The Tree an episode of The Haywood Sanitarium

Please enjoy The Tree a great episode of the legendaryHaywood Sanitarium - A Classic Old Time radio Show.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Good morning, doctor Headwater. You'resure up early this morning? What can
I get for you? I onlyhave time for coffee this morning, Missus
Delmore. I'm in a bit ofa hurry. Nothing can be so important
that you can't have some kind ofbreakfast. Here. Sit down and I'll
bring you some toast for your coffee. Do you have time for that?
You drive a hard bargain, MissusDelmore. Why, Sheriff Trouble. I

(00:28):
haven't seen you here in such along time. Won a bet it's get
mad from Portland. I've got byfor a cup of tooth before going to
the office. Don't beleeve, we'vemet. I'm Sheriff pat Trouble. If
you are doctor Richard Atwater, thedoctor is staying on until they finish up

(00:48):
the work at the old Hammond place. He's one of them that worked at
Boston, moved up from Boston.Did you I've been meaning to come around
and say hello, Can I getsome cream? Butter? Here you go?
You look all done out. Peak. If something happened down in the
town, No, no, no, it happened a few counties away.
Some government types learned all the locallaw enforcement in the area turned up a

(01:14):
body some forty miles out of benefitcalled us all out in the middle of
the night for some meet the night. Good murder. Yes, I poor
guy got kind of fall the hell. I wouldn't worry no, or the
one that did it would either runsouth or try for the border, or
becoming this way. I reckon.I'm wondered what the world is coming to.
No place is safe anymore. Na, Folks like you've got nothing worried

(01:36):
about Benny. And the one that'sgot it was a law man, one
of them, the eye agents.I kind of feel bad his wife's expected
idea. What a shame. Therereally is no justice for some more coffee?
Doctor. Oh, why are youall right? Doctor? You look

(01:57):
as if you've seen a ghost.There are some areas of the human mind,
and indeed of the world we membe, that were never meant for investigation.
There are always those who delve intothe darker worlds of knowledge, and

(02:19):
many pay their sanity for their interests. Some of these unfortunates are taken in
by the Hayward Foundation, an organizationthat studies paranormal experiences and their effects on
humanity. It is cases such asthese that are sent to a restored mansion

(02:39):
in a small coastal town in Manya center for the care and study of
the insane. Since the nineteen twenties, this place has been known as the
Hayward Sanitarium. Three two one.You are now fully awake and aware of

(03:04):
your surroundings, oh, Dermott,I see that our time has run out
again. I would like to saysomething before I go yeah. Well,
I've found our last few sessions veryencouraging, and I feel that we're making
very remarkable progress. After our firstsession, I admit I had some rather
negative impressions, but lately I've beenquite impressed. I see. Is that

(03:28):
some sort of compliment? M takeit any way you like. Okay,
listen, I've been meaning to askyou something You've never had a problem with
me in candad Dermott go ahead,Well, Dot, I feel that I
would well, i'd appreciate it ifyou try to have me sent to another
institution. I really don't make thosekind of decisions. Dermott, Why would

(03:52):
you want to be relocated? Doyou have a problem with me? No?
No, dog, I'm can'd tellyou? Well, then what's the
matter? Forget? I asked?I'm sort of shocked doctor All right then,
uh, orderly, we've finished inhere. You may open the door
now. Our next session isn't fora few days. Don't but if you

(04:12):
feel like you want to talk,I can try and arrange something. Just
let a nurse for an orderly know. Doctor. Yeah, well, i'll
see you later. You may escordinthis for Brian Backt's room. I'm going
to stay here and finish them notes. Don't worry, I'll lock the room.
Just leave the door open as yougo. Certainly, doctor, oh,

(04:43):
doctor Atwater, I didn't know thisroom was preserved. Am I interrupting
anything? No, not at all, Doctor Tandler. I'm actually waiting for
doctor McLeod. I just finished asession in here. If you need the
room, I can wait outside atthe desk. Well, I'm sure that
won't be necessary. I have afew minutes before my patient arrive. Malcolm
is usually very punctual. Are yousettled into the routine yet? Finding my

