed.
11:27Dean, maybe this place is haunted.
11:30Oh, you don't believe that stuff any more than I do.
11:32You're just all upset and...
11:34Now, here.
11:35I'm going to disobey all standing orders of the state police
11:37and join you in this car for a little roadside parking.
11:40Oh, no, don't get in.
11:41I'd rather get out and walk a bit.
11:42I've never been out here before, you know.
11:44At night, I mean.
11:44Yeah, and you shouldn't be here now.
11:46Fine thing.
11:47Driving this deserted old road at midnight.
11:50Have you got that little gun I gave you?
11:51Oh, yes.
11:51I always carry it when I drive alone.
11:53Ah, that's good.
11:54Well, come on, then, if you want to walk.
11:56Gee, exactly where did you find Tom's body?
11:59Gene, Uncle Pat's kneeling beside us.
12:01We're not going to talk any more about that.
12:04Oh, all right.
12:05It really wouldn't do me any good to know.
12:08It's such a gloomy spot here.
12:10No cars passing, no road lamps.
12:12Well, these are just old county roads.
12:14No state trooper had to patrol here regularly until...
12:17Until after Frank Barclay was found stabbed here.
12:19Oh, Kathleen.
12:20I want to talk about it, Gene.
12:21I loved Uncle Pat.
12:22He was a good man, not a killer or a maniac.
12:25And I've got to find out what made him do the thing he did.
12:28Find out what made him say he couldn't help himself.
12:33Uncle Pat was in Maine when Frank Barclay was killed.
12:36Tell me about that.
12:37Well, all I know is that Barclay didn't report on schedule.
12:41When they found him, he'd been dead for several hours.
12:43And then Smith, just a week before Tom.
12:45Like Barclay, he'd been dead for a long time when found.
12:48But Uncle Pat couldn't have done it.
12:49Oh, he wasn't out of my sight, a matter of a dozen others at any time that night.
12:53Well, after that, Captain Elton made us a fixed post.
12:56Oh, I can't understand it.
12:58Neither can anyone else.
13:00And 70 years ago, the papers say, a town constable was stabbed here.
13:04And another constable about the time we were children.
13:07That makes five.
13:08All police.
13:09Ah, screwy, all right.
13:11But you mustn't think about it anymore, dear.
13:13And, look, don't worry about me.
13:15Look around here.
13:16There's nothing but open spaces, sand and grass, and two level hard dirt roads.
13:20Why, there isn't a bush or stone big enough for a cat to hide behind, let alone a man with a knife.
13:25No one could come close to you here, except someone who knew and trusted.
13:29As Uncle Pat was trusted by Tom.
13:32As you trust me.
13:34That's enough nonsense now.
13:36Go home.
13:37Go to bed and sleep.
13:38And keep that little automatic of yours handy on the way.
13:41Night driving's no business for a woman.
13:43I wish it'd let him stay.
13:44Not a chance.
13:45You want me to lose my job?
13:47That's what happens if the cops will entertain ladies during business hours.
13:50But it's so gloomy here.
13:51So silent and eerie.
13:53It looks like a haunted place.
13:55Oh, Buck.
13:57Here, give me a kiss and say goodnight.
13:59Oh, dear.
14:00I can't lose you.
14:02You're not going to.
14:03I'm safer here than I'd be in a church.
14:06What was that?
14:07A woman laughing.
14:09That's what I heard the other night.
14:10Look there.
14:11A woman's in the road.
14:12She wasn't there a moment ago.
14:13How?
14:13I'll soon find out.
14:14Gene, come back here.
14:15Stay in the car, Kathleen.
14:16You and the black dress.
14:18I want to talk to you.
14:19No, don't follow her, Gene.
14:20Come back.
14:21Wait, I tell you.
14:21Whoever you are.
14:22Don't walk away from me.
14:24I'm an officer.
14:24Don't go away.
14:25Don't go away.
14:26Don't.
14:27Don't touch her, Gene.
14:28Keep away.
14:29She's a kid.
14:30She's vanished as I watched her.
14:32There she goes.
14:33Just come back here, Gene.
14:34Come back.
14:35Come back.
14:36I'm coming.
