December 7, 2025 • 25 mins
Greetings, Midnight Viewers. Father Malone here. No Roundup this week as Ripley and I are engaged in our holiday rituals. As such, we thought we'd kick off this season of wither with an episode from a show I wrote and produced a few years back. It's a travelogue of infamous fictional towns; in this case, Bedford Falls. Where an angel once granted a wish and things have never been the same.
Father Malone
FatherMalone71@gmail.com
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HP
HPMusicplace.bandcamp.com
Antonio LLapur
Swampmediagroup.com
Spacedetectivemovie.com
Father Malone
FatherMalone71@gmail.com
Patreon.com/FatherMalone
HP
HPMusicplace.bandcamp.com
Antonio LLapur
Swampmediagroup.com
Spacedetectivemovie.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Welcome to Dark Destinations, an ongoing investigation into the shadowy
corners of the globe, where our haunted past meets our
startling future.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
A dream is a wish your heart makes, so, sang
Eileen Woods as Cinderella in the eponymous nineteen fifty film.
That's not the only wishing you want. Disney Company encouraged
in Pinocchio, we were told that when you wish upon
a star, those dreams come true. Have you ever made
a wish? Silly question, of course we all have, whether
(01:09):
it be what the old Twilight Zone called a big,
tall wish destined to change your entire world, or as
casually as responding to a proposal with I wish. A
wish can set ears in motion, propel a simple need
into a welcome reality. Back in the nineteen twenties, a
fellow named Auto Roweaer no doubt, wished for a loaf
of bread that was already sliced. Thanks to that spark
(01:31):
and his determination to see it through, an unsliced loaf
is now the exception and not the rule. You can
ritualize them tossing a coin and a fountain, whispering it
into a well, we'll just shut your eyes and want
with all your might, wishes for a long life, wishes
for a different life, for true love, for a shot
at glory. If you were to stop and ponder how
(01:52):
often you make a wish, you'd be startled. There have
been cautionary tales about them. Malevolent genies and cursed monkey
paws come to mind, But we all know deep down
we'd succeed where others fail, or would we? Greetings and
welcome to you all. My name's Joseph Hooks. Fa them
alone at Dark Destinations has tasked me with investigating a
(02:15):
town that knows full well the measure of wishing both
good and ill, and I've done so during a season
that seems as if it were designed for wishes. Christmas.
So join me if you wish, on our journey to
a sleepy hamlet nestled near the Finger Lakes of upstate
New York, Bedford Falls. Here on Genesee Street, downtown Bedford Falls,
(02:42):
the light poles are already festooned with glittering, sparkling Christmas decorations.
The trees that bi sanc Genesee, running in a row
single file where a double yellow line would be in
most main streets, have been each wrapped in hundreds of
multi colored bobs. They're lit up now, even though by
my watch it's only two in the afternoon. The sprawl
(03:03):
and urban decay that have set in in most small
town America is absent here. Sure, there's a Starbucks on
the corner of Washington Street where an old department store
used to reside, and the stoplights burn with LEDs instead
of incandescent bulbs. But not much has changed here in
the past century. Snap a picture anywhere in town and
you could sell it as a postcard demonstrating how Americana
(03:24):
and Christmas are meant to appear, and they do. Postcards
of this winter Wonderland can be purchased at amatus price
inside Gower's Pharmacy, an institution that's been in operation since
the turn of the last century.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
My granddad used to work here. He swept up and
ran errands. He even made phosphiths at the soda fountain,
which you can see is still in operation. You should
try the life Ricky. It's so good.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
That's Louise Bailey, though everyone calls her Lulu, discussing her
grandfather George. We met inside Gower's Pharmacy, where I can
safely concur that the limericky is delicious to discuss her
grandfather's curious interaction some eighty years ago. Now, it was
your grandfather that really brought the concept of wishing to reality.