(05:04):
way around the mansion is really thehardest part. Really, though things are
going very well, it surprises methat I've only been here a couple of
weeks. I guess this place hassort of a timelessness. Yes, I
suppose it has. Your cases areall doing well. I hope we aren't
walking you down too much, arewe. No. I prefer to keep

(05:25):
busy. I've always been sort ofa workaholic. My cases are quite interesting
and certain ones are very encouraging.Oh that's good to hear. Doctor Bailey
often complained about some of his patients. You said it seemed hopeless with certain
individuals. I don't like to thinkif any case as hopeless. Well,
I hope you can maintain your enthusiasmthey gentlemen, I hope I haven't kept

(05:47):
your shirt. No, right ontime. I want to discuss those changes
we talked about in the Brian casewith you. Changes. Was the poor
fellow lapsed further? Not jerk.She's improving quite a lot, actually,
since I thought her came out well. Actually, we've just made some changes
in O'Brien's pharmacological course. He becomesmore lucid daily. There is still quite

(06:09):
a bit of work out though he'sabsolutely convinced of his delusions. We'll take
some time. Well, I don'twant to infringe on any more of your
time. Doctor, I have agood session. Goodbye, George, goodbye,
Yes, yes, hello, DoctorAtwater. There's a call for you

(06:46):
online three. It's from Boston andmister Cardamo, thank you back. I
send it right down certainly. HelloRichard, justin. Oh, it's good
to hear from you. How's everythingback in Boston? Same as all with
I didn't return the car sooner.I got back a few days ago.
But I'm just getting into the officethis morning. I hope it wasn't anything
urging. No, no, no. Tell me how was Jamaica. Well,

(07:09):
we got some really good interviews withthis eighty five year old mambo.
She was tough to find, butwhen we finally did track her down,
she gave us over nine hours oftape. Oh that's fantastic. Uh tell
me, did you come back byway of Louisiana? Yeah? And I
saw my mother for two days.She's doing a lot better since your operation.
That was Jenny. She should bestarting school this fall, right,
mm, kindergarten. She's still withmy folks. She loves it out there

(07:31):
on the farm. N I talkedto her about every other day, but
d I probably won't be able tobreak away from here until Christmas to go
see her. Yeah, that's tough, Richard, you must really miss her.
Something fist yeah, listen, thereason I called you was to and
fite you off for the weekend.Oh, they're finishing up my house this
week so I can finally start movingmy things in. Uh huh, I
get the picture, Richard trying toget little free late by her. How

(07:55):
well, it wouldn't hurt out anotherhand. But that's just an ulterior motive.
I actually have a case of herethat i'd like to talk to you
about. Did you ever hear aboutGermot O'Brien, that Irish scat you went
crazy at Massachusetts? Sure, I'veheard of him. Is he up there?
Yes, he's one of my patients. Oh, listen, Justin,

(08:15):
I think there's something fishy going onup here. O'Brien was in Haiti doing
voodoo research prior to his breakdown,And well, ell, since it's your
forte, I thought I could getyou to take a look at his spiles
for Hello, Justin, are youthere? Yeah, I'm here. That's
strange. I thought I heard somethingon the line there for a second.

(08:37):
Well, anyway, some time upin the country would do you some good.
The fall colors aren't fabulous, andthe town it's just alright, alright,
I'll be there Thursday afternoon. Allright, should I drive out to
the sanitarium. Well, the moversare bringing my things at a round one
thirty, so I'll probably only beout here in the morning. Okay.
Well, i'll see you in acouple of days then, uh gosh,

(08:58):
makes some heads, buddy, I'vegot to get busy with my reports.
If I'm gonna be taken off thisweekend, great, I'll see you on
Thursday. Jes say okay, byebye bye. Okay, Yeah, I'll

(09:22):
want you to take a fish toroom twice seven. Alright, make sure
you take the good time up.Oh sure that you fall so wer you
were sure? If I hear fromdoctor talk again about you being sure,
you're betting fish that's on the wharf. Okay, alright, got it?
O uh Land you would arrived inthe beast ward h I'll take a maximum

(09:50):
wink. Now. I'm gon alot of fire seat the night when I
leave, So make sure you haveeverything on the list. Oh it's all
your Yeah, okay, friend,go wake everybody up. You're hard and
sleeping stills. Yeah, you gonnapush him through? Yeah, doctor,

(10:41):
doctor, hut, did I knowI didn't see it coming down? By
play I didn't do you just talkedto you, uh cause you as a
night in meditation. Don't let meget in your hand. Don't too good.

