September 15, 2013 • 14 mins
Spooky Appalachian ghost story of a mountain traveler, stunned by the death of his wife, who stumbles across a strange mountain town with a horrifying secret.
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"The Town Without Death" was written by Craig Dominey
Storyteller: Lanny Gilbert
Audio Production: Henry Howard
Photography: Marc del Santro
The Moonlit Road Podcast is a production of The Moonlit Road, LLC.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Night has fallen, and the moon is a
glowing golden orb in the black sky.
See how it shines on the dark back
roads of America, and on one road in
particular.
Come with us, and we'll take a walk
(00:23):
down the moonlit road, for the night is
waiting.
And the moon is full.
The Moonlit Road presents episode 44, The Town
Without Death, written by Craig Domeney and told
by Lanny Gilbert.
(00:44):
They say that death, like love, is careless
in its choosing.
Everyone will be visited by death eventually, from
the most ruthless tyrant to the kindest soul
on earth.
And that's just what Sam Dillon was, a
kind-hearted and gentle young farmer who everyone
agreed deserved nothing but the best in life.
(01:05):
Back in the olden days, Sam lived with
his childhood sweetheart Marie on a hillside farm
deep in the hollows of eastern Kentucky.
Sam had loved no one but Marie since
he was a boy, and when they finally
got to marrying age, Sam immediately made her
his bride.
They could barely eke out a living on
their rocky farmland, but they rarely complained.
(01:27):
After all, the only thing they felt they
really needed in life was each other.
But in those times, the coming of winter
brought sickness and death to many folks deep
in the hills.
And the first winter after their marriage, Marie
came down with a bad fever, which grew
worse by the day.
Sam watched with anguish as his longtime love
(01:50):
slowly slipped away from him.
And one sad morning, Marie never woke up
from her sleep.
Sam's neighbors buried Marie in a small windswept
cemetery high above the town.
But Sam knew he could no longer live
in that town without Marie, for it was
filled with so many memories of their life
(02:11):
together.
So Sam sold his farm, stuffed the bare
essentials into a tattered canvas bag, mounted his
horse, and rode far away from his home,
never to return.
Sam rode over and through the high treacherous
mountains, his overwhelming grief driving him forward into
strange lands he had never seen.
(02:32):
The dirt roads gave way to wild, untamed
forests.
Strange creatures chattered and shrieked from behind the
dark trees.
Gentle creeks gave way to raging, dangerous rivers.
After a few weeks, Sam finally got tired
of being alone and wanted human companionship again.
(02:53):
One day, Sam fought his way through the
thick brush and found himself standing on a
ledge overlooking a beautiful valley.
And nestled in that valley was a pretty
mountain village with its freshly painted houses, lush
fields and gardens, and a clean, sparkling stream
flowing through the center of town.
A hand-painted sign beside the road read,
(03:15):
Town of Burning Creek, Welcome to All!
Sam rode into the village and looked around.
It had everything a mountain town in those
days typically had.
A church, a mercantile store, a restaurant, and
a small hotel.
But Sam was surprised to find that Burning
Creek was missing one key feature.
(03:36):
So he rode up to one of the
townspeople and asked out of curiosity, Excuse me,
sir, can you tell me where the cemetery
is?
The man, who Sam noticed looked extremely tan,
healthy, and strong, let out a hearty laugh
and answered, There's no cemetery here.
Ain't no need for one.
Why's that?
Sam asked, surprised at his answer.
(03:57):
Because there ain't no death here in Burning
Creek.
That's why.
We're all too happy and healthy to die.
The man then pointed at the stream.
You see that water there?
It's filled with special minerals that come out
of old Indian caves.
He then pointed at the thick forest surrounding
them.
You see them woods?
They're filled with wild game, the biggest and
healthiest critters you've ever seen.
(04:18):
No one goes hungry here and no one
gets sick and no one dies.
The jolly man then looked over Sam's thin,
malnourished frame and said, Son, looks like you
could use a good meal.
Why don't you come down to the restaurant
tonight for supper?
There'll be plenty for you to eat, I
promise.
Well, needless to say, Sam had never heard
(04:40):
such a crazy story in all his life.
But, his rumbling stomach convinced him to look
over this minor quibble and accept the man's
offer.
Later that evening, Sam cleaned up and went
down to the restaurant.
Sure enough, it was just as the jolly
man told him it would be.
The tables were overflowing with fresh fruits and
(05:00):
vegetables, cheeses and bread.
And the sweet smell of glazed cooked meat
filled the air.
