The Terrible Old Man - H P Lovecraft

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Terrible Old Man by H. P. Lovecraft. It was
the design of Angelo Ricci and Joe channiic and Manuel
Silva to call on the Terrible Old Man. This old
man dwells all alone in a very ancient house on
Water Street near the sea, and is reputed to be
both exceedingly rich and exceedingly feeble, which forms a situation
very attractive to men of the profession of Messrs Ricci,

(00:23):
Channik and Silva, for that profession was nothing less dignified
than robbery. The inhabitants of Kingsport say and think many
things about the Terrible old Man, which generally keep him
safe from the attention of gentlemen like Ricci and his colleagues,
despite the almost certain fact that he hides a fortune
of indefinite magnitude somewhere about his musty and venerable abode.

(00:44):
He is, in truth a very strange person, believed to
have been a captain of East India clipperships in his day,
so old no one can remember when he was young,
and so taciturn that few know his real name. Among
the gnarled trees in the front yard of his aged
and neglected place, he maintains a strange collection of large stones,
oddly grouped and painted so that they resemble the idols

(01:07):
in some obscure Eastern temple. This collection frightens away most
of the small boys, who love to taunt the terrible
old man about his long white hair and beard, or
to break the small paned windows of his dwelling with
wicked missiles. But there are other things which frighten the
older and more curious folks, who sometimes steal up to
the house to peer in through the dusty panes. These

(01:27):
folks say that on a table in a bare room
on the ground floor are many peculiar bottles, in each
a small piece of lead suspended pendulum wise from a string.
And they say that the terrible old Man talks to
these bottles, addressing them by such names as Jack, Scarface,
Long Tom, Spanish, Joe Peters, and Mate Ellis, and that

(01:48):
whenever he speaks to a bottle, the little lead pendulum
within makes certain definite vibrations, as if in answer. Those
who have watched the tall, lean, terrible old man in
these peculiar conversations do not watch him again. But Angelo Ricci,
and Joe Channick and Manuel Silva were not of Kingsport blood.
They were of that new and heterogeneous alien stock which

(02:08):
lies outside the charmed circle of New England life and traditions.
And they saw in the terrible old man merely a tottering,
almost helpless graybeard, who could not walk without the aid
of his knotted cane, and whose thin, weak hands shook pitifully.
They were really quite sorry in their way for the lonely,
unpopular old fellow, whom everybody shunned, and at whom all

(02:29):
the dogs barked singularly. But business is business, and to
a robber whose soul is in his profession, there is
a lure and a challenge about a very old and
very feeble man who has no account at the bank,
and who pays for his few necessities at the village
store with Spanish gold and silver minted two centuries ago.
Messrs Riccie, Chanik and Silva selected the night of April

(02:51):
eleventh for their call. Mister Ricci and mister Silva were
to interview the poor old gentleman, whilst mister Channick waited
for them in their presumably metallic burden with a covered
motor car in Ship Street by the gate in the
tall rear wall of their host's grounds. Desire to avoid
needless explanations in case of unexpected police intrusions prompted these

(03:11):
plans for a quiet and unostentatious departure. As pre arranged,
the three adventurers started out separately in order to prevent
any evil minded suspicions. Afterward, Messrs Richie and Silva met
in Water Street by the old man's front gate, and
though they did not like the way the moon shone
down upon the painted stones through the budding branches of
the gnarled trees, they had more important things to think

(03:34):
about than mere idle superstition. They feared it might be
unpleasant work making the old man loquacious regarding his hoarded
gold and silver. For aged sea captains are notably stubborn
and perverse. Still, he was very old and very feeble,
and there were two visitors. Messrs Richie and Silva were
experienced in the art of making unwilling persons voluble, and

(03:57):
the screams of a weak and exceptionally venerable man can
be easily muffled. So they moved up to the one
lighted window and heard the terrible old man talking childishly
to his bottles with pendulums. Then they donned masks and
knocked politely at the weather stained oaken door. Waiting seemed
very long to mister Channick as he fidgeted relentlessly in

(04:17):
the covered motor car by the terrible old man's back
gate in Ship Street. He was more than ordinarily tender hearted,
and he did not like the hideous screams he had
heard in the ancient house just after the hour appointed
for the deed. Had he not told his colleagues to
be as gentle as possible with the pathetic old sea captain.
Very nervously he watched that narrow oaken gate in the

(04:39):
high and ivy clad stone wall frequently. He consulted his
watch and wondered at the delay. Had the old man
died before revealing where his treasure was hidden, and had
a thorough search become necessary. Mister Channick did not like
to wait so long in the dark in such a place.
Then he sensed a soft tread or tapping on the
walk inside the gate, heard a gentle fumbl at the

(05:00):
rusty latch, and saw the narrow, heavy door swing inward
and in the pallid glow of the single dim street lamp.
He strained his eyes to see what his colleagues had
brought out of that sinister house which loomed so close behind.
But when he looked, he did not see what he
had expected, for his colleagues were not there at all,
but only the terrible old man, leaning quietly on his

(05:21):
knotted cane and smiling hideously. Mister Channik had never before
noticed the color of that man's eyes. Now he saw
that they were yellow. Little things make considerable excitement in
little towns, which is the reason that Kingsport people talked
all that spring and summer about the three unidentifiable bodies,
horribly slashed as with many cutlasses, and horribly mangled, as

(05:44):
by the tread of many cruel boot heels which the
tide washed in. And some people even spoke of things
as trivial as the deserted motor car found in Ship Street,
or certain especially in human cries, probably of a stray
animal or migratory bird, heard in the night by wakeful citizens.
But in this idle village gossip, the terrible old man

(06:04):
took no interest at all. He was by nature reserved,
and when one is aged and feeble one's reserve is
doubly strong. Besides, so ancient a sea captain must have
witnessed scores of things much more stirring in the far
off days of his unremembered youth and of the terrible
old man