(11:03):
I can I help you find somethingdoctor that I was looking for.
H my stati. I was justgoing to stay upstairs to night working on
a budget and something to relect meso that you can't get the bit train
singing out here. Uh see,yes, yes, I just can do

(11:30):
nicely, he thinks. Oh,yes, sir, it's this some stor
O'Brien. Yes, sir, hm, I see you don't doctor intorks or
you hang there. I do notapproach initially to us interesting. Oh oh

(11:56):
oh, but carry on. Becareful to make sure those doses are correct.
I will there too many people bythe importance of corrects. The chemical
tea night that's correct, dosa treatmentbe insane. I'll be careful, doctor.

(12:45):
Uh hello, good evening about thatwater. Didn't know anyone was still
here well in the late night.Aya. I just finished some work with
the night attendance, and I thoughti'd come up here, you know,
to get out of the office fora while before I finished my dictation.
What do you look through Jester?Oh, just came by to build a
fire. I got the whole placeto myself at night except for the war.

(13:07):
You going supple my head? Uhfops. Luck that Indian summer's up
and left us in a hurry.Now A chill has a way of creeping
into bones on the night like this. Did get nippy this week, didn't
it? Oh? Tell me?Did you get your tree proved in time?
Yeah? Just go a wait outthe winter now, I find you'll

(13:28):
pull through all right. No,I'm happy to hear that. You know,
this is quite a room. Idon't think I've ever been up here
before. Was this the original library? Sure enough? It's left just as
it was when the last Missus Haywoodpassed on in twenty eight. One of
the few rooms in the house.It looks the same as when I was
a nipper. There, lads,got it on good now. Doctor Brooks

(13:50):
had mentioned that you had been herefor all of your life? Did you
actually grow up here? That's right? My family have been here as long
as the Haywards really. How sowell, my great great great grandfather came
over as Ezekiel Hayward cabin boy inseventeen sixty seven. Mm. Since that
time, the dudies have always sailedwith the Hayward ships. Oh did you

(14:13):
actually get to sail with them?Nah? I was a young and when
the remains of the fleet were soldoff after the Great War. After that
it was all the foundation, noships to hold'em. My own family
moved off. I'm the only onewho ended up staying around. You know.
It's funny. For all the timeI've actually worked for the Hayward Foundation,

(14:35):
I've never heard much of anything aboutthe Hayward family. Did you actually
know some of them? Uh?As a boy, I remember Catherine.
She was the last of'em.That's her up there, left to the
mantelpiece. Oh, she's very beautiful. A not she was. He's all

(14:56):
the Hayward's hanging on the walls ofthis room. Bowler, he saw a
fine family around over there, I'dbe old. Ezekiel came up to the
New World after a disagreement with hisown father about the slave trade, so
I've heard, Oh, the slavetrade must have been very profitable in the
seventeen sixties. Who's the next portraitnext to him? Oh, that'd be

(15:18):
Jedediah. That said Ezekiel's firstborn,Ezekiel had another son by the name of
Caleb, by his second wife.But Caleb never sat for a portrait,
and I doubt they would have foundroom for it anyway. But really,
why not? Well, you see, the two half brothers were bitter enemies.
Caleb tried to kill Jedediah and thenhe ran off to see. There's

(15:43):
some that say he sailed on theMary Celeste at the celest Jedidiah and then
built this mansion in eighteen twenty,and then he fathered Elijah there on that
other wall. Now, Elijah looksvery young for that church a. He
died young just to run clippers aroundthe fawn that ships wheel above the mantelvers

