I Was Sent to Debunk the Mountain Shrine. I Couldn't Explain What I Saw.

Edward Blair only wanted a quick, quirky feature story from a secluded Japanese shrine—but what he found was a girl who defied explanation, a priest with powers beyond science, and a warning about the dangerous cost of controlling the universe.


“The Shrine” by Walt Sheldon – originally published in Fantastic Universe, December 1956

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Fully Produced Version: https://www.auditoryanthology.com/2025/04/17/the-shrine-by-walt-sheldon/

Originally aired: December 15, 2025

EPISODE PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/TheShrine
ABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The following is the story I narrated for the Auditory
Anthology podcast a few months ago. If you'd like to
hear the fully produced version with music and sound effects,
I've placed a link to the full version in the
episode description. And if you're a fan of classic sci
fi stories from the fifties and sixties, or quirky, short,
creepy stories, you'll want to subscribe to Auditory Anthology, which
you can do at auditoryanthology dot com. The Shrine by

(00:31):
Walt Sheldon, originally published in Fantastic Universe December nineteen fifty six.
The American stopped to rest to dull up his brow,
and he withdrew for a moment into the modeled shade
beside the trail. Ahead, the mountain rose and became blue
with distance. A figure in a saffron robe moved down

(00:54):
the trail and toward him a woman set his lips
without sound. His eyes clocked surprise. He was Edward Blair.
He worked for the English language Tokyo Tribune. It was
as good a paper as any to work for when
your career had been interrupted twice by war. You could
coast on the Tokyo trib You could let things not matter.

(01:18):
Now he watched the woman. She walked with a gliding motion,
though her steps were tiny and downhill. Her shoulders moved
in an even line. They were small shoulders, and as
she neared he saw above them an oval face, a
beautiful and simple face with golden skin and eyes of
dark velvet. He stepped out of the shade and smiled

(01:41):
as she came upon him. She showed no surprise, and
he was startled to hear her speak good English. You
are mister Blair. Why, yes, yes, I am. I am
sent to meet you. I am sorry to be late.
That's all right. I will show you the to the shrine. Well, thanks,

(02:03):
but they said in the village it was easy to find.
Just follow the trail to the top of the mountain.
But I will take you a pleasure, believe me, said
ed Blair, and grinned. And now they walked together. She effortlessly,
like silk, waved in air. He seemed to walk more

(02:24):
easily too. He no longer panted. The long grasses, the
persimon trees, and the bamboo groves went by. He carried
a press camera and a bag full of bulbs, but
they no longer seemed heavy. Nice of them to send you,
he told the girl. She laughed. There are tinkling strips
of glass hung in a Japanese garden in summer for

(02:46):
their cool sound. She laughed, like this, Nito San has
reason for sending me. He always has reason. Nito's san.
He is the high priest. You say in English. He
taught me English, and your name Yuki. That can mean

(03:06):
snow or flower, said Blair. Do you know Japanese writing? No,
but I heard it somewhere, he laughed. Then he mopped
his brow again. A hot, isn't it. We must have
a breeze, she said. A breeze sprang up. Well, you
certainly ordered that one night, though, San said to make

(03:28):
you comfortable. She said this quite seriously. They walked some more,
and he forgot the coincidence. He watched the girl, admiring
her effortless walk. Presently, he said, well, I'm going to
enjoy this visit anyway. Enjoy I didn't think I would
at first. I thought it was all just another crazy

(03:48):
idea of Murdoch's. He's the managing editor. I told him
it was crazy to send me out here to the
mountains and waste three days getting a brightener for page two.
I do not understand all of what you say these
magic tricks the monks do. What I mean is they're interesting,
but not big important news. We call a story like

(04:10):
this a feature. We don't usually take a lot of
time or trouble with it. But they are not magic tricks.
They are more well all right, I understand how you feel.
He wondered what her place in the Hutaka shrine might be.
Priestess perhaps, except that you couldn't use Western words for

(04:31):
these things. The ideas were different. But she was beautiful.
That was the same in any language. They reached the
shrine in some twenty minutes of climbing, and because of
the breeze, and because his feet had suddenly become light,
he was not exhausted. The shrine was in a flat
place near the top of the mountain. It was not imposing.