Sam dug ravenously into a huge steaming plate
of cooked game, the juicy meat just falling
off the bones and melting in his mouth.
He had never tasted meat so delicious in
his life.
Sam ate so much that night he nearly
(05:21):
passed out.
So, he decided to make Burning Creek his
new home.
At least for the time being.
The next day, he found a job as
a farmhand on a large cattle farm at
the edge of the forest.
Each night, after a hard day's work, he'd
go back to the restaurant and devour giant
helpings of that steaming, delicious game.
(05:43):
Then he'd stagger back to his employer's farm,
his belly hanging out over his pants, and
pass out in the barn loft.
And as time passed, Sam started to believe
the story he was told.
That there really was no death in Burning
Creek.
Everyone seemed healthy and fit.
(06:04):
No one appeared to be old or sick.
He thought maybe, in his long travels, he
had stumbled across heaven itself.
But on some nights, a strange thing would
happen that would awaken Sam from his deep
slumber.
He would hear strange sounds drifting from the
dark woods surrounding the farm.
(06:24):
At first, he only heard the sounds of
the night crickets as they called out to
one another.
Sometimes, he would hear the howl of a
wolf or the low hoot of a mountain
owl.
But then he would hear something else.
Something that sounded like whispers.
Numerous whispering voices drifting from the blackness in
(06:44):
a hushed conversation Sam could not understand.
Then they would just drift away.
And Sam would return to his slumber.
And so, each day was just like the
last.
Sam worked hard on the farm.
Then he would head to the restaurant for
another massive dinner.
And as the weeks passed, Sam's thin physique
(07:04):
began to go more and more plump.
He simply couldn't stop himself from eating that
delicious food.
But when he would return to the barn
at night, he would awaken to that same
strange sound.
Eerie, unintelligible whispers drifting from the darkness, growing
louder as they surrounded him, then vanishing as
(07:27):
quickly as they came.
Sam figured something in that food was giving
him crazy dreams, but it seemed a small
price to pay.
Sam followed this same routine day after day
until he turned into quite a chubby man.
It took all his strength just to do
the simple farm chores he had done so
many times before.
Rivers of sweat would pour down his shirt,
(07:50):
and he constantly had to plop down under
a shady tree and rest, his chest heaving
with each pained breath.
One night, he was awoken again by whispering.
But this time the voices weren't coming from
the woods.
He looked out the window and saw a
light on in the farmhouse kitchen.
(08:10):
Through the curtain, he saw the shadows of
three men sitting around the table.
It was quite unusual for his boss to
be up so late at night, and with
company no less.
Curious, Sam crept out of the barn and
over to the window, eavesdropping on the hushed
conversation inside.
That boy's getting sicker every day, he heard
(08:32):
his boss say.
We wait much longer, he'll be too sickly
for us to eat.
He's gotten plenty big by now, said another.
You seen the size of him lately?
We'll get two, maybe three good meals out
of him.
Just looking at him work them fields makes
me hungry, answered another.
Sam's boss then replied, All right then, I'll
(08:54):
kill him tomorrow, but you boys gotta help
me out this time.
I ain't staying up all night cooking them
like I did that last time.
Sam's stomach turned, his head spinning so hard
he had to lean against the house.
Now he knew why there wasn't a graveyard
in Burning Springs.
He had been eating the bodies of the
dead.
And what's worse, he was next!
(09:17):
Sam felt sickness building in his throat, but
knew he had no choice but to run
away into the night.
He left his belongings behind and charged straight
into the forest, staggering blindly in the darkness,
the tree limbs scratching and clawing at his
face.
For what seemed like hours he huffed and
puffed through the woods until he could take
no more.
He collapsed under a tree, his heart pounding
(09:38):
in his ears.
As the forest grew still around him, he
began to hear the whispering again.
The same voices he had heard each night
in the barn.
The whispers grew louder and louder, seemingly surrounding
him.
And as he listened close, he could finally
make out what they were saying.
(09:58):
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
It was then that the bright moon shone
through the trees, and in that moonlight, Sam
saw a sight that chilled his blood.
The woods were strewn with human bones, hundreds
of them, skulls, ribcages, arms, legs, fingers, and
(10:20):
toes.
Maybe they were wayward travelers like Sam, picked
clean of their flesh by the human vultures
of Burning Creek, and their whispers grew even
louder.
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
Well, like I said, Sam was a kind
(10:40):
-hearted man.
He was terrified, exhausted, and sick to his
stomach, but he also knew he had a
job to do.