(16:07):
from his ship to Camille who walkswith all hands in eighteen forty three mm.
And next to him is that hisson. I'd be Jacob. He
was born a month after Elijah drowned, grew up listening to his mother paced
the widow's walk up on the roof. My great grandfather served alongside him in

(16:29):
the Union Navy during the War betweenthe States. Jacob was the one that
married Katherine, and he was thelast of the seafarren Heywards. But Jacob
wasn't the last Hayward, isn't itthe James Heyward Foundation. But there's never
been a portrait of Jamie in thishouse. Why is that? Well,

(16:52):
it was this way my own fatherwas born a little laughter Jamie was,
but not in David, who wereMy Paul grew up strong and just full
of juice. Young Jana was asickly lad, kept in his bed most
of the time, barely able tohold his breath. In fact, he
never left the nursery upstairs. Mama, Mama, China up to play now,

(17:18):
I suppose so, Jamie, darling. But seem that you're careful now
and mind your nerves. Yes,mother, Jamie, Jamie, wait for
me, Jamie, Jamie, getout of that tree, Jamie. Can't

(17:40):
you see the storm coming? Oh? Please, Annie, I'll come down
in a minute, I promise,all right then, but don't climb too
high now, I will probably thepoor boys groups. I can see the
whole town from here, and thebay too. Look all the bots are.

(18:07):
The thunder must have startled him sobut he lost his grip then knows
and some of the other servants gothim inside while my grandpa went for the
doctor. Well, Jacob, Ithink the boy's out of danger now,
but you'll have to be watched carefullyfor quite some time. Besides, the
fractured eyemy has a severe can cushion. I try to keep him as still

(18:27):
as possible for the next few days, and I'll be back to see him
tomorrow. Well, thank you forcoming out in such a hurry, Arthur.
I really appreciate it. Him.Let me see you the door.
Jana was bedridden for almost a month. He developed a fever of some sort

(18:48):
and had all sorts of odd hallucinations. Mommy, mommie, the tree is
trying to get me again. Jamie, you were just having a bad dream.
Would you like a water? No? I want mommy, Mommy,
what is it? What's wrong,Jamie? It's another bad dream, ma'am.

(19:10):
Trees trying to get me. KenIt said it was going to break
the window and come in and getme. Don't let it get me.
Hush now, Jamie, it wasjust a dream. The tree doesn't want
to hurt you. It pushed me. No, it was just a thunder
the start of you when you fell. Trees don't mind little boys climbing them.
Trees like to play with children.No, this tree is bad things

(19:33):
to me when I'm alone. Itsaid it's going to get me when you
aren't here. It said I shouldn'thave touched it. I make up another
sleeping drop, ma'am. Yes,Anna, why don't you do that now?
Jamie. I want you to tryand get some sleep now so that
you will be well again. Don'tleave me. The tree is going to
get me here, ma'am. Thankyou. Now. I want you to

(19:56):
drink this. It's like a goodboy. Okay, thank you. Sweet
Please don't leave me. I won'tto Jamiel. Now lay down, talk
yourself about love about good night.Go to sleep now. He's asleep out,

(20:17):
poor thick. Would you like acup of tea? Man? Yes?
Please just bring it up to myroom. I wish Jacob wasn't at
sea. He's so good with theboy, yes, ma'am. Kind of

(21:11):
dusty in here, ah, Theydon't come in there much, just the
little records around here. This wallpaperlooks Victorian. His room hasn't been renovated,
has it not really much point toit? I suppose not. The
tree still hits the window, though, don't you ever proved it? No?

(21:33):
Sure? Yeah, for other year, so always seems to grow back
though, so what happened to theboy? Did his health every work enough
somewhat it was scared the death ofthat tree, though, wouldn't go near
it. When Jacob returned from hisvoyage, the boy was just concovering his
strength and starting to go back outside. Tryst be captne. I know I'm

(21:55):
right about this, but will begood for the lad to confront his fears.
It will teach you a less aboutlife. He'll thank us for it
later. But he's just a poorJacob and he's never been very healthy.
Well, tomorrow I'll show him thatthis tree is nothing to fear. It,
would you having coffee tonight, sir? Yes, I'll take it in
my skill now that you cannot spendyour life in fear of trees, James.