It started with him, correct.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Let's say he popularized it.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
What were the circumstances I understand it happened on Christmas.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Eve, that's right, Christmas Eve nineteen forty seven. My granddad
was going through a rough patch. His family was getting bigger,
there were some bad business deals, financial woe, and on
that Christmas Eve there was from what I understand, a
real possibility of arrest, if not imprisonment. He ended up
on the old toll bridge intending to well, you know,
(04:49):
there are conflicting accounts about what happened next, but the
consensus is that he pulled a man who was drowning
out of the canal. His name was Clarence the Drowning Man,
and he was with my granddad when he made his wish.
He wished had never been born, and his wish was granted.
He got a vision of what the world would be
like without him, and he said that it was so
horrible that he begged to have his life back, which
(05:11):
was also granted to him. A lot of people didn't
believe him. Of course. My grandmother in particular thought he
had just one too many bourbons over at Martini's and
dreamt the whole thing. But my mother never had any
doubt that he was telling the truth. George Bailey was
too good a man to lie. Whatever anyone believes about
the wish doesn't really matter. Now we know that wishes
(05:31):
are real. It's the part about Clarence that people debate.
Granddad said that Clarence was an angel sent from God,
and I believe him seriously. Who'd make up a story
about being visited by an angel and then name him Clarence.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
You must understand that human belief in angels is as
ancient as his first concept of a world beyond his own.
There simply isn't a type of religion that has flourished
over the centuries that does not include them in one
form or another.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That's doctor Fritz Hagstrom, he spoke to me via telephone.
He's Professor Emeritus of Divinity at Whittier College, a southern
California secular institution of higher learning that can be found
amusingly enough in a county literally named the angels.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
The modern conception of an angel, both physically and motivationally,
is stitched together from all these religions. Islam provided them wings,
Neo Aristotelian thought showed the breadth of their power. He
break tradition gave us the notion of there being emissaries
and warriors in God's service, with Michael as the leader
of his army Gabriel as his embodiment of justice. Those
(06:38):
are the only two I'd like to point out given
names in the Old Testament, since an innumerable amount have
been named, But in all my reading, I've yet to
encounter an angel. Nclarence, that's a new one. As to
the business of granting wishes, seems more the domain of
the jin from the pre Islamic Arabian tradition, but it
isn't without the realm of possibility. If you believe angels
to be the personification of the will of the then
(07:00):
they'd be imbued, barring certain limitations, of course, with any
power imaginable. If God can create the world, a wish
must be, if you'll pardon the colloquialism, small potatoes.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And what might those limitations be?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Too many to name in one sitting, though certainly the
most inviolate would be angels cannot usurp the throne of God.
Such a coups attempted, and as you know, they didn't
farewell afterward.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
It's easy to forget that the devil the Brimstone coated
Yang to God's yen. Not to mix and match Eastern
and Western philosophies too terribly, was once an angel himself.
Some believe he was the first and most beloved by God.
When he, in a veritable legion of angels, bought to
overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven, they were cast out of
Paradise and into the depths of Hell. They've been labeled
(07:51):
as beasts or brutes, the depraved, or demons ever since.
But are they still not angels? Do they not still
have the power they once wielded in celestial spaces. It's
a question that loomed a large in my mind while
choosing to stop in at Martini's Bedford Fall's oldest tavern.
It's the watering hole where Lulu Bailey's grandfather imbibed more
(08:12):
than a few spirits on that night back in nineteen
forty seven. The site of the original bar was over
on Bridge Road, not far from that fabled canal bridge.
But a fire in nineteen sixty four proved devastating and
they relocated to a more centralized spot on Washington and Genesee.
It's there I met Elliott Parnell. He's retired now but
spent the better part of his life as the floor
(08:33):
supervisor at the Wainwright Plastics factory. He's a Bedford falls
Man through and through, only ever having ventured as far
as New York City, and as it turns out, the
perfect man to shed light on what happened next.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
There were four of us poor that night. Poor darc
Reynolds had his hands full. He was the most born
on any Christmas night open until that point.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And what year was this?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
The year? This was nineteen forty seven. I suppose every
parent thinks their kid is a miracle, But for the
four of us, we were told straight out, and no
doubt about it. See that very night, when most of
the town was home and warm and cozy, our parents
(09:23):
were still at the hospital. In those days, it was
a little bitty place, and the maternity ward was pretty
well shared by everyone who.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Was with child.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Now, this is the way my ma tells it. She said.