So he found a large rock and dug
a crude grave.
For hours he worked, his hands cut and
bleeding.
He then gingerly lowered every bone he could
(11:01):
find into that pit and shoveled the dirt
back on top.
Sure enough, as he kicked the last bit
of dirt over that grave, the loud whispering
suddenly stopped, and the night was quiet again.
Sam then continued running into the woods and
vanished into the night.
A few days later, Sam stumbled across a
(11:23):
small mining town.
He immediately found the sheriff and told him
the hideous story.
At first, the sheriff thought Sam was crazy,
but he had heard stories in the past
of travelers who had ridden in the direction
of Burning Creek, never to return.
So he agreed to lead a posse over
to Burning Creek to check things out with
Sam leading the way.
When the sheriff's posse finally arrived in Burning
(11:44):
Creek, they found the streets eerily quiet and
empty.
Hello!
They called out, but no one answered.
They then walked over to the restaurant and
opened the door with a loud creak.
What awaited them inside was a ghastly sight.
It was a dinner party that had suddenly
(12:04):
been frozen in time.
The tables were filled with smelly, rotting food,
with flies and rodents feasting on the remains.
Sitting frozen in the chairs were the dead
citizens of Burning Creek, their faces twisted in
agonizing pain, the skin on their skeletal corpses
(12:25):
marked with hideous purple blotches.
The sheriff turned to Sam and said, Them
people got poison, real bad poison.
He then picked up a piece of rotten
meat and said, Maybe it was something they
ate.
That story was good enough for the sheriff.
To stop the spread of disease, they wheeled
(12:46):
away the bodies and buried them in a
mass grave, giving Burning Creek its first real
cemetery.
But Sam knew that something else had happened.
By giving the poor souls scattered throughout the
woods a proper burial, he had freed their
spirits from eternal torment.
And before those spirits traveled to their final
(13:06):
resting place, they got their revenge on the
citizens of Burning Creek.
Sam eventually found another town to live in,
one with a prominent cemetery on a hillside
overlooking the town, a constant reminder for Sam
that there really was no escape from death
and that life must be lived to the
(13:26):
fullest each day.
That concludes this tale from The Moonlit Road.
Be sure to visit our website at themoonlitroad
.com to find out more about our stories
and let us know how we're doing.
The Moonlit Road is produced and directed by
(13:48):
Craig Dominey, recorded and soundscaped by Henry Howard
in beautiful Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next
time.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Night has fallen, and the moon is a
glowing golden orb in the black sky.
See how it shines on the dark back
roads of America, and on one road in
particular.
Come with us, and we'll take a walk
(00:23):
down the moonlit road, for the night is
waiting.
And the moon is full.
The Moonlit Road presents episode 44, The Town
Without Death, written by Craig Domeney and told
by Lanny Gilbert.
(00:44):
They say that death, like love, is careless
in its choosing.
Everyone will be visited by death eventually, from
the most ruthless tyrant to the kindest soul
on earth.
And that's just what Sam Dillon was, a
kind-hearted and gentle young farmer who everyone
agreed deserved nothing but the best in life.
(01:05):
Back in the olden days, Sam lived with
his childhood sweetheart Marie on a hillside farm
deep in the hollows of eastern Kentucky.
Sam had loved no one but Marie since
he was a boy, and when they finally
got to marrying age, Sam immediately made her
his bride.
They could barely eke out a living on
their rocky farmland, but they rarely complained.
(01:27):
After all, the only thing they felt they
really needed in life was each other.
But in those times, the coming of winter
brought sickness and death to many folks deep
in the hills.
And the first winter after their marriage, Marie
came down with a bad fever, which grew
worse by the day.
Sam watched with anguish as his longtime love
(01:50):
slowly slipped away from him.
And one sad morning, Marie never woke up
from her sleep.
Sam's neighbors buried Marie in a small windswept
cemetery high above the town.
But Sam knew he could no longer live
in that town without Marie, for it was
filled with so many memories of their life
(02:11):
together.
So Sam sold his farm, stuffed the bare
essentials into a tattered canvas bag, mounted his
horse, and rode far away from his home,
never to return.
Sam rode over and through the high treacherous
mountains, his overwhelming grief driving him forward into
strange lands he had never seen.
(02:32):
The dirt roads gave way to wild, untamed
forests.
Strange creatures chattered and shrieked from behind the
dark trees.
Gentle creeks gave way to raging, dangerous rivers.
After a few weeks, Sam finally got tired
of being alone and wanted human companionship again.