(04:52):
It had no huge tory or entranceway like a Shinto shrine,
and there was little elaborate gilding or carving. Inside there
was a kind of chancel with flowers, incense holders and
hanging prayers and mattos. There were low buildings off to
one side, and the land about them was a carefully
made garden cool and withdrawn, and both men and women

(05:15):
in robes of gray or saffron or blue, walked about
this garden quietly. There an old man, bald and with
skin like saddle leather, came forward. He was old, but
his eyes were more They were ageless, like black sky
on a cloudless night. He wore silk. He smiled, but

(05:36):
with restraint, then offered his hand Western style. Welcome, mister Blair.
I am Naito. We are glad to have you here.
Thank you? How do you do you want a hot bath?
I think, and then a little wrist After that we
could eat together and talk. Well. Thanks, but actually I
like to get to the story. Then go on back

(05:58):
to the village again. The last train leaves about six,
but you must stay longer. Surely now, I really ought
to get back to the office. Took me a day
and a half to get here, after all, Naito smiled
and shook his head. You are still in the grip
of time, mister Blair. Spend time with us and you
will slip a little from its tyranny. You're very kind

(06:21):
to mister Nito, but well, you have your world and
I have mine. Times important in mine. If you could
just show me some of these tricks you do, ah
tis ticks. Naito still smiled, but Blair felt the anger
radiate from him like heat. You'll want to see out
of ticks. Then, well, that's what I came here for,

(06:44):
I told mister Murdoch. Said Naito, drawing his robe more
closely about him, just said, the man who would understand
someone who was not all Western, who had a little
of the Oriental viewpoint. Blair laughed. Murdoch would think that
about me because I show a little interest in things Oriental,
because I don't think a deep freeze or an eight

(07:04):
cylinder juke box on wheels is the greatest thing in
the world. Nevertheless, mister Naito, I come from a middle
class American background, and my viewpoint is still pretty Western.
Nor am I one of these odd intellectual types who
seemed to be ashamed of it? That is hope, said Naiito.
I'm glad you came. Blair took folded copy paper and

(07:27):
a pencil from his pocket. But shall we get down
to business now? First, let me get your full name
and where you come from and all that. Then the
exact name of your sect here or whatever it is.
Naiito seemed amused. Yuki stood by with great poise. Blair
glanced at her and thought, yes, flower, when she stands,

(07:49):
she grows quietly like a flower. Then Naito gave the facts.
He was Japanese, but it lived in Canada and the
United States for some years. He held a doctor's degree
from Sayeda University in Tokyo, and he had taken postgraduate
courses in America. He'd studied Buddhism in China to bet
in India. He had drawn from many of the other

(08:10):
sects and founded his own, calling it Koto, using the
character that meant event or circumstance. Yes, said Blair politely,
Now what about these magic tricks of yours? Murdoch had
said there would be magic tricks. Friends of Murdoch's tourists
had come across the Hataka Shrine and had seen them.

(08:32):
Murdoch had sent Blair with his speed graphic to get
the story. The Americans of the security forces who supported
the Tokyo trib liked these features very much. From them,
they became experts on Japan without the annoyance of going
too far afield from the well stocked clubs or comfortable
billeting areas. Naito, the high priest side. I will do

(08:53):
it the cheap way. Then he took Blair to another
corner of the garden. Yuki followed. Gliding Here, water trickled
from rocks into a small pool where black and orange
carp swam. Naito watched the pool for a while, and
presently the water stopped running. A moment later, it began
to seep upward toward the cleft in the rock there,

(09:16):
said Naiito. What's this supposed to prove? Asked Blair. Walter,
running up pill, said Naito, Is that enough of a
trick for you? I don't get it all right, Let's
try something else. He moved off swiftly, angrily, shucked the
getta from his feet, entered one of the cottages, and

(09:37):
a moment later returned. Healed child's rubber balloon. It's round,
he said, holding it up for Blair to see. Okay,
a round balloon. Naito blew it up. Instead of inflating
to a round shape, it extended itself into a long
banana like form. Then he blew it up again, and

(09:57):
this time shapes like fingers came out it at various points. Well,
said Blair, you still don't see do you tell me?
What do you want me to do? Oh? The water
illusion and the balloon thing are clever enough. I don't
have any idea how you do it, said Blair. But
the tricks well they lack drama. If you see what

(10:20):
I mean, No flash, I'm like a good visual trick,
one I can really photograph. Now, Naito seemed to seethe inside.
He breathed quickly, heavily as he talked. What would you have?
He said? What would you have, mister Blair? I can
do the hindoo rope trick. I can fascinate snakes, and
I can put Yuki in a box and saw her

(10:40):
in half. Is that the kind of thing you might understand? Well, well,
it ought to be something sort of new, said Blair. New,
repeated Naito. Something new. Very well, then, but first you
must understand. This time, you must understand. We will have tea.