It was a little before midnight, and out of nowhere
there was this sound like.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
A train hurtling by.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Filled the entire room, just getting louder and louder, so
loud that it hurt to see here se, So she
shut her eyes tight, and when the sound went away,
she opened them and saw an angel standing in the ward,
(10:12):
white robes, wings, the whole bit. Now, I know that
sounds loony, but if you knew my mother at all,
you know she wasn't a woman given to flights of fancy.
And she swore up and down that I was the
easiest birth she had ever been through. I'm the youngest
(10:36):
of five, so there wasn't any possibility of her memories
clouded by morphine or the like. And besides, even if
she was, there were seven other witnesses, and this angel
tells them that tonight is special, that the Lord has
made Christmas Eve a divine occasion here in bedfoot Fall,
(11:00):
and starting that night, anyone born in town on the
twenty fourth from now on were worthy of one wish,
and whatever was given couldn't be given back. They took
him pretty serious, I'd say, as far back as I
can remember. They yell and holler. Anytime I started to
(11:21):
say the words I wish hell on my birthdays, I'd
be told to close my eyes and be thankful for
what I had been given, blowing out the candles. It
wasn't till I was seven that we were found out
the truth of things, that the wishes were real. If
the other three born that night had made a wish
before me, they hadn't told anyone, So I suppose I
(11:46):
was the first.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
What happened when you were seven?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
My dad was a miner.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Most of those men used their headlamps strapped out in
front of their tin cap, but my father hated those
things with a passion. He'd take a stretch of cloth
and tie that lamp to his forehead. Used to tie
it so tired. My mother a joke, You tie that
an it tied, and your head's liable to bust. My
dad was a strong man, decent, mostly child of the Depression,
(12:17):
and from what my mama told me, he had a
hard go of it, growing up, harder than most nowadays.
They'd put him in therapy and it would help, I'm sure,
because as strong as he was in good deep down,
he could be mean. And I'm not excusing him by
telling you he had it hard. There's no excuse for
(12:40):
a violent act against anyone, but especially not family. And
one time he was beating on my older brother, Caspar,
and I got so mad hollering for him to stop.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
He didn't stop. He paused and turned to me and
told me I was next. Well, that's when I finally
made my wish.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
I wished that his head wood burst, and before the
wood burst was fully out my mouth, that's exactly what happened,
just like a soap bubble.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Never did get the stain off our bedroom wall.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
That was my one wish. Used it up. So now
when my birthday comes, I can wish on my birthday candles,
just like everyone else tried it once too. I never
puped so hard in my life, which was too bad.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
That was a good looking cake.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Officially, Silas Parnell Elliott's dad's cause of death is listed
as decapitation on the coroner's report. It's neatly typed, followed
by the date. In the notes sanctioned beneath a fountain
pen has scrawled two words spontaneous combustion, followed by two
question marks. I would have liked to talk to the
other three children born on the same night as mister
(14:14):
Parnell back in nineteen forty seven, but they've all passed away. Luckily,
there have been plenty of children born on Christmas Eve
in Bedford Falls in the years following, and while many
flat out refused any in all contact, I exchanged emails
with several and was able to talk by phone to
many more, though both groups agreed I could share their
(14:35):
stories under the condition I not record their voices or
divulge their names. And most of their stories are actually
quite sweet, happening when they were young enough that the
most they could ever wish for was a new puppy
or a video game, or a better home for their family.
