April 21, 2020 • 35 mins
Tara and her family move into Light House.
Light House is a production of iHeartRadio and Bamfer Productions.
Chapter 1 features the voices of Aly Trasher, John McCormick, and Paulina Logan
It was written and directed by Jeff Heimbuch, audio engineered and scored by Kori Celeste, assistant engineered by Alex Gona, and executive produced by Holly Frey
Questions? Comments? Email us at themaninthehatiswatching@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lighthouse is a production of I Heart Radio and Bamford Productions.
The date is August fifteen. Time is three pm. This
is Dr Albright interviewing patient to file zero three two
(00:23):
one to seven, Madeleine, Madeleine, Do you know who I am? No,
I'm Dr Albright, but you can call me Malcolm. Malcolm
is a funny name. It is. It was my grandfather's name, Madeleine.
Do you know why I'm here to play with? From where?
(00:51):
Tell me about what you're doing this? I can see that.
Does your doll have a name? What a pretty name?
And it starts with the letter M, just like your name, Mary, Madeleine.
Sounds silly like that. They certainly do, Madeline. Your parents
(01:13):
are very worried about you, Madeline. Did you hear me?
They're worried about you. How come well because of some
of the things you've been saying and the things you've
been doing. And I'm here to help make sure that
you're being safe and that you're not really a danger
to yourself. I'm safe. He keeps me safe? Who keeps
(01:35):
you safe? Madeleine? Your your daddy? You're funny? Will you
tell me who keeps you safe? Did you see it.
See what the right? Yes I did. You can't miss
it when you come out here. I'm sure it was
quite beautiful back in its day when it was still operational.
Did you see it? The light inside it goes for
(01:56):
me sometimes? Who keeps you safe? Will you tell me? Nope? No, no, no, no, nope?
Why not? It's a secret. Well will you tell me
about the people you see? What people in the house?
You're my friends? Your friends? Well? What are their names? Um,
(02:17):
I'm not supposed to tell you. And why is that?
He doesn't walk rim? Person? Who keeps you safe? Well?
What can you tell me? I don't know? What else?
Did they tell you? All sorts of things? What kind
of things? Some things? And what kind of games do
(02:40):
you play with them? Hi didn't seek I'm really good.
That is a very fun game. Do they say anything else?
I'm not supposed to say because it's a secret. You
can trust me, Madeline. I'm a doctor, Remember, I don't know.
I am very good at keeping secret. You promise not
(03:01):
to tell I promise. Well, they tell me they want
to bring me somewhere. Where is that away in the dark?
What's in the dark? That's where they live? He wants
to show me. But he can't. How come? Because he said,
I have to do something for them first. The man
(03:22):
who keeps you safe said this, What does he want
you to do? Well? I think they are bad things?
Does he want you to hurt people? Know? Just to
make sure they're sleeping? He tells me to put them
to sleep. How does he want you to do that?
He said, Mommy and Daddy only pretend to sleep at night,
(03:45):
that they lay down and close their eyes. But they're
just pretending. He said, he should go in the kitchen
and take a knife from the jar, one of the
sharp ones. That's very dangerous if we want you to
do with the knife. He told me to go into
their room and play the up and down game with them,
(04:06):
to put them asleep. The up and down game? What's that?
You know? Will you take something in your hand? And
you will? And Madeline, you know that will hurt your parents? Right? No,
it won't. It will just make sure they're sleeping. Silly, No, Madeline,
(04:26):
that will hurt them, maybe even kill them, and they
will sleep forever. Oh, what's wrong, Madeline? He says he
doesn't like you. Dr Albright, who doesn't The man who
keeps you safe is he here now. He says it's
time for you to go away. Tell him that I will,
but only when I finish helping you. He says, I
(04:49):
should make you go away myself. Does he know? Did
he tell you how he did? And what did he say?
He said, I should take your pen and shove it
in your eye into a public a balloon. Isn't he funny?
Dr all right? Lighthouse Chapter one. Your home is a
(05:50):
safe haven. It's more than just a warm bed and
a comfy couch. It's love, it's security, it's connection. It's
familiar place to retreat to when things get too rough,
for when you're feeling lonely. It's a place you go
to be with those closest to you, where they can
wrap you in a blanket of their love. Home isn't
(06:11):
a place as much as it is a feeling homes
where this story begins. I do not have a home. Instead,
I only have pain, heartbreak, and a piece of myself
missing that I can never get back. There's a darkness
that dwells in the center of the world, that seeps
its way up through the ground and forces itself into
(06:33):
our lives. It hides in any place that can crawl into,
hiding away as it grows and thrives, surrounding itself in gloom.
This darkness isn't the kind that comes from the absence
of light. It's the kind where malevolent forces flourish. It's
the kind that make up the nightmares that keep you
awake as a child, clutching your blanket as you cry
(06:57):
for your parents. It's the kind that infects everything it touches.
It's vile, icy fingers tightening around your throat, stifling your screams.
It's the kind you cannot escape, no matter how hard
you try. The unlucky few that discover the darkness hiding
place get caught in its everlasting grip. It works its
(07:22):
way into their soul, slowly corrupting them from the inside out,
until it ultimately consumes them, leaving nothing but an empty,
hollow shell in its wake. Lighthouse is one of those
hiding places. It's a place where good people are forced
to do bad things, and we're bad people do even worse.
(07:45):
Lighthouse is my home. For years, I've hidden myself away
from the outside world, afraid of allowing the darkness that
dwells here and inside me to escape. Despite my best efforts.
I've become the very thing I swore not to hermited
away from everything and everyone I ever loved, or at
(08:05):
the very least the ones I had not yet managed
to destroy. This house, my family, and even myself have
become the subject of rumor. There are whispered secrets and
gossip running wild in the town, with each repeating of
the story compounded by another embellishment, another exaggeration, another lie.
(08:27):
I admit, yes, some of what has been said is
the truth. But it's the story of me, the story
of why, the story of Lighthouse. My name is Tara
Marie Hollis. I was born in Hayworth, New Jersey. My sister,
Eileen or Leni for short, was born four years later.
(08:50):
I don't remember much about my early years, just what
was told to me. Life was difficult for us. My
father was a salesman who worked hard to provide for
his family. While he wasn't the best at his job,
he did the best he could. It was rough, particularly
because through a series of failed investment opportunities and jobs
that didn't quite work out, our family was constantly on
(09:13):
the move, traveling from place to place. While my parents
tried to make ends meet. The other part was my fault.