(11:01):
They sat upon grass mats in one of the cottages,
over cups of pale green tea. Yuki sat beside Blair,
and her shoulders touched him. Now and then when this happened,
he found it difficult to concentrate on what Naido was saying.
Your Western science, said Naito, is only beginning to learn
what we know. And from a totally different viewpoint, your

(11:22):
doctor Norbert Weener has beautifully clarified the essential fallacy of
the Newtonian viewpoint that nature acts and reacts according to
rigid laws. He shows instead that he is highly probable
nature will do this, probable enough so that for everyday
purposes one may defend on it. Do you follow me,
mister Blair, I'm afraid I'm not very much up on

(11:45):
my science. Well, I'm trying to explain it in terms
a Westerner will understand. You saw a quantity of water
run uphill. It was not an illusion, mister Blair. It
is highly probable that water will not run uphill, but
it is also possible that, under certain circumstances it may.
And as for the balloon, tell me, why does gas

(12:07):
exert equal pressure in every direction? I'm sure I don't know,
but you must remember surely the molecules of a gas
fly about in random directions. They exert force upon the
walls of any container. The gas happens to be in entropy,
or the universal tendency toward disorder that Weena speaks of,

(12:28):
keeps an average of them exerting force in all directions.
So the pressure remains equal in all directions, and we
can measure it and be certain, reasonably certain that the
next man who measures it would get the same result. Ah,
I remember Boyle's law exactly. And Boyle's law, or Ohm's laws,

(12:49):
or Newton's laws or anyone else's laws are based on probability,
nearly overwhelming probability. But what happens in the rare, almost
unthinkable case where every factor does not act according to
the most pragmatic law of all, the law of averages.
We're getting way up in the clouds now, said Blair.

(13:11):
Please try to see it, Yes, please do. Yuki touched
his arm. I blew up a round balloon, said Naito.
The gas should have exerted equal pressure in every direction,
but something happened to the law of averages. Most of
the molecules flew in one direction, and the balloon assumed
a long shape. It was one chance in a number

(13:36):
I cannot even express. It is so huge, yet it
was still possible. No, No, wait a minute, doctor Nato
said Blair. You're a very nice fellow, and I don't
really want to offend you, but honestly, I've been around
and A lot of people have tried to fool me
with double talk, not as larned as yours, but the

(13:56):
principle's the same. Now, look, why don't you make some
fire fine visual trick for me that I can photograph.
Then I can get out of here. Oh dear, said Naiito,
Now what's the trouble? This isn't what I wanted at all.
I hoped Murdoch's reporter would be well sensitive. You see,

(14:17):
the time has come to spread what we've learned, to
find new supporters. I'd hoped to get a few this way.
How about my trick, asked Blair. Very well, come into
the garden again. In the garden, he spoke rapidly for
a few moments to Yuki in Japanese. Then he turned
to Blair. Watch her have your camera ready? I'm ready. Yuki,

(14:44):
a few feet away from them, closed her eyes and
at first began to turn slowly in one spot. Her
step to begin was a slow pirouette. Then gradually she
began to revolve more rapidly. Personally, she was turning so
fast that Blair could scarcely believe it. He would not
have believed before that the finest professional dancer could Purouete

(15:04):
with this speed, he began to take pictures. He was
so busy taking pictures that at first he did not
notice the blurred shape that was Yuki whirling beginning to disappear.
Then this became apparent to him. He stared, open mouthed
that Yuki vanished from sight. My my gosh, that's terrific,
he said, where'd she go? She's still right there, said Naiito.

(15:30):
Blair walked to the spot, felt nothing. He moved his
hands about where the girl had been spinning. She's not there,
he said, returning. That's a honey, though, you can make
a nice living back in the States out of that
one alone. Naito sighed, Now, how do you bring her back?
Asked Blair, and kept his camera ready. Presently presently, said Naito.

(15:54):
I think she distracts you. And now while you can't
see her, you must try once more to understand. You
must know why I do these tricks, as you call them,
all right? Why or better yet, how you in the
West would call it. Psychokinesis mentally controlling matter your conventional

(16:15):
table lifting of spiritualists is an example. So is the
phenomenon of people who seem to be able to wheel
nice to fall a certain way. And if your literature, well,
Moses and the Red Sea is the first thing that
comes to mind. Actually, your doctor Rhine and some others
have discovered some evidence that seems to support to the

(16:36):
Western mind the existence of psychokinesis. But you can never
really understand it with Western scientific thinking methods. I cannot
even explain it clearly in your terms, Blair smiled a little.
I think you can explain it all logically enough, if
you really wanted to. But actually, I don't blame you
for not wanting to give a trick like that away.

(16:58):
This is no trick and it is not what you
understand as logical, said Naiito, shaking his head stubbornly. I
know that you must have logic to understand. You crave
the drug of logic. You want everything labeled and explained
in terms of cause a deffect. You cannot conceive that
cause an effect may be won or indeed exist independently.