Selfless wishes as light as gossamer, seemingly without repercussion, no
(14:55):
ec comic style twist, like the new home becomes reality
thanks to a real relative dying at the same moment
the wish was spoken, which is not to say there
were no stories without menace. One respondent, who spent summers
with his family on Van Cleef Lake told me he
was racing his brother to a floating platform found thirty
yards from shore. He thoughtlessly wished to be able to
swim like a frog. His email ends, thank God for
(15:18):
voice to text software. You've no idea how hard it
is to type with tightly webbed fingers. Another told me
of her experience near the end of her junior year
in high school. It was early June, and she felt
overwhelmed with the coursework and impending final exams, and wished
to be anywhere but here, only to suddenly find herself
at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, where an early winter had
(15:41):
just set in, stranding her there till September. My parents
were not pleased, she wrote, Only one agreed to speak
on air, and enthusiastically at that we arranged to meet
at Martini's, where I should note they make a terrible
martini the following day. That night was a restless one
in Bedford falls as troubling as the notion of people
(16:02):
given the power to shape reality to their will might be,
It's dwarfed by the far more sinister possibilities of its source.
It seems entirely likely that George Bailey was visited by
an angel of God. There have always been stories of
angels bringing visions, but what about the one that appeared
across town. Isn't it possible that, in the face of
a divine emissary granting a wish here and on such
(16:25):
a holy evening, that those fallen angels might not seize
on that ability and use it for their own horrible,
unholy purpose. Could saving one man's soul have damned everyone
else in town. I'm back at Martini's and speaking to
Rafael de Soto. Great name for radio coming up next,
(16:47):
Rafael de Soto on WAAF AAF. You grew up in Boston, Seattle,
but I went to school there me too.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
U mass Amhurst. It's funny how you mentioned radio. I
took a communications course sophomore year. No kidding, yeah, went
in for on air talent. Did maybe three shows in
the school station before my professor quite rightly urged me
toward the technical side of things. I had the drive,
but not the talent.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Oh, I'm sure you were fine. Now, Raphael, you were
born on Christmas Eve nineteen ninety, that's correct. I was
hoping you could share your experience with the wishing phenomenon
here in Bedford Falls.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Has anyone else spoken to you about this aside from
the Bailey family. I mean, the great Christmas miracle from God?
What a joke.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Bells and wings, bells and wings.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
They didn't tell you that part. Shocking. Yeah, she always
said a bell ringing is a sign that an angel
has received their wings, not even joking.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, I did speak to the Bailey family, but I
also spoke with quite a few others. They wanted anonymity,
but they did share their stories.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Let me guess, boo, bet she talked to you.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Oh she did, And like I said, they don't want
their names released.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Damn it. Sorry. See that's why you're the big time
radio guy and I'm the third shift forklift operator at Wainwright.
But if she talked to you, I think I can
guess which others did too.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Well, they've been very forthcoming.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
I'm sure, why wouldn't they be. Most of their stories
a tailor made for the Hallmark.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Channel, and your experience was less than wonderful.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
Experience experiences plural. Let me tell you, just being around
the event when it happens can be traumatizing. Seeing something
so bizarre happened right in front of your eyes can
really do number on you. It's like they say in
Apocalypse Now. It puts the WHAMMI on your head, makes
you question reality, whether the outcome is awful or adorable,
makes no difference. And there's another part of it. This
(18:39):
is a little harder to describe. Every time it happens,
and ask anyone in town, and if they don't agree,
they're lying. Whenever it happens, everyone seems to feel a
little dimmer inside, a little wearier, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally,
maybe spiritually, if that's your thing. See, there really aren't
(18:59):
many of I know that even one of us having
this power is a major deal, But think about it.
The odds of being born at all are crazily against you.