(02:53):
One day, Sam fought his way through the
thick brush and found himself standing on a
ledge overlooking a beautiful valley.
And nestled in that valley was a pretty
mountain village with its freshly painted houses, lush
fields and gardens, and a clean, sparkling stream
flowing through the center of town.
A hand-painted sign beside the road read,
(03:15):
Town of Burning Creek, Welcome to All!
Sam rode into the village and looked around.
It had everything a mountain town in those
days typically had.
A church, a mercantile store, a restaurant, and
a small hotel.
But Sam was surprised to find that Burning
Creek was missing one key feature.
(03:36):
So he rode up to one of the
townspeople and asked out of curiosity, Excuse me,
sir, can you tell me where the cemetery
is?
The man, who Sam noticed looked extremely tan,
healthy, and strong, let out a hearty laugh
and answered, There's no cemetery here.
Ain't no need for one.
Why's that?
Sam asked, surprised at his answer.
(03:57):
Because there ain't no death here in Burning
Creek.
That's why.
We're all too happy and healthy to die.
The man then pointed at the stream.
You see that water there?
It's filled with special minerals that come out
of old Indian caves.
He then pointed at the thick forest surrounding
them.
You see them woods?
They're filled with wild game, the biggest and
healthiest critters you've ever seen.
(04:18):
No one goes hungry here and no one
gets sick and no one dies.
The jolly man then looked over Sam's thin,
malnourished frame and said, Son, looks like you
could use a good meal.
Why don't you come down to the restaurant
tonight for supper?
There'll be plenty for you to eat, I
promise.
Well, needless to say, Sam had never heard
(04:40):
such a crazy story in all his life.
But, his rumbling stomach convinced him to look
over this minor quibble and accept the man's
offer.
Later that evening, Sam cleaned up and went
down to the restaurant.
Sure enough, it was just as the jolly
man told him it would be.
The tables were overflowing with fresh fruits and
(05:00):
vegetables, cheeses and bread.
And the sweet smell of glazed cooked meat
filled the air.
Sam dug ravenously into a huge steaming plate
of cooked game, the juicy meat just falling
off the bones and melting in his mouth.
He had never tasted meat so delicious in
his life.
Sam ate so much that night he nearly
(05:21):
passed out.
So, he decided to make Burning Creek his
new home.
At least for the time being.
The next day, he found a job as
a farmhand on a large cattle farm at
the edge of the forest.
Each night, after a hard day's work, he'd
go back to the restaurant and devour giant
helpings of that steaming, delicious game.
(05:43):
Then he'd stagger back to his employer's farm,
his belly hanging out over his pants, and
pass out in the barn loft.
And as time passed, Sam started to believe
the story he was told.
That there really was no death in Burning
Creek.
Everyone seemed healthy and fit.
(06:04):
No one appeared to be old or sick.
He thought maybe, in his long travels, he
had stumbled across heaven itself.
But on some nights, a strange thing would
happen that would awaken Sam from his deep
slumber.
He would hear strange sounds drifting from the
dark woods surrounding the farm.
(06:24):
At first, he only heard the sounds of
the night crickets as they called out to
one another.
Sometimes, he would hear the howl of a
wolf or the low hoot of a mountain
owl.
But then he would hear something else.
Something that sounded like whispers.
Numerous whispering voices drifting from the blackness in
(06:44):
a hushed conversation Sam could not understand.
Then they would just drift away.
And Sam would return to his slumber.
And so, each day was just like the
last.
Sam worked hard on the farm.
Then he would head to the restaurant for
another massive dinner.
And as the weeks passed, Sam's thin physique
(07:04):
began to go more and more plump.
He simply couldn't stop himself from eating that
delicious food.
But when he would return to the barn
at night, he would awaken to that same
strange sound.
Eerie, unintelligible whispers drifting from the darkness, growing
louder as they surrounded him, then vanishing as
(07:27):
quickly as they came.
Sam figured something in that food was giving
him crazy dreams, but it seemed a small
price to pay.
Sam followed this same routine day after day
until he turned into quite a chubby man.
It took all his strength just to do
the simple farm chores he had done so
many times before.
Rivers of sweat would pour down his shirt,
(07:50):
and he constantly had to plop down under
a shady tree and rest, his chest heaving
with each pained breath.
One night, he was awoken again by whispering.
But this time the voices weren't coming from
the woods.
He looked out the window and saw a
light on in the farmhouse kitchen.