(22:21):
It just won't do. I'm notafraid of trees, father, I
just melllim will get me. Comenow, James, a tree is just
a plant. It's not alive likeyou are. They don't think, and
they certainly don't try and get littleboys. But this tree talks, father,
It told me I was going toget me. No, James,
you just thought the tree spoke toyou. Look, you were very sick

(22:41):
and you imagined it. Sick peoplesometimes imagine things that seem very real,
but they are just in your imagination. But Father, the tree spoke in
the said, listen to me.Some trees do not talk, and this
tree will not get you. Doyou think that I would let anything happened
to you? No? Father,good Ben. Now you're going to climb

(23:03):
this tree. No, you haveto, James. If you don't,
you'll be afraid for the rest ofyour life. You don't want to be
a tower, do you? No, Father, then you must climb the
tree. James, I'll try,Father, I can't. I can't,
James, James, come back here, James. So did he ever climb

(23:23):
the tree? Well, the storytakes a turn. Doctor. You see
Catherine come into the boy's room inthe morning, Jamie, Jamie ards try

(23:48):
the window, seems a line squalland come up in the middle of the
night, either the wind or thelightning and hit the tree or something.
Well, sir, the boy waslying dead in the branches, was all
sort of wrapped up in him,cut by the broken glass, crushed to
death. No, sir, Thedoctor pronounced that he'd been strangled, strangled,

(24:15):
But the way Mapaw told it,it looked like the branches had broken
the window and come right into theroom. No one ever figured out how
it happened. It was a truecagety. He was their own son.
So without an air to the fortune, they began the foundation, and Catherine
did that later on. Jacob wasa broken man after Jamie's death. He

(24:38):
clung to the gilt like an anchor, and it dragged him to his grave.
Was the missus that started the wholefoundation business. It's trying to contact
the other side. What spiritualism Isome called it that she had mystics and
mediums and such like. Began studyingthe doctor world. Then she was led
to the doctors and started caring forthe Moses had gone mad from mysterious causes.

(25:03):
When she died, she left thehouse in the entire fortune and a
trust to further the study of thesupernatural. And it all started with a
little boy. They just refused toforget. Uh. You know. The
staff used to swear they could hearhim cry. And when the wind swept
through the branches of that old elmroof, Well, come on, doctor,

(25:23):
it's getting left. Let's see youout because the dog will be illused
at this hour why father, Ireally tried. Ah, it's through a

(25:56):
brain. You're awake so much thebetter. I've got something for you.
It's got something for you too.So as he got out of this jacket
boil, we'll just have to seethat that never happens. This will sting
for a second, but you knowthe routine by now. Well, this
is the best thing for someone likeyou. Let's I'll talk to Rutwater was

(26:18):
cutting down the injections. Yes,that's right, he is. What do
I feel like a pincushion? Really, mister O'Brien, I imagine you'll feel
much worse than that. It's notsupposed to be any still half. Oh,

(26:38):
it's nothing it. Oh I cansee them. Yeah, that's more
like it. Oh No, thoseeyes they see it for me. Oh
God, get your hands on me, kip them, old me just like
the good old days. Darmit whomGod, let me go want this had

(27:04):
hog god? Ah, oh mygod, no god. Ah. You
have been committed to Hayward Sanitarium.Written, directed and produced by Matthew Balco

(27:26):
and David Johnson. Executive producer,Tony Brewer, Engineering and foling team led
by John Webber and Richard Fish includingDan mc debott, John Duvall, Laura
Britton and Doug Black, featuring SharonBitman, Mike Kellinger, Joel Marsh,
Tom Hollicky, John Valmer, KarenAtkins, Mike Sherman, Jim Fields,

(27:48):
Russ Levitt, Cheryl Damn, DarrenKincaid, Sue Hablish, Richard Fish and
Nate Sanders. Studio facilities provided byLodestone Productions and Mark Hood copyright nineteen ninety
three. Hayward Sanitarium is the lastminute reduction