Not to mention born here in Bedford falls, not to
mention being born on Christmas Eve, those have to be
astronomical odds. So there aren't many of us. We all
tend to gravitate toward one another. And I'm not saying
(19:21):
we're wearing matching jackets or anything. There's just a familiality
that we feel with each other, especially given the way
the rest of the town tends to treat us.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And how's that gently but.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
A merciless kind of gentle smiling too much and treating
you maybe a little too nicely. But it becomes obvious
that it's an act pretty quickly, which is worse than
the ones that are straight up avoid you. You know
they're scared, but the others faking that they're not. After
a while, it just grates on you. Anyway, Since we
tend to be around each other, we also tend to
(19:53):
be the witnesses to the events when they happen. I remember,
Oh god, it's hard not to say their names, but
I'll do my best. Okay. There were these two boys
a couple years older than me. Twins. How's that for
astronomical odds. As if twins aren't just naturally weird enough,
these ones have on unnatural power. I was ten, so
they were twelve. And you know how twelve is. You
(20:15):
want to stand out from the crowd, assert your individuality,
and these boys are trying to do it with a
literal mirror image doing exactly the same. Well, one day
they finally had it out. There was a group of
us behind the high school football field and these two
are rolling around on the ground, punching, kicking, screaming at
each other. How they were sick of each other, sick
of sharing everything. Then they were back in their feet
(20:35):
and it happened.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
They wished yeah, not.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
At the same time, one wanted the other to be older,
or old enough so they wouldn't be mistaken for each other,
and once that happened, the now older one wanted the
other to be younger. Next thing you know, they're back
on the ground, both of them drooling, an infant laying
next to a withered old man, and both with identical DNA.
Their family moved away a couple months later, I don't
know where, probably to a town where they wouldn't be
(21:01):
questioned about a brand new baby and an elderly man
that they introduced to people as Grandpa. Another time, there
was a girl in my biology class just obsessed with unicorns,
stickers on her locker, a thousand scribbled drawings on her notebooks.
We were studying fauna, different classes of animals. She insisted
on the existence of unicorns. Our teacher disagreed, and not
(21:22):
very nicely, which is how Bedford Falls ended up with
the world's only unicorn, racing down the halls of BF
High School and onto New England Street and out in
the forest. You see him every once in a while,
people who didn't know the story would freak out when
they saw him. Oh my god, it's a unicorn, an
actual unicorn. I never had the heart to tell him
that his name was Karl and his favorite band was
run DMC. And those are just the ones I witnessed
(21:43):
firsthand the event. I mean, heard the words, saw it happen.
We all saw the after effects on a half a
dozen others. A kid over at Potter Elementary School who
wanted to fly. He must have floated over the town
for three days before spring storm blew him to who
knows where. Don't know if you noticed the new police
station down the street. They built it about five years
ago after the first one disappeared. One day it was there,
(22:04):
and the next it and everyone who was in it
was just gone.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
The way you talked about the Baileys, I suppose it's
safe to assume that you don't subscribe to their belief
in an angelic intervention, that a divine hand set these
events in motion.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
Maybe to start and maybe for them. But what kind
of divine being allows children to turn their parents inside out,
or cause a blizzard in the middle of July, or
saddles a human being with that kind of power. I'm
not saying there hasn't been kindness because of it. But
the bad is just so, and it keeps on rolling.
You know, every year there's at least one or two
(22:41):
new Christmas Eve recruits to this freak show.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Why don't you leave.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
And go be the same boring drone doing the same
boring thing, just in a new locale where I'm a
stranger and I don't have ties to anything. Yeah? No, thanks?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Is that it? Or is there something else keeping you?
You haven't told us about your wish?
Speaker 6 (22:59):
No, but I also haven't done anything that would make
me feel responsible enough to stay here. The fact is
I never used mine.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You're kidding, But that's incredible. What an opportunity, Raphael. If
this whole thing was set in motion by demonic forces,
if it's perpetuated endlessly just as a mockery of the
divine and causes havoc on a regular basis, don't you
see that you have the ability to end it? Wish
the power away for good.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
That's possible. I've considered it.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
What are you waiting for?
Speaker 6 (23:30):
I said, it's possible, not probable. If this is an
evil power that we've been given, then it might make
everything worse. Give everyone in town the ability, regardless of
birthday or where they'd been born, give it to everyone
on earth. Can you imagine that? How long before all
of existence disappeared? No, I can't risk that, but I
do think you brought up another avenue. That's starting to
(23:52):
sound very tempting. Leaving Bedford Falls.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You don't need to wish for that, and you said
you would rather.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Not me me leaving town doesn't appeal. I'd just be
the same loser I was here, but somewhere else. But
given the opportunity to be someone else, preferably already established
in a career I've always wanted. You must travel a lot,
get to meet lots of interesting people.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh please, don't.