Before my sister was born, I was ill for most
of my childhood. I don't remember much about it, but
what I do remember was painful. A series of tests,
long stretches in and out of the hospital, and lots
of doctors, not just medical ones, but plenty of psychiatrists
(09:37):
and psychologists too. I was too young to understand it
at the time, but they were concerned that something was
wrong with my brain. It was too complicated for me
to understand, but it boiled down to the fact that
I saw things. There was some brief talk of being hereditary,
coming from my father's side. There was also talk of
a tumor pressing up against my brain causing them function.
(10:01):
There were even long stretches of me not remembering anything
at all, a sort of blackout. However, I do know
by the time I was six, all seemed to be
better because I no longer saw the doctors or the psychiatrists,
or even the inside of a hospital again. These medical
issues they strained my parents finances. We didn't have much,
(10:21):
but we had each other and that's what mattered. The
memories I do have of my early years are happy ones.
My sister and I kept each other occupied while my
parents did what they could to make sure we were surviving.
They didn't have any family that they could ask for help,
as my mother's side disowned her for marrying my father,
and my father's family was mostly deceased. His only living
(10:43):
relative was his grandmother, an eccentric, elderly recluse that he
rarely spoke of and that I'd never met. I wasn't
aware of it at the time, but things started to
get dire for our family. Money was stretched thin and
my parents had too many outstanding debts to keep us
all afloat. We weren't quite at rock bottom yet, but
we were mere inches away from it. However, just before
(11:05):
all was lost, something serendipitous happened. My father's grandmother passed away.
Not that her passing was something to celebrate, but it
was a blessing in disguise. Not only did she leave
a sizeable amount of money to my father, she also
left him their ancestral family home. I was eleven years
old when I first laid my eyes on Lighthouse. My
(11:28):
parents had argued for weeks leading up to it, as
the decision to move there wasn't an easy one to make.
My father was vehemently against it, and an argument about
it was the first time I truly remember him losing
his temper. He wanted nothing to do with the house,
offering to sell it to the bank at an incredibly
low price just to get rid of it and use
the rest of the inheritance to buy us a more
(11:50):
modest home elsewhere. My mother wanted him to be more
sensible about it. Why waste money on a new home
when there was a perfectly good one waiting for us
that we could use. My father thought about it for
a long time, rubbing an old scar he had on
his right palm. Eventually he yielded to her and we
began the journey to our new home. It was a
(12:12):
warm winter day in nineteen sixty three when we finally arrived.
As our car pulled through the massive entry gates, I
caught my first glimpse of Lighthouse. My mind couldn't fully
comprehend it. It It was like something out of a fairy
tale or an old story, even at such a distance.
It was the biggest house I had ever laid eyes on,
(12:32):
and my breath caught in my throat as I craned
my neck to see it. All we drove closer, but
the driveway seemed to stretch on forever, giving the house
a sense of isolation. The front of the house was
mostly barren from years of neglect, with a sea of
dead grass surrounding it. The only other thing visible from
the front was an ancient red oak tree, as if
(12:53):
it was standing guard over the house. The house itself
had three stories that loomed over the grounds, with its
unique Torrean style being nothing like I'd ever seen before.
It seemed more like a castle than a house, with
a tower that reached for the sky on the left
side of the house, with steep gabled roofs surrounding it.
My eyes were pulled up further as the complex roofline
(13:16):
seemed more for visual effect than practical design. The windows
all seemed to be their own distinct shape and size
as you went up. The first floors were larger, with
bay windows and a large hilarium making up most of them.
The second floor had more eyebrow windows with curve shapes
about the traditional windows, while the third floor got a
bit smaller. I could see a hint of stained glass
(13:38):
on the right side and was thrilled to finally see
something so wonderfully beautiful in person. Directly over the entry, though,
were two large windows that gave the impression that the
house was looking back at me. Below those windows was
a set of stairs which led up to the front door,
which itself was an ornate affair made of solid wood.
It surrounded a stained glass fixture with the letter L
(14:00):
at its center, giving it a more regal appearance. The
wraparound porch stretched to both ends of the house and
around the back as well. Beyond the house was the
Atlantic Ocean, miles and miles of it, spreading out as
far as the eye could see. Lighthouse was so named
because it sat on Lighthouse Point. The entire grounds was
located on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Years before
(14:21):
the house was built, the sole occupant of the bluff
was an actual lighthouse built in the eighteen hundreds. It
was a beacon of hope for ships on those dark
New Jersey nights long before my father was born. His
family served as its keeper for years, diligently keeping watch
to make sure those out at sea did not meet
the same fate as their predecessors. Though it was still
(14:41):
standing not too far from our house itself, the lighthouse
set unused. Years of neglect reduced it to an unsafe,
crumbling mess. Lighthouse was originally a more modest home, merely
a dwelling for a lighthousekeeper and his family to live.
But over the years, when my great great and father
had an investment payoff handsomely, the modest home was torn
(15:04):
down and lighthouse was built, a grand structure for a
proud man, and now it was ours. Before we came here, though,
my father made it very clear to us that while
we were welcome to roam free and explore the grounds
as we pleased, the lighthouse itself was strictly off limits.
But that didn't matter, because the house lighthouse view it
(15:28):
was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. As we
drove down the driveway getting closer, I remember feeling the
pit in the bottom of my stomach began to rise,
my head began to swim as a slight wave of
nausea overtook me for a few moments. Whether I was
just nervous about the new chapter in our lives or
it was a subconscious warning as to what awaited us,
(15:49):
I'll never know. However, I wasn't the only one to
feel uneasy as we pulled in front of the stairs.
My father stopped the car. I got out and went
around to lean eyside to help her. But I noticed
she looked a bit green as well. What's wrong, I
asked her, hoping she was not carsick from her long journey.
Her eyes were locked upward, as if she was an
intense staring contest with someone or something. There's a man
(16:13):
in the window up there, she said, a man wearing
a hat. Don't be silly. The house has been empty
for months. No one lives here but us. Now it's
not empty. Look she pointed upward, and I looked in
that direction, toward the window on the third story that
looked like eyes. I couldn't see anything. My sister, whether
(16:34):
from an overactive imagination or not, was often prone to
seeing things. A few years ago, I taught her a
trick to try to help with this, to distinguish reality
from otherwise. What did I teach you about when you
see things that might not really be there, I asked her,
reminding her of a technique a psychiatrist taught me years ago.
To close my eyes and count to five, she said,
(16:56):
and then I pushed further and then open him again.