(17:20):
And do you see what this way of thinking has
led to? Oh what is it led to? Blair tried
to be patient. You have developed a huge, powerful, monstrous
science of cause and effect. You fly at vast speeds,
you build huge edifices, You change the face of the
earth with dams and canals. You will soon, no doubt

(17:42):
escape the gravity of the Earth itself and reach out
to space. And you are quite capable of making an
explosion big enough to destroy the Earth itself. It is awesome.
You indeed are awed by the monster you've created. Now
you begin to worship it. Scientific method becomes the only
method for anything. Now you cannot understand, nor can you tolerate,

(18:06):
anything that does not show logic and exhibit a clear
pattern of cause and effect. I think i'd better get
along and catch that train now, said Blair, Which mind
producing the young lady again. I'd like to say goodbye
to her. You haven't heard all my story yet. I
think I've heard enough. Maaito nodded at the spot where

(18:28):
the girl had apparently disappeared. Watch, he said. Presently a
blur came into sight, and as its velocity decreased, he
saw that it was the girl, spinning now in the
opposite direction. He took more pictures. It was not long
before she stood there, no longer moving and seemingly calm
and not exhausted. She opened her eyes saw Blair and smiled.

(18:53):
I still say it's a great trick, said Blair. It's
only the beginning, said Naiito. We can do these few
cheap tricks you've seen, but there are only exercises in
control we are still learning. Someday we, or more likely
our descendants, will be able to control most of the
entropy of the universe. By wielding it, we would be

(19:15):
able to halt the explosion of a star, change the
orbit of the moon, reverse the tides. Then, more important,
we can freeze a soldier's bullet in his rifle before
he fires it, and we can keep any nuclear bomb
ever from exploding. Then we can make order. Then we
can properly control mankind itself and give it the order

(19:37):
it has sought so long. Now you know why I
am here and what I am trying to do. You're
not really so different than are you, said Blair. I
beg your pardon. Never mind, I have to leave now,
it doesn't matter. Nita looked at him with a dark
porcelain eye. I sensing you an enemy, mister Blair, Yes,

(20:02):
said Blair, Perhaps you're right. Maito looked about, glancing at
some of the others strolling about the shrine. For a moment,
Blair found the man would try to forcibly detain him.
Blair stiffened himself and hardened his muscles. Magic or no magic,
the old bald fellow would have a scrap on his
hands if he tried any kind of violence. Maito then said, abruptly,

(20:25):
But not a powerful enemy, mister Blair. You will make
fun of us in your newspaper article, I suppose, but
it won't really change anything. You may as well leave now,
if you are so anxious to go. Yuki will take
you down the mountain again. Thank you for your time
and trouble, said Blair, stiffly, politely. Again. He was on
the trail descending, and the shrine and the mountaintop were

(20:49):
moving back into the blueness of the sky. The girl
walked you little ahead. He watched her for a while,
still admiring her, and presently he spoke. He knew what
I meant, he said. She turned her head slightly. Naitosn Yes,
of course I don't believe any of his double talk.

(21:09):
But if I did, I would be his enemy. He
saw that, Why would you be his enemy? Because he's
a tyrant, Naaritos on. A tyrant that is a bad ruler,
is it not a tyrant. Nayito son is not like this,
But he is every tyrant that ever lived. Began with

(21:29):
the hope of controlling mankind for its own good, for
what he decided was its own good. I don't know,
said Yuki. I don't understand. Oh, you say, how long
have you been with Naito? Since I was a child.
He took me when my parents died. He has been
like a father. He says. I must learn, always learn more.

(21:52):
He says, my life is important. Blair moved forward. Suddenly,
he took the girl's slim shoulder and turned her toward him.
He stood there in the middle of the steep trail,
with the tall grasses and embroidered shadows beside it, held
her thus and looked down into her young, golden face.
He's decided what's good for you, too, hasn't he? He

(22:14):
thinks he's God in that way. He's no different from
some of our Western thinkers. He seems to despise so much. Yes,
he's wise, but when will it wise learn that wisdom
doesn't give them the right to run the universe. They
do not understand, said Yuki, her eyes dark and wide.
He took both her shoulders thrilling to touch them, and

(22:37):
he crushed her body gently to his, feeling all the
live shape of it in his own body. He found
her lips. She trembled, and he knew then that she
had not been kissed before. Some time later he walked away,
leaving her still there on the trail. He knew and
felt she too must know, that they would never come

(22:57):
together again. Now he would return to the Tokyo Tribune
and take up the career of Edward Blair again, and
in a day or two the story of the magic
Monks of Hattaka Shrine would brighten page two, and his
photos would cause some comment, but everyone would be sure
there was some natural explanation for it, and in a
short time it would all be forgotten. Blair would not forget.

(23:23):
He would never forget the girl's golden skin, nor the
warmth of her parted lips, and she would not forget
him either, no matter what Naito taught, for this was
something that Naito could not understand, neither in terms of
science nor his own queer magic art. Once more, Blair

(23:43):
looked back, turning and seeing the girl for the last time,
she raised her arm to him, then dropped it again.
After that he saw her as a motionless stroke of
gold against the darkening mountain,