14:37What happened to that woman?
14:39I'm coming.
14:41Gene, what happened to you?
14:43I've got to do it.
14:44Why do you stare at me like that?
14:46I've got to do it.
14:47I've got to do it.
14:49Why are you opening that pocket, Mike?
14:50I can't help myself.
14:52I can't help myself.
14:54You look as though you didn't know me.
14:55As though I'm someone you hate.
14:57Gene, I'm Kathleen.
14:59You love me.
15:01Kathleen.
15:03Love.
15:04Don't come any closer.
15:05Keep away.
15:06Kathleen.
15:08Love.
15:09You're done, Kathleen.
15:10Shoot me before I reach you.
15:12Shoot me.
15:13It's the only way to stop me.
15:14But I can't help myself.
15:15Oh, no.
15:16Yes, shoot me or I'll kill you with this knife.
15:17You're mad.
15:19Shoot.
15:19Shoot, I say, before I drive this knife into your back.
15:22Oh, my God, forgive me.
15:23It's the only way.
15:26I've got to, Gene.
15:27I've got to.
15:30It's here beside me.
15:33The woman is dead.
15:34Give away.
15:35Give away.
15:35Give away.
15:36Give away.
15:52Come on, Miss Fallon.
15:53I want to hear more about this woman who laughed.
15:56This ghost.
15:57Please, please don't ask me any more questions now.
15:59I'll go after that operating room again, Captain Nelson.
16:02Make sure that Gene's going to live.
16:04I only taught him to stop him.
16:06You stopped him, all right.
16:08Oh, yes, it's Dr. Atlant.
16:09Oh, it's Dr....
16:10It's all right, Miss Fallon.
16:11We've taken the bullet out of Cooper Hardy's shoulder,
16:14and he'll be up and around again in just a few days.
16:16Oh, thank God.
16:17Thank God.
16:18And also, Gene, stuffed constitution.
16:20Now, let's not have your mind.
16:21Will you please tell me exactly what happened at the crossroads tonight?
16:24I'll answer all your questions now.
16:25What I've already heard has made me very curious.
16:29Sit down, Doc.
16:30It's your office and your hospital.
16:32Go ahead, Miss Fallon.
16:33Let's hear all about that laughing, appearing, and disappearing woman.
16:37If I were you, Captain, I'd withhold my judgment a while.
16:41The Trooper Hardy has been babbling about the phantom woman under the ether.
16:45Under the ether, people don't deny.
16:47He's been repeating over and over that he couldn't help himself.
16:50He couldn't.
16:51But somehow, somehow, she made him want to kill me.
16:55But he loved me.
16:56That love was stronger than her power.
16:58He had time to warn me.
16:59So you were blindingly sharp here.
17:01Yes.
17:02Then the woman reappeared again.
17:03Just beside me.
17:04And she laughed.
17:05She laughed horribly.
17:06And then, when I looked at her, he just wasn't there.
17:10A woman dressed in black, you say?
17:12Yes.
17:12To bless all souls.
17:13There might have been a shroud.
17:16And a face was like, like the dead.
17:18But with an awful purple skin.
17:19But if you've been strangled, then around her throat, there was a heavy rope that strangled
17:23to the ground.
17:24Oh, good old spirit.
17:25And the dead of my child.
17:26I don't believe in ghosts.
17:28You've just shot one of my troopers.
17:29I don't care if you were engaged to marry him.
17:31I don't.
17:32Don't say now, Captain.
17:33Out what?
17:34I'm blocked inside the walls of this hospital.
17:37And this girl is in no physical condition to stand your third degree.
17:40Besides, I think she's telling the truth.
17:43The truth?
17:43Why not?
17:45We can't call a thing a lie simply because we don't understand it.
17:48And have you any better explanation than we've heard for the tragedy at those old crossroads?
17:53You don't think anything supernatural?
17:55I think something that has lived beyond the span of ordinary human life is responsible.
18:00Remember those almost forgotten cases the newspapers have searched out?
18:04The man who was stabbed there in 1865?
18:07There are a chap in the early 1900s.
18:10One of the reporters told me they'd discovered several more crossroads stabbings in the records.
18:14A police officer was still there in Andrew Jackson's time.