And it will be gone. I smiled at her, Glad
she remembered trying now, I suggested Leny squeeze her eyes
shut and began to count to five, one, two, three,
(17:17):
four five. A moment after she finished, she opened her
eyes again, looking back toward the window. It didn't work, Tara, look.
I took another look, but this time it was different.
Hiding behind the sheer curtains, I could make out a
shape standing there. At first I thought it was just
(17:40):
a coat rack or a piece of furniture, but then
I watched as it pulled the curtains back. There was
a man wearing a hat standing at the window, and
with a ghastly smile, he was staring directly at us.
Lighthouse will return after these messages, and now back to lighthouse.
(18:13):
The man stared down at us, a terribly creepy smile
across his lips, and I screamed. My sister, startled by
my screaming, began to do so herself. My parents, so
halfway up the stairs, already dropped everything and ran back
to us. My mother consoled me, wrapping me in a
tight hug. As she held me, my father frantically asked
what was wrong? There's someone in the house, I told him.
(18:37):
He looked at me bewildered as my sister and I
pointed toward the window. However, the man wasn't there. Now.
What did he look like? My father asked, my sister explained,
and he went white as a ghost. My mother, concerned
for everyone's safety, told my father to go inside and check.
He was caught off guard at first and seemed uneasy
with the idea, but he relented, as he often did
(19:00):
with her, and carefully made his way to the front door.
Before he went inside, he looked to us nervously, with
a slight nod of his head, disappeared into the house.
The minutes that followed were tense, as we saw nor
heard anything from inside the house. It only took a
minute or two before my mother thought better of sending
him in there and called out to him to return. Unfortunately,
(19:23):
there was no response. Henry. She called again, Henry, come back,
Still there was nothing. A sense of dread fell over
us all like a blanket. Did we unwittingly send my
father to face off against an intruder? Was he okay?
Why wasn't he? Answering us? She called out one final time,
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Please Henry. We waited. The seconds turned into a minute,
then two. It was unbearable for us. My mother was anxious,
ready to run in herself. And then he appeared at
the window where we spotted the man in a hat earlier.
My father looked down at us. He under the latch,
(20:08):
opened the window and called down to us. All clear,
he said, with only a slight hint of unease in
his voice. Moments later he rejoined us outside. As it
turns out, my first instinct was correct. There was a
coat rack near the window, a trick of the light.
He told us, your mind fooled you. Despite his saying that,
(20:31):
I couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling building within me. However,
he was quiet on the matter after that, instead asking
for my help and bringing the bags in. I did
as I was told. But my sister, however, sat outside,
her gaze never wavering from the window. Lifting one of
my bags, I made my way up the steps toward
the house, my sense of foreboding slowly dissipating by the
(20:54):
sheer size of what lay before me, only seeing it
from the distance earlier. The front door was more decorative
than I originally thought. The letter l in the center
of the stained glass obviously stood for light, but it
also contained smaller imagery lighthouses standing on guard on both
sides of the letter itself, a black cloud escaping from
(21:15):
what looked to be a well, a sea of blue
along the bottom, with a full moon lording over it all.
I pushed the door open further and took my first
steps in. The inside of lighthouse was just as impressive
as out, albeit a bit dustier. The vestibule made way
into the main hall, with a grand staircase being the
(21:35):
focal point of the room. It stretched upward to the
second floor before branching off towards the third. Above my head,
Leany came up behind me, silent in her approach, and
startled me out of my awestruck daydream. Is all this hours?
She asked me. I looked at her and smiled, It
is now. She grabbed my hand and took off down
(21:57):
the hall, the need to discover the house and all
its glory overtaking her fear from a few short minutes ago.
I dropped my bags somewhere during our expedition as the
ground floor opened before us, two young girls exploring uncharted territory.
Since the first floor was meant as a living space
of the home. It had more wide open spaces than most.
(22:21):
A formal dining room was next to the kitchen, while
a parlor was just beyond that. It's high vaulted ceilings
and tasseled draperies giving it a sense of grandeur. The
silarium gave way to the side yard, its glass windows
allowing the sun to shine in brightly on the various
plant life, with seating areas all around to enjoy the
(22:42):
ocean view it afforded. On the other end of the
house was the library, It's two sprawling floors of dark wood,
allowing for a vast selection of books, complete with an
ornate fireplace to cozy up next to. A metal spiral
staircase in the center allowed for easy access to all.
It was a place I imagined I would spend a
(23:04):
lot of time in. I took a moment to take
it all in, the musty smell of old books, the
vast collection of them before me, and also a melody
wafting in from somewhere beyond. And my parents decided to
play a record elsewhere in the house. We had only
just arrived, and I was sure that even if they
(23:26):
had come across a record player. Unpacking would be their
first order of business. I strained my ears trying to
place the song, or even just its point of origin.
It felt like it was coming from everywhere at once,
while also nowhere at all. It had a haunting quality
about it, and I could feel myself getting lost in
(23:47):
its music. Seeing my state of distraction, Lenie sees the
opportunity for a game. Catch me if you can, she
yelled as she wasted no time in running up the
spiral staircase, excited, running from shelf to shelf for a
quick glance at all the dusty volumes that sat untouched
for years. It wasn't long before she threw open a
door and ran off to explore the rest of the
(24:09):
second story. By the time I reached the door she
disappeared behind, she was long out of sight. I found
myself staring down a long hallway. The walls here were
decorated with dark wood panels with detailed interior trim that
went from the floor till about halfway up, where old
and curling wallpaper took over before reaching the ceiling. The
(24:33):
hallway itself seemed impossibly long, with a multitude of doors
on either side until splitting off in both directions at
the end. For a moment, it almost seemed to sense
my disorientation and stretched itself even further. However, a quick
shake of my head with close eyes jostled that vision away,
and I began to search for my sister. While I
(24:55):
did not find her, what I did find were more
rooms that I could grasp. Multiple rooms, some even with
balconies overlooking the grounds, were among my discoveries. I also
found double doors leading to common rooms and plenty of
hidden nooks for someone to hide away in. I was
overwhelmed by the house is almost rambling complexity, and felt
(25:15):
more as if in the Minotaurs maze than my new
family home. Most rooms were already furnished, with furniture still
covered in thin white sheets from days long before us
occupying the rooms. When I did finally discover Leni's hiding place,
it was amongst a horride of dolls in one of
the bedrooms, her face barely sticking out from behind them
as she pretended to be one of them. It played
(25:37):
along at first declaring loudly that I wondered where she
could be, causing her to fall into a fit of giggles.