Speaker 6 (24:20):
Not to mention renown. I looked you up after you
contact me. You've got quite a career, lots of awards,
lots of respect.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
Very tempting. I wish I was you.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Interesting. Well, So ends our investigation here in Bedford Falls.
Thank you for tuning in. This has been Raphael Wait,
Joseph Joseph Hooks, you're intrepid reporter. Wishing all of you
a very merry Christmas. God bless us everyone.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
This episode of Dark Destinations was written and produced by
Father Malone and featured performances by Antonio Yupor from Swampmediagroup
dot com and Spacedetective dot com and Justin Billard. The
music was adapted and performed by HP Music from Hpmusicplace
dot bandcamp dot com. We hope you'll join us next time.
(25:28):
Until then, may all your travels lead to dark destinations.
Welcome to Dark Destinations, an ongoing investigation into the shadowy
corners of the globe, where our haunted past meets our
startling future.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
A dream is a wish your heart makes, so, sang
Eileen Woods as Cinderella in the eponymous nineteen fifty film.
That's not the only wishing you want. Disney Company encouraged
in Pinocchio, we were told that when you wish upon
a star, those dreams come true. Have you ever made
a wish? Silly question, of course we all have, whether
(01:09):
it be what the old Twilight Zone called a big,
tall wish destined to change your entire world, or as
casually as responding to a proposal with I wish. A
wish can set ears in motion, propel a simple need
into a welcome reality. Back in the nineteen twenties, a
fellow named Auto Roweaer no doubt, wished for a loaf
of bread that was already sliced. Thanks to that spark
(01:31):
and his determination to see it through, an unsliced loaf
is now the exception and not the rule. You can
ritualize them tossing a coin and a fountain, whispering it
into a well, we'll just shut your eyes and want
with all your might, wishes for a long life, wishes
for a different life, for true love, for a shot
at glory. If you were to stop and ponder how
(01:52):
often you make a wish, you'd be startled. There have
been cautionary tales about them. Malevolent genies and cursed monkey
paws come to mind, But we all know deep down
we'd succeed where others fail, or would we? Greetings and
welcome to you all. My name's Joseph Hooks. Fa them
alone at Dark Destinations has tasked me with investigating a
(02:15):
town that knows full well the measure of wishing both
good and ill, and I've done so during a season
that seems as if it were designed for wishes. Christmas.
So join me if you wish, on our journey to
a sleepy hamlet nestled near the Finger Lakes of upstate
New York, Bedford Falls. Here on Genesee Street, downtown Bedford Falls,
(02:42):
the light poles are already festooned with glittering, sparkling Christmas decorations.
The trees that bi sanc Genesee, running in a row
single file where a double yellow line would be in
most main streets, have been each wrapped in hundreds of
multi colored bobs. They're lit up now, even though by
my watch it's only two in the afternoon. The sprawl
(03:03):
and urban decay that have set in in most small
town America is absent here. Sure, there's a Starbucks on
the corner of Washington Street where an old department store
used to reside, and the stoplights burn with LEDs instead
of incandescent bulbs. But not much has changed here in
the past century. Snap a picture anywhere in town and
you could sell it as a postcard demonstrating how Americana
(03:24):
and Christmas are meant to appear, and they do. Postcards
of this winter Wonderland can be purchased at amatus price
inside Gower's Pharmacy, an institution that's been in operation since
the turn of the last century.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
My granddad used to work here. He swept up and
ran errands. He even made phosphiths at the soda fountain,
which you can see is still in operation. You should
try the life Ricky. It's so good.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
That's Louise Bailey, though everyone calls her Lulu, discussing her
grandfather George. We met inside Gower's Pharmacy, where I can
safely concur that the limericky is delicious to discuss her
grandfather's curious interaction some eighty years ago. Now, it was
your grandfather that really brought the concept of wishing to reality.