18:18And a member of the watch was stabbed when Washington was president.
18:21Old policeman.
18:22By you.
18:24I hadn't thought of it just in that life.
18:27Miss Fallon, you say the Stampton woman had a rope around her neck?
18:31Yes.
18:32A thick rope tied, but I had enough.
18:34A hangman's rope.
18:35And at the crossroads in the early days, criminals were hanged and buried.
18:40What's that got to do with it?
18:42Maybe a lot more than you think.
18:45Excuse me, Captain.
18:46Leave the chair aside so that I can get to that bookcase.
18:48What?
18:50I want to find something.
18:52Something I've read in more than half a run.
18:57Policemen.
18:57Officers of the law.
18:58Oh, they've been the only ones to die at those crossroads where a gallows tree once stood.
19:05Oh, that's a coincidence.
19:07Ah, but you must admit a strange coincidence.
19:10Ah, here's the book.
19:12An old history of this, Charlie.
19:14History?
19:15Hmm.
19:15Ah.
19:16Here it is.
19:18I knew I read it somewhere.
19:19Look.
19:19What is it, Doctor?
19:20I read it here.
19:21Listen.
19:21On that 13th day of August, 1721, by order of the king's governor, a gibbet of good stout
19:31oak had been erected at Berkeley Crossroads.
19:34That's the only name of our place, Captain Hilton.
19:36There I need you.
19:37And where the criminal, Woody Fairfax, was taken, still protesting your innocence of the
19:43foul crimes that had duly appeared.
19:45Oh, no, I have done no murder.
20:12Have mercy.
20:13I am innocent, I swear you.
20:15Hey, you've had a fair trial, old king, and be found guilty.
20:19Then soon be a crime.
20:21You'll be buried in the soil of infamy.
20:23Here beneath this gallows tree.
20:26Hey, Mary.
20:27Hey.
20:28Oh, you hosslings.
20:29Pick up on your grave.
20:30I'm not, Papa, that I won't.
20:33Ah, the roof's fast enough.
20:35All is ready, my lord, Jerry.
20:37When you give the word.
20:38Hey, you.
20:40Quiet.
20:41Quiet.
20:41Now, Lord, the king's high self-speak.
20:44Nay, I who have about to die this unjust death will speak.
20:49Hear me, ye officers of so-called justice, who have decreed this fate for me.
20:55As I die innocent of crime, I vow to return from death the murderer you to hang me for.
21:02And ye officers of blind law to visit death on me.
21:06Oh, I shall visit death on you, with no more sense of right or pity.
21:12You mean to bury me, Mideeth, this gibbet, in non-hallowed ground, away from God.
21:18Whilst I remain away from God, beware, beware, beware, I warn you, for not even death will stay my hate.
21:28I shall return to bring ye death, ye officers of law.
21:32And so, still streaming her threats of ghostly vengeance, the murderous Goody Fairfax was hanged to death.
21:53Then the old account goes on.
21:57Her body was cut down from the gallows and buried underneath it at bursty crossroads.
22:01The haunted crossroads.
22:03Captain Elton, whether or not you believe in her, it might be a kindly thing you search for Goody Fairfax's grave.
22:10And if you find it, to place her restless bones in hallowed ground, a kindly thing, and a wise thing.
22:26I haven't got over it yet.
22:28There were human bones, a woman's bones buried beneath those crossroads.
22:32I knew you'd find them if you only persisted in the search.
22:34He persisted, all right.
22:36Making us troopers do the digging with me on double ship.
22:38Ah, fine way to treat a man only a week out of hospital.
22:41And a newly married man.
22:43Oh, I thought that was a good way for you to earn your sergeant's stripes.
22:46Sergeant's stripes?
22:47Yeah, here's your warrant.
22:49Oh, Captain Elton.
22:50I had to make you two crazy ghosts here some kind of a wedding present.
22:55And this didn't cost me anything.
22:57Oh, how can we ever thank you?
22:59Be happy.
23:00And Kathleen, let that first shot you had at your husband be the last.
23:08Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
23:18You folks come here again on the birthday.
23:21We'll have another cheerful yarn testy.
23:24Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
23:27The End
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