If she knew what awaited us that night, she wouldn't
have laughed. Lighthouse were returned after a word from our sponsors,
(26:03):
and now lighthouse continues. Leni later declared to our parents
that the very room she was hiding in was to
be her bedroom. Receiving no opposition from them, she moved
her things into it immediately. Wanting to be a good sister,
I chose the room across the hall, which was well
(26:25):
suited for me, complete with a reading nook and balcony
overlooking the front yard. It received plenty of natural light.
Not to mention, it was twice as big as my
sister's I wish I could say that that first night
in our new home was uneventful. After hours of unpacking
and settling in, we were all thoroughly exhausted from our
(26:46):
long day. I fell asleep almost instantly, my body sinking
into the bed with ease. I don't recall the exact
time it happened, but I awoke to Leni climbing into
bed with me. I assumed she was a bit nervous
about sleeping alone in a new house, but when I
heard a soft sob, I knew it was something else.
(27:06):
What's wrong, I said to her, and she buried her
head in my pillow. I saw him again, she replied,
fighting back tears. So I asked, not fully comprehending what
she meant, the man in the hat. As soon as
the words escaped from her lips, I felt a chill
run down my spine. He was standing in my doorway,
(27:31):
watching me sleep. When I asked my hackles raising, concerned
that there was an intruder in her home just now,
I closed my eyes and counted to five until he
was gone, And when he was I ran here. Even
in the darkness, I could feel her eyes welling with
tears as she stared at me. Despite the fact that
our father did not find anyone earlier, I felt the
(27:53):
need to check for myself. At the very least, I
needed to tell my parents. After I reassured her that
everything was going to be okay and crept to the door,
the hallway was empty, the shadows my only companion. Looking
toward my right was a bit easier, as my mother
had enough foresight to plug in a nightlight earlier. This
(28:15):
turned out to be both a blessing and a curse,
because as my eyes adjusted, I made out a dark
shape toward the end of the hall. At first I
thought it was a trick of the light, but movement
caused me to realize otherwise. Coming out of the darkness
was exactly what my sister exclaimed it to be, a
(28:36):
man wearing a hat. Though down the hall, I could
tell that he was dressed almost in Edwardian fashion, with
a bowler hat atop his head, and his feet didn't
seem to touch the floor. Instead, he gently floated a
few inches above it. I instinctively leaned back, startled at
(28:57):
the sight before me. This couldn't be real, This couldn't
be happening. Using my own advice, closed my eyes and
I counted five, one, two, three, four five. I hesitated
(29:24):
only a moment before taking another look, and I regretted
it as soon as I did. The man in the
hat was still there. He was now standing before my
parents bedroom, and I watched in horror as he reached
out to open it. Startled by this, I fell back
against the door frame. I tried to be silent, but lighthouse,
being as old as it was, wasn't conducive to being quiet.
(29:45):
My foot landed on an old floorboard and it creaked.
A panic set over me as I saw the man
in the hat's head began to turn in my direction.
Without wasting any time, I slammed my door shut and
shoved the bolt into lock position. I ran to my bed,
jumped in next to my sister, and pulled the covers
up over my head. Lenny could tell I was terrified,
(30:05):
and she responded in kind. Tera what's wrong, she asked,
in a panic. Be quiet, I hissed, and she was.
Both of us sat there, holding each other in the
darkness beneath the sheets, hoping against all hope that whatever
that thing was would pass us by. Every second we
waited seemed to stretch on for an hour. Every slight
(30:25):
rustle of the sheets was like a deafening roar. After
what felt like days, I poked my head out. I
was greeted only by silence. Stealing a quick glance, I
could see the night light from the hall spilling in
from beneath my door, a small triangle of hope and
the darkness of night. My sister took a peek as well.
(30:47):
We were safe. We relaxed A tiny bit coming out
from beneath the blanket, the threat of the man in
the hat came from the door. My eyes were drawn
to the night outside my win nose. Beyond the balcony
stood the lighthouse. It stood silently in the darkness, a
long dormant guardian until it wasn't. A dim glow appeared
(31:11):
in the night atop the lighthouse, as if someone had
lit a candle up there. I gasped silently, confused, much
like the house, it was to be empty, not just
because my grandmother's death, but because it was no longer
in use. I was about to get up and take
a closer look, and then I heard the floorboard creak.
(31:32):
My eyes grew wide as I watched the light outside
my door disappear as a long shadow cut into it.
I could almost see the feet that belonged to the
man in the hat in the gap between my door
frame and the floor, as they floated just above it.
The feeling of dread I felt earlier as we drove
up to lighthouse returned weighing heavy on my chest. I
(31:53):
held my breath in terror. So my door knob began
to turn slowly first, but with more force it made
a full rotation. Something pushing against it trying to get in.
As my sister let under yelp. I covered my mouth
with my hand, eyes never leaving the door's handle, thankful
thought to lock it earlier, but the locked door did
(32:15):
not stop that thing outside. Instead, it doubled its efforts,
jiggling the knob harder and faster, trying as best as
it could to force its way in. We threw the
covers back overhead, both of us crying out for our parents,
hugging each other closer, waiting for the assault to end.
The door rattled and its frame beneath it's might, shuddering
(32:37):
with every jolt as we both waited for the one
that would eventually take it off its hinges and into
my room. That went on and on and on, never
ending in our minds, driving us to the edge of
our sanity, until eventually subsided. Neither of us moved a
muscle even well after it ended. We were both too
(33:00):
scared and too tired to even consider it. At some point,
I'm not sure when we both drifted off to sleep,
still holding each other close beneath the covers. It should
come of no surprise that I didn't sleep well, tossing
and turning until the sun made its first appearance on
the horizon. Its first rays of warm light, or a
(33:21):
welcome respite from the night. In the clarity of the morning,
it almost seemed like the terror from the night before
wasn't as bad as we remembered it to be. Perhaps
it was nothing more than an incredibly vivid dream. Deep inside,
I knew that wasn't the truth. Even after my sister awoke,
her face still streaked with tears of terror, I knew
(33:45):
what we had experienced was real. I should have savored
that night. I should have enjoyed what little sleep we
did manage to get. I should have told my parents
as soon as it happened, and not waited until the
next day. But I didn't any of those things, which,
despite my youth, made me complicit. And what was to come,
(34:07):
because now that Lighthouse had us in its grasp, it
wasn't going to let us go. Lighthouse is a production
(34:37):
of I Heart Radio and Bamford Productions. Chapter one featured
the voices of Ali Trasher, John McCormick, and Paulina Logan.
Written and directed by Jeff Himbuck, Audio engineering and original
musical score by Corey Celeste. Production assistants by Alex Gona.