(08:10):
Through the curtain, he saw the shadows of
three men sitting around the table.
It was quite unusual for his boss to
be up so late at night, and with
company no less.
Curious, Sam crept out of the barn and
over to the window, eavesdropping on the hushed
conversation inside.
That boy's getting sicker every day, he heard
(08:32):
his boss say.
We wait much longer, he'll be too sickly
for us to eat.
He's gotten plenty big by now, said another.
You seen the size of him lately?
We'll get two, maybe three good meals out
of him.
Just looking at him work them fields makes
me hungry, answered another.
Sam's boss then replied, All right then, I'll
(08:54):
kill him tomorrow, but you boys gotta help
me out this time.
I ain't staying up all night cooking them
like I did that last time.
Sam's stomach turned, his head spinning so hard
he had to lean against the house.
Now he knew why there wasn't a graveyard
in Burning Springs.
He had been eating the bodies of the
dead.
And what's worse, he was next!
(09:17):
Sam felt sickness building in his throat, but
knew he had no choice but to run
away into the night.
He left his belongings behind and charged straight
into the forest, staggering blindly in the darkness,
the tree limbs scratching and clawing at his
face.
For what seemed like hours he huffed and
puffed through the woods until he could take
no more.
He collapsed under a tree, his heart pounding
(09:38):
in his ears.
As the forest grew still around him, he
began to hear the whispering again.
The same voices he had heard each night
in the barn.
The whispers grew louder and louder, seemingly surrounding
him.
And as he listened close, he could finally
make out what they were saying.
(09:58):
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
It was then that the bright moon shone
through the trees, and in that moonlight, Sam
saw a sight that chilled his blood.
The woods were strewn with human bones, hundreds
of them, skulls, ribcages, arms, legs, fingers, and
(10:20):
toes.
Maybe they were wayward travelers like Sam, picked
clean of their flesh by the human vultures
of Burning Creek, and their whispers grew even
louder.
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
Dig us a grave.
Well, like I said, Sam was a kind
(10:40):
-hearted man.
He was terrified, exhausted, and sick to his
stomach, but he also knew he had a
job to do.
So he found a large rock and dug
a crude grave.
For hours he worked, his hands cut and
bleeding.
He then gingerly lowered every bone he could
(11:01):
find into that pit and shoveled the dirt
back on top.
Sure enough, as he kicked the last bit
of dirt over that grave, the loud whispering
suddenly stopped, and the night was quiet again.
Sam then continued running into the woods and
vanished into the night.
A few days later, Sam stumbled across a
(11:23):
small mining town.
He immediately found the sheriff and told him
the hideous story.
At first, the sheriff thought Sam was crazy,
but he had heard stories in the past
of travelers who had ridden in the direction
of Burning Creek, never to return.
So he agreed to lead a posse over
to Burning Creek to check things out with
Sam leading the way.
When the sheriff's posse finally arrived in Burning
(11:44):
Creek, they found the streets eerily quiet and
empty.
Hello!
They called out, but no one answered.
They then walked over to the restaurant and
opened the door with a loud creak.
What awaited them inside was a ghastly sight.
It was a dinner party that had suddenly
(12:04):
been frozen in time.
The tables were filled with smelly, rotting food,
with flies and rodents feasting on the remains.
Sitting frozen in the chairs were the dead
citizens of Burning Creek, their faces twisted in
agonizing pain, the skin on their skeletal corpses
(12:25):
marked with hideous purple blotches.
The sheriff turned to Sam and said, Them
people got poison, real bad poison.
He then picked up a piece of rotten
meat and said, Maybe it was something they
ate.
That story was good enough for the sheriff.
To stop the spread of disease, they wheeled
(12:46):
away the bodies and buried them in a
mass grave, giving Burning Creek its first real
cemetery.
But Sam knew that something else had happened.
By giving the poor souls scattered throughout the
woods a proper burial, he had freed their
spirits from eternal torment.
And before those spirits traveled to their final
(13:06):
resting place, they got their revenge on the
citizens of Burning Creek.
Sam eventually found another town to live in,
one with a prominent cemetery on a hillside
overlooking the town, a constant reminder for Sam
that there really was no escape from death
and that life must be lived to the
(13:26):
fullest each day.
That concludes this tale from The Moonlit Road.
Be sure to visit our website at themoonlitroad
.com to find out more about our stories
and let us know how we're doing.
The Moonlit Road is produced and directed by
(13:48):
Craig Dominey, recorded and soundscaped by Henry Howard
in beautiful Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next
time.
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