It started with him, correct.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Let's say he popularized it.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
What were the circumstances I understand it happened on Christmas.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Eve, that's right, Christmas Eve nineteen forty seven. My granddad
was going through a rough patch. His family was getting bigger,
there were some bad business deals, financial woe, and on
that Christmas Eve there was from what I understand, a
real possibility of arrest, if not imprisonment. He ended up
on the old toll bridge intending to well, you know,
(04:49):
there are conflicting accounts about what happened next, but the
consensus is that he pulled a man who was drowning
out of the canal. His name was Clarence the Drowning Man,
and he was with my granddad when he made his wish.
He wished had never been born, and his wish was granted.
He got a vision of what the world would be
like without him, and he said that it was so
horrible that he begged to have his life back, which
(05:11):
was also granted to him. A lot of people didn't
believe him. Of course. My grandmother in particular thought he
had just one too many bourbons over at Martini's and
dreamt the whole thing. But my mother never had any
doubt that he was telling the truth. George Bailey was
too good a man to lie. Whatever anyone believes about
the wish doesn't really matter. Now we know that wishes
(05:31):
are real. It's the part about Clarence that people debate.
Granddad said that Clarence was an angel sent from God,
and I believe him seriously. Who'd make up a story
about being visited by an angel and then name him Clarence.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
You must understand that human belief in angels is as
ancient as his first concept of a world beyond his own.
There simply isn't a type of religion that has flourished
over the centuries that does not include them in one
form or another.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That's doctor Fritz Hagstrom, he spoke to me via telephone.
He's Professor Emeritus of Divinity at Whittier College, a southern
California secular institution of higher learning that can be found
amusingly enough in a county literally named the angels.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
The modern conception of an angel, both physically and motivationally,
is stitched together from all these religions. Islam provided them wings,
Neo Aristotelian thought showed the breadth of their power. He
break tradition gave us the notion of there being emissaries
and warriors in God's service, with Michael as the leader
of his army Gabriel as his embodiment of justice. Those
(06:38):
are the only two I'd like to point out given
names in the Old Testament, since an innumerable amount have
been named, But in all my reading, I've yet to
encounter an angel. Nclarence, that's a new one. As to
the business of granting wishes, seems more the domain of
the jin from the pre Islamic Arabian tradition, but it
isn't without the realm of possibility. If you believe angels
to be the personification of the will of the then
(07:00):
they'd be imbued, barring certain limitations, of course, with any
power imaginable. If God can create the world, a wish
must be, if you'll pardon the colloquialism, small potatoes.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And what might those limitations be?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Too many to name in one sitting, though certainly the
most inviolate would be angels cannot usurp the throne of God.
Such a coups attempted, and as you know, they didn't
farewell afterward.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
It's easy to forget that the devil the Brimstone coated
Yang to God's yen. Not to mix and match Eastern
and Western philosophies too terribly, was once an angel himself.
Some believe he was the first and most beloved by God.
When he, in a veritable legion of angels, bought to
overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven, they were cast out of
Paradise and into the depths of Hell. They've been labeled
(07:51):
as beasts or brutes, the depraved, or demons ever since.
But are they still not angels? Do they not still
have the power they once wielded in celestial spaces. It's
a question that loomed a large in my mind while
choosing to stop in at Martini's Bedford Fall's oldest tavern.
It's the watering hole where Lulu Bailey's grandfather imbibed more
(08:12):
than a few spirits on that night back in nineteen
forty seven. The site of the original bar was over
on Bridge Road, not far from that fabled canal bridge.
But a fire in nineteen sixty four proved devastating and
they relocated to a more centralized spot on Washington and Genesee.