(34:58):
Executive produced by Holly fry, questions, comments, You can reach
us at the Man in the Hat is Watching at
gmail dot com. Thank you for listening. M.
Lighthouse is a production of I Heart Radio and Bamford Productions.
The date is August fifteen. Time is three pm. This
is Dr Albright interviewing patient to file zero three two
(00:23):
one to seven, Madeleine, Madeleine, Do you know who I am? No,
I'm Dr Albright, but you can call me Malcolm. Malcolm
is a funny name. It is. It was my grandfather's name, Madeleine.
Do you know why I'm here to play with? From where?
(00:51):
Tell me about what you're doing this? I can see that.
Does your doll have a name? What a pretty name?
And it starts with the letter M, just like your name, Mary, Madeleine.
Sounds silly like that. They certainly do, Madeline. Your parents
(01:13):
are very worried about you, Madeline. Did you hear me?
They're worried about you. How come well because of some
of the things you've been saying and the things you've
been doing. And I'm here to help make sure that
you're being safe and that you're not really a danger
to yourself. I'm safe. He keeps me safe? Who keeps
(01:35):
you safe? Madeleine? Your your daddy? You're funny? Will you
tell me who keeps you safe? Did you see it.
See what the right? Yes I did. You can't miss
it when you come out here. I'm sure it was
quite beautiful back in its day when it was still operational.
Did you see it? The light inside it goes for
(01:56):
me sometimes? Who keeps you safe? Will you tell me? Nope? No, no, no, no, nope?
Why not? It's a secret. Well will you tell me
about the people you see? What people in the house?
You're my friends? Your friends? Well? What are their names? Um,
(02:17):
I'm not supposed to tell you. And why is that?
He doesn't walk rim? Person? Who keeps you safe? Well?
What can you tell me? I don't know? What else?
Did they tell you? All sorts of things? What kind
of things? Some things? And what kind of games do
(02:40):
you play with them? Hi didn't seek I'm really good.
That is a very fun game. Do they say anything else?
I'm not supposed to say because it's a secret. You
can trust me, Madeline. I'm a doctor, Remember, I don't know.
I am very good at keeping secret. You promise not
(03:01):
to tell I promise. Well, they tell me they want
to bring me somewhere. Where is that away in the dark?
What's in the dark? That's where they live? He wants
to show me. But he can't. How come? Because he said,
I have to do something for them first. The man
(03:22):
who keeps you safe said this, What does he want
you to do? Well? I think they are bad things?
Does he want you to hurt people? Know? Just to
make sure they're sleeping? He tells me to put them
to sleep. How does he want you to do that?
He said, Mommy and Daddy only pretend to sleep at night,
(03:45):
that they lay down and close their eyes. But they're
just pretending. He said, he should go in the kitchen
and take a knife from the jar, one of the
sharp ones. That's very dangerous if we want you to
do with the knife. He told me to go into
their room and play the up and down game with them,
(04:06):
to put them asleep. The up and down game? What's that?
You know? Will you take something in your hand? And
you will? And Madeline, you know that will hurt your parents? Right? No,
it won't. It will just make sure they're sleeping. Silly, No, Madeline,
(04:26):
that will hurt them, maybe even kill them, and they
will sleep forever. Oh, what's wrong, Madeline? He says he
doesn't like you. Dr Albright, who doesn't The man who
keeps you safe is he here now. He says it's
time for you to go away. Tell him that I will,
but only when I finish helping you. He says, I
(04:49):
should make you go away myself. Does he know? Did
he tell you how he did? And what did he say?
He said, I should take your pen and shove it
in your eye into a public a balloon. Isn't he funny?
Dr all right? Lighthouse Chapter one. Your home is a
(05:50):
safe haven. It's more than just a warm bed and
a comfy couch. It's love, it's security, it's connection. It's
familiar place to retreat to when things get too rough,
for when you're feeling lonely. It's a place you go
to be with those closest to you, where they can
wrap you in a blanket of their love. Home isn't
(06:11):
a place as much as it is a feeling homes
where this story begins. I do not have a home. Instead,
I only have pain, heartbreak, and a piece of myself
missing that I can never get back. There's a darkness
that dwells in the center of the world, that seeps
its way up through the ground and forces itself into
(06:33):
our lives. It hides in any place that can crawl into,
hiding away as it grows and thrives, surrounding itself in gloom.
This darkness isn't the kind that comes from the absence
of light. It's the kind where malevolent forces flourish. It's
the kind that make up the nightmares that keep you
awake as a child, clutching your blanket as you cry
(06:57):
for your parents. It's the kind that infects everything it touches.
It's vile, icy fingers tightening around your throat, stifling your screams.
It's the kind you cannot escape, no matter how hard
you try. The unlucky few that discover the darkness hiding
place get caught in its everlasting grip. It works its
(07:22):
way into their soul, slowly corrupting them from the inside out,
until it ultimately consumes them, leaving nothing but an empty,
hollow shell in its wake. Lighthouse is one of those
hiding places. It's a place where good people are forced
to do bad things, and we're bad people do even worse.
(07:45):
Lighthouse is my home. For years, I've hidden myself away
from the outside world, afraid of allowing the darkness that
dwells here and inside me to escape. Despite my best efforts.
I've become the very thing I swore not to hermited
away from everything and everyone I ever loved, or at
(08:05):
the very least the ones I had not yet managed
to destroy. This house, my family, and even myself have
become the subject of rumor. There are whispered secrets and
gossip running wild in the town, with each repeating of
the story compounded by another embellishment, another exaggeration, another lie.
(08:27):
I admit, yes, some of what has been said is
the truth. But it's the story of me, the story
of why, the story of Lighthouse. My name is Tara
Marie Hollis. I was born in Hayworth, New Jersey. My sister,
Eileen or Leni for short, was born four years later.
(08:50):
I don't remember much about my early years, just what
was told to me. Life was difficult for us. My
father was a salesman who worked hard to provide for
his family. While he wasn't the best at his job,
he did the best he could. It was rough, particularly
because through a series of failed investment opportunities and jobs
that didn't quite work out, our family was constantly on
(09:13):
the move, traveling from place to place. While my parents
tried to make ends meet. The other part was my fault.
Before my sister was born, I was ill for most
of my childhood. I don't remember much about it, but
what I do remember was painful. A series of tests,
long stretches in and out of the hospital, and lots
of doctors, not just medical ones, but plenty of psychiatrists
(09:37):
and psychologists too. I was too young to understand it
at the time, but they were concerned that something was
wrong with my brain. It was too complicated for me
to understand, but it boiled down to the fact that
I saw things. There was some brief talk of being hereditary,
coming from my father's side. There was also talk of
a tumor pressing up against my brain causing them function.
(10:01):
There were even long stretches of me not remembering anything
at all, a sort of blackout. However, I do know
by the time I was six, all seemed to be
better because I no longer saw the doctors or the psychiatrists,
or even the inside of a hospital again. These medical
issues they strained my parents finances. We didn't have much,
(10:21):
but we had each other and that's what mattered. The
memories I do have of my early years are happy ones.
My sister and I kept each other occupied while my
parents did what they could to make sure we were surviving.
They didn't have any family that they could ask for help,
as my mother's side disowned her for marrying my father,
and my father's family was mostly deceased. His only living
(10:43):
relative was his grandmother, an eccentric, elderly recluse that he
rarely spoke of and that I'd never met. I wasn't
aware of it at the time, but things started to
get dire for our family. Money was stretched thin and
my parents had too many outstanding debts to keep us
all afloat. We weren't quite at rock bottom yet, but
we were mere inches away from it. However, just before
(11:05):
all was lost, something serendipitous happened. My father's grandmother passed away.
Not that her passing was something to celebrate, but it
was a blessing in disguise. Not only did she leave
a sizeable amount of money to my father, she also
left him their ancestral family home. I was eleven years
old when I first laid my eyes on Lighthouse. My
(11:28):
parents had argued for weeks leading up to it, as
the decision to move there wasn't an easy one to make.
My father was vehemently against it, and an argument about
it was the first time I truly remember him losing
his temper. He wanted nothing to do with the house,
offering to sell it to the bank at an incredibly
low price just to get rid of it and use
the rest of the inheritance to buy us a more
(11:50):
modest home elsewhere. My mother wanted him to be more
sensible about it. Why waste money on a new home
when there was a perfectly good one waiting for us
that we could use. My father thought about it for
a long time, rubbing an old scar he had on
his right palm. Eventually he yielded to her and we
began the journey to our new home. It was a
(12:12):
warm winter day in nineteen sixty three when we finally arrived.
As our car pulled through the massive entry gates, I
caught my first glimpse of Lighthouse. My mind couldn't fully
comprehend it. It It was like something out of a fairy
tale or an old story, even at such a distance.
It was the biggest house I had ever laid eyes on,
(12:32):
and my breath caught in my throat as I craned
my neck to see it. All we drove closer, but
the driveway seemed to stretch on forever, giving the house
a sense of isolation. The front of the house was
mostly barren from years of neglect, with a sea of
dead grass surrounding it. The only other thing visible from
the front was an ancient red oak tree, as if
(12:53):
it was standing guard over the house. The house itself
had three stories that loomed over the grounds, with its
unique Torrean style being nothing like I'd ever seen before.
It seemed more like a castle than a house, with
a tower that reached for the sky on the left
side of the house, with steep gabled roofs surrounding it.
My eyes were pulled up further as the complex roofline
(13:16):
seemed more for visual effect than practical design. The windows
all seemed to be their own distinct shape and size
as you went up. The first floors were larger, with
bay windows and a large hilarium making up most of them.
The second floor had more eyebrow windows with curve shapes
about the traditional windows, while the third floor got a
bit smaller. I could see a hint of stained glass
(13:38):
on the right side and was thrilled to finally see
something so wonderfully beautiful in person. Directly over the entry, though,
were two large windows that gave the impression that the
house was looking back at me. Below those windows was
a set of stairs which led up to the front door,
which itself was an ornate affair made of solid wood.
It surrounded a stained glass fixture with the letter L
(14:00):
at its center, giving it a more regal appearance. The
wraparound porch stretched to both ends of the house and
around the back as well. Beyond the house was the
Atlantic Ocean, miles and miles of it, spreading out as
far as the eye could see. Lighthouse was so named
because it sat on Lighthouse Point. The entire grounds was
located on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Years before
(14:21):
the house was built, the sole occupant of the bluff
was an actual lighthouse built in the eighteen hundreds. It
was a beacon of hope for ships on those dark
New Jersey nights long before my father was born. His
family served as its keeper for years, diligently keeping watch
to make sure those out at sea did not meet
the same fate as their predecessors. Though it was still
(14:41):
standing not too far from our house itself, the lighthouse
set unused. Years of neglect reduced it to an unsafe,
crumbling mess. Lighthouse was originally a more modest home, merely
a dwelling for a lighthousekeeper and his family to live.
But over the years, when my great great and father
had an investment payoff handsomely, the modest home was torn
(15:04):
down and lighthouse was built, a grand structure for a
proud man, and now it was ours. Before we came here, though,
my father made it very clear to us that while
we were welcome to roam free and explore the grounds
as we pleased, the lighthouse itself was strictly off limits.
But that didn't matter, because the house lighthouse view it
(15:28):
was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. As we
drove down the driveway getting closer, I remember feeling the
pit in the bottom of my stomach began to rise,
my head began to swim as a slight wave of
nausea overtook me for a few moments. Whether I was
just nervous about the new chapter in our lives or
it was a subconscious warning as to what awaited us,
(15:49):
I'll never know. However, I wasn't the only one to
feel uneasy as we pulled in front of the stairs.
My father stopped the car. I got out and went
around to lean eyside to help her. But I noticed
she looked a bit green as well. What's wrong, I
asked her, hoping she was not carsick from her long journey.
Her eyes were locked upward, as if she was an
intense staring contest with someone or something. There's a man
(16:13):
in the window up there, she said, a man wearing
a hat. Don't be silly. The house has been empty
for months. No one lives here but us. Now it's
not empty. Look she pointed upward, and I looked in
that direction, toward the window on the third story that
looked like eyes. I couldn't see anything. My sister, whether
(16:34):
from an overactive imagination or not, was often prone to
seeing things. A few years ago, I taught her a
trick to try to help with this, to distinguish reality
from otherwise. What did I teach you about when you
see things that might not really be there, I asked her,
reminding her of a technique a psychiatrist taught me years ago.
To close my eyes and count to five, she said,
(16:56):
and then I pushed further and then open him again.
And it will be gone. I smiled at her, Glad
she remembered trying now, I suggested Leny squeeze her eyes
shut and began to count to five, one, two, three,
(17:17):
four five. A moment after she finished, she opened her
eyes again, looking back toward the window. It didn't work, Tara, look.
I took another look, but this time it was different.
Hiding behind the sheer curtains, I could make out a
shape standing there. At first I thought it was just
(17:40):
a coat rack or a piece of furniture, but then
I watched as it pulled the curtains back. There was
a man wearing a hat standing at the window, and
with a ghastly smile, he was staring directly at us.
Lighthouse will return after these messages, and now back to lighthouse.
(18:13):
The man stared down at us, a terribly creepy smile
across his lips, and I screamed. My sister, startled by
my screaming, began to do so herself. My parents, so
halfway up the stairs, already dropped everything and ran back
to us. My mother consoled me, wrapping me in a
tight hug. As she held me, my father frantically asked
what was wrong? There's someone in the house, I told him.
(18:37):
He looked at me bewildered as my sister and I
pointed toward the window. However, the man wasn't there. Now.
What did he look like? My father asked, my sister explained,
and he went white as a ghost. My mother, concerned
for everyone's safety, told my father to go inside and check.
He was caught off guard at first and seemed uneasy
with the idea, but he relented, as he often did
(19:00):
with her, and carefully made his way to the front door.
Before he went inside, he looked to us nervously, with
a slight nod of his head, disappeared into the house.
The minutes that followed were tense, as we saw nor
heard anything from inside the house. It only took a
minute or two before my mother thought better of sending
him in there and called out to him to return. Unfortunately,
(19:23):
there was no response. Henry. She called again, Henry, come back,
Still there was nothing. A sense of dread fell over
us all like a blanket. Did we unwittingly send my
father to face off against an intruder? Was he okay?
Why wasn't he? Answering us? She called out one final time,
(19:46):
Please Henry. We waited. The seconds turned into a minute,
then two. It was unbearable for us. My mother was anxious,
ready to run in herself. And then he appeared at
the window where we spotted the man in a hat earlier.
My father looked down at us. He under the latch,
(20:08):
opened the window and called down to us. All clear,
he said, with only a slight hint of unease in
his voice. Moments later he rejoined us outside. As it
turns out, my first instinct was correct. There was a
coat rack near the window, a trick of the light.
He told us, your mind fooled you. Despite his saying that,
(20:31):
I couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling building within me. However,
he was quiet on the matter after that, instead asking
for my help and bringing the bags in. I did
as I was told. But my sister, however, sat outside,
her gaze never wavering from the window. Lifting one of
my bags, I made my way up the steps toward
the house, my sense of foreboding slowly dissipating by the
(20:54):
sheer size of what lay before me, only seeing it
from the distance earlier. The front door was more decorative
than I originally thought. The letter l in the center
of the stained glass obviously stood for light, but it
also contained smaller imagery lighthouses standing on guard on both
sides of the letter itself, a black cloud escaping from
(21:15):
what looked to be a well, a sea of blue
along the bottom, with a full moon lording over it all.
I pushed the door open further and took my first
steps in. The inside of lighthouse was just as impressive
as out, albeit a bit dustier. The vestibule made way
into the main hall, with a grand staircase being the
(21:35):
focal point of the room. It stretched upward to the
second floor before branching off towards the third. Above my head,
Leany came up behind me, silent in her approach, and
startled me out of my awestruck daydream. Is all this hours?
She asked me. I looked at her and smiled, It
is now. She grabbed my hand and took off down
(21:57):
the hall, the need to discover the house and all
its glory overtaking her fear from a few short minutes ago.
I dropped my bags somewhere during our expedition as the
ground floor opened before us, two young girls exploring uncharted territory.
Since the first floor was meant as a living space
of the home. It had more wide open spaces than most.
(22:21):
A formal dining room was next to the kitchen, while
a parlor was just beyond that. It's high vaulted ceilings
and tasseled draperies giving it a sense of grandeur. The
silarium gave way to the side yard, its glass windows
allowing the sun to shine in brightly on the various
plant life, with seating areas all around to enjoy the
(22:42):
ocean view it afforded. On the other end of the
house was the library, It's two sprawling floors of dark wood,
allowing for a vast selection of books, complete with an
ornate fireplace to cozy up next to. A metal spiral
staircase in the center allowed for easy access to all.
It was a place I imagined I would spend a
(23:04):
lot of time in. I took a moment to take
it all in, the musty smell of old books, the
vast collection of them before me, and also a melody
wafting in from somewhere beyond. And my parents decided to
play a record elsewhere in the house. We had only
just arrived, and I was sure that even if they
(23:26):
had come across a record player. Unpacking would be their
first order of business. I strained my ears trying to
place the song, or even just its point of origin.
It felt like it was coming from everywhere at once,
while also nowhere at all. It had a haunting quality
about it, and I could feel myself getting lost in
(23:47):
its music. Seeing my state of distraction, Lenie sees the
opportunity for a game. Catch me if you can, she
yelled as she wasted no time in running up the
spiral staircase, excited, running from shelf to shelf for a
quick glance at all the dusty volumes that sat untouched
for years. It wasn't long before she threw open a
door and ran off to explore the rest of the
(24:09):
second story. By the time I reached the door she
disappeared behind, she was long out of sight. I found
myself staring down a long hallway. The walls here were
decorated with dark wood panels with detailed interior trim that
went from the floor till about halfway up, where old
and curling wallpaper took over before reaching the ceiling. The
(24:33):
hallway itself seemed impossibly long, with a multitude of doors
on either side until splitting off in both directions at
the end. For a moment, it almost seemed to sense
my disorientation and stretched itself even further. However, a quick
shake of my head with close eyes jostled that vision away,
and I began to search for my sister. While I
(24:55):
did not find her, what I did find were more
rooms that I could grasp. Multiple rooms, some even with
balconies overlooking the grounds, were among my discoveries. I also
found double doors leading to common rooms and plenty of
hidden nooks for someone to hide away in. I was
overwhelmed by the house is almost rambling complexity, and felt
(25:15):
more as if in the Minotaurs maze than my new
family home. Most rooms were already furnished, with furniture still
covered in thin white sheets from days long before us
occupying the rooms. When I did finally discover Leni's hiding place,
it was amongst a horride of dolls in one of
the bedrooms, her face barely sticking out from behind them
as she pretended to be one of them. It played
(25:37):
along at first declaring loudly that I wondered where she
could be, causing her to fall into a fit of giggles.
If she knew what awaited us that night, she wouldn't
have laughed. Lighthouse were returned after a word from our sponsors,
(26:03):
and now lighthouse continues. Leni later declared to our parents
that the very room she was hiding in was to
be her bedroom. Receiving no opposition from them, she moved
her things into it immediately. Wanting to be a good sister,
I chose the room across the hall, which was well
(26:25):
suited for me, complete with a reading nook and balcony
overlooking the front yard. It received plenty of natural light.
Not to mention, it was twice as big as my
sister's I wish I could say that that first night
in our new home was uneventful. After hours of unpacking
and settling in, we were all thoroughly exhausted from our
(26:46):
long day. I fell asleep almost instantly, my body sinking
into the bed with ease. I don't recall the exact
time it happened, but I awoke to Leni climbing into
bed with me. I assumed she was a bit nervous
about sleeping alone in a new house, but when I
heard a soft sob, I knew it was something else.
(27:06):
What's wrong, I said to her, and she buried her
head in my pillow. I saw him again, she replied,
fighting back tears. So I asked, not fully comprehending what
she meant, the man in the hat. As soon as
the words escaped from her lips, I felt a chill
run down my spine. He was standing in my doorway,
(27:31):
watching me sleep. When I asked my hackles raising, concerned
that there was an intruder in her home just now,
I closed my eyes and counted to five until he
was gone, And when he was I ran here. Even
in the darkness, I could feel her eyes welling with
tears as she stared at me. Despite the fact that
our father did not find anyone earlier, I felt the
(27:53):
need to check for myself. At the very least, I
needed to tell my parents. After I reassured her that
everything was going to be okay and crept to the door,
the hallway was empty, the shadows my only companion. Looking
toward my right was a bit easier, as my mother
had enough foresight to plug in a nightlight earlier. This
(28:15):
turned out to be both a blessing and a curse,
because as my eyes adjusted, I made out a dark
shape toward the end of the hall. At first I
thought it was a trick of the light, but movement
caused me to realize otherwise. Coming out of the darkness
was exactly what my sister exclaimed it to be, a
(28:36):
man wearing a hat. Though down the hall, I could
tell that he was dressed almost in Edwardian fashion, with
a bowler hat atop his head, and his feet didn't
seem to touch the floor. Instead, he gently floated a
few inches above it. I instinctively leaned back, startled at
(28:57):
the sight before me. This couldn't be real, This couldn't
be happening. Using my own advice, closed my eyes and
I counted five, one, two, three, four five. I hesitated
(29:24):
only a moment before taking another look, and I regretted
it as soon as I did. The man in the
hat was still there. He was now standing before my
parents bedroom, and I watched in horror as he reached
out to open it. Startled by this, I fell back
against the door frame. I tried to be silent, but lighthouse,
being as old as it was, wasn't conducive to being quiet.
(29:45):
My foot landed on an old floorboard and it creaked.
A panic set over me as I saw the man
in the hat's head began to turn in my direction.
Without wasting any time, I slammed my door shut and
shoved the bolt into lock position. I ran to my bed,
jumped in next to my sister, and pulled the covers
up over my head. Lenny could tell I was terrified,
(30:05):
and she responded in kind. Tera what's wrong, she asked,
in a panic. Be quiet, I hissed, and she was.
Both of us sat there, holding each other in the
darkness beneath the sheets, hoping against all hope that whatever
that thing was would pass us by. Every second we
waited seemed to stretch on for an hour. Every slight
(30:25):
rustle of the sheets was like a deafening roar. After
what felt like days, I poked my head out. I
was greeted only by silence. Stealing a quick glance, I
could see the night light from the hall spilling in
from beneath my door, a small triangle of hope and
the darkness of night. My sister took a peek as well.
(30:47):
We were safe. We relaxed A tiny bit coming out
from beneath the blanket, the threat of the man in
the hat came from the door. My eyes were drawn
to the night outside my win nose. Beyond the balcony
stood the lighthouse. It stood silently in the darkness, a
long dormant guardian until it wasn't. A dim glow appeared
(31:11):
in the night atop the lighthouse, as if someone had
lit a candle up there. I gasped silently, confused, much
like the house, it was to be empty, not just
because my grandmother's death, but because it was no longer
in use. I was about to get up and take
a closer look, and then I heard the floorboard creak.
(31:32):
My eyes grew wide as I watched the light outside
my door disappear as a long shadow cut into it.
I could almost see the feet that belonged to the
man in the hat in the gap between my door
frame and the floor, as they floated just above it.
The feeling of dread I felt earlier as we drove
up to lighthouse returned weighing heavy on my chest. I
(31:53):
held my breath in terror. So my door knob began
to turn slowly first, but with more force it made
a full rotation. Something pushing against it trying to get in.
As my sister let under yelp. I covered my mouth
with my hand, eyes never leaving the door's handle, thankful
thought to lock it earlier, but the locked door did
(32:15):
not stop that thing outside. Instead, it doubled its efforts,
jiggling the knob harder and faster, trying as best as
it could to force its way in. We threw the
covers back overhead, both of us crying out for our parents,
hugging each other closer, waiting for the assault to end.
The door rattled and its frame beneath it's might, shuddering
(32:37):
with every jolt as we both waited for the one
that would eventually take it off its hinges and into
my room. That went on and on and on, never
ending in our minds, driving us to the edge of
our sanity, until eventually subsided. Neither of us moved a
muscle even well after it ended. We were both too
(33:00):
scared and too tired to even consider it. At some point,
I'm not sure when we both drifted off to sleep,
still holding each other close beneath the covers. It should
come of no surprise that I didn't sleep well, tossing
and turning until the sun made its first appearance on
the horizon. Its first rays of warm light, or a
(33:21):
welcome respite from the night. In the clarity of the morning,
it almost seemed like the terror from the night before
wasn't as bad as we remembered it to be. Perhaps
it was nothing more than an incredibly vivid dream. Deep inside,
I knew that wasn't the truth. Even after my sister awoke,
her face still streaked with tears of terror, I knew
(33:45):
what we had experienced was real. I should have savored
that night. I should have enjoyed what little sleep we
did manage to get. I should have told my parents
as soon as it happened, and not waited until the
next day. But I didn't any of those things, which,
despite my youth, made me complicit. And what was to come,
(34:07):
because now that Lighthouse had us in its grasp, it
wasn't going to let us go. Lighthouse is a production
(34:37):
of I Heart Radio and Bamford Productions. Chapter one featured
the voices of Ali Trasher, John McCormick, and Paulina Logan.
Written and directed by Jeff Himbuck, Audio engineering and original
musical score by Corey Celeste. Production assistants by Alex Gona.
(34:58):
Executive produced by Holly fry, questions, comments, You can reach
us at the Man in the Hat is Watching at
gmail dot com. Thank you for listening. M.
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