It's there I met Elliott Parnell. He's retired now but
spent the better part of his life as the floor
(08:33):
supervisor at the Wainwright Plastics factory. He's a Bedford falls
Man through and through, only ever having ventured as far
as New York City, and as it turns out, the
perfect man to shed light on what happened next.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
There were four of us poor that night. Poor darc
Reynolds had his hands full. He was the most born
on any Christmas night open until that point.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And what year was this?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
The year? This was nineteen forty seven. I suppose every
parent thinks their kid is a miracle, But for the
four of us, we were told straight out, and no
doubt about it. See that very night, when most of
the town was home and warm and cozy, our parents
(09:23):
were still at the hospital. In those days, it was
a little bitty place, and the maternity ward was pretty
well shared by everyone who.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Was with child.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Now, this is the way my ma tells it. She said.
It was a little before midnight, and out of nowhere
there was this sound like.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
A train hurtling by.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Filled the entire room, just getting louder and louder, so
loud that it hurt to see here se, So she
shut her eyes tight, and when the sound went away,
she opened them and saw an angel standing in the ward,
(10:12):
white robes, wings, the whole bit. Now, I know that
sounds loony, but if you knew my mother at all,
you know she wasn't a woman given to flights of fancy.
And she swore up and down that I was the
easiest birth she had ever been through. I'm the youngest
(10:36):
of five, so there wasn't any possibility of her memories
clouded by morphine or the like. And besides, even if
she was, there were seven other witnesses, and this angel
tells them that tonight is special, that the Lord has
made Christmas Eve a divine occasion here in bedfoot Fall,
(11:00):
and starting that night, anyone born in town on the
twenty fourth from now on were worthy of one wish,
and whatever was given couldn't be given back. They took
him pretty serious, I'd say, as far back as I
can remember. They yell and holler. Anytime I started to
(11:21):
say the words I wish hell on my birthdays, I'd
be told to close my eyes and be thankful for
what I had been given, blowing out the candles. It
wasn't till I was seven that we were found out
the truth of things, that the wishes were real. If
the other three born that night had made a wish
before me, they hadn't told anyone, So I suppose I
(11:46):
was the first.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
What happened when you were seven?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
My dad was a miner.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Most of those men used their headlamps strapped out in
front of their tin cap, but my father hated those
things with a passion. He'd take a stretch of cloth
and tie that lamp to his forehead. Used to tie
it so tired. My mother a joke, You tie that
an it tied, and your head's liable to bust. My
dad was a strong man, decent, mostly child of the Depression,
(12:17):
and from what my mama told me, he had a
hard go of it, growing up, harder than most nowadays.
They'd put him in therapy and it would help, I'm sure,
because as strong as he was in good deep down,
he could be mean. And I'm not excusing him by
telling you he had it hard. There's no excuse for
(12:40):
a violent act against anyone, but especially not family. And
one time he was beating on my older brother, Caspar,
and I got so mad hollering for him to stop.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
He didn't stop. He paused and turned to me and
told me I was next. Well, that's when I finally
made my wish.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
I wished that his head wood burst, and before the
wood burst was fully out my mouth, that's exactly what happened,
just like a soap bubble.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Never did get the stain off our bedroom wall.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
That was my one wish. Used it up. So now
when my birthday comes, I can wish on my birthday candles,
just like everyone else tried it once too. I never
puped so hard in my life, which was too bad.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
That was a good looking cake.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Officially, Silas Parnell Elliott's dad's cause of death is listed
as decapitation on the coroner's report. It's neatly typed, followed
by the date. In the notes sanctioned beneath a fountain
pen has scrawled two words spontaneous combustion, followed by two
question marks. I would have liked to talk to the
other three children born on the same night as mister
(14:14):
Parnell back in nineteen forty seven, but they've all passed away. Luckily,
there have been plenty of children born on Christmas Eve
in Bedford Falls in the years following, and while many
flat out refused any in all contact, I exchanged emails
with several and was able to talk by phone to
many more, though both groups agreed I could share their
(14:35):
stories under the condition I not record their voices or
divulge their names. And most of their stories are actually
quite sweet, happening when they were young enough that the
most they could ever wish for was a new puppy
or a video game, or a better home for their family.
Selfless wishes as light as gossamer, seemingly without repercussion, no
(14:55):
ec comic style twist, like the new home becomes reality
thanks to a real relative dying at the same moment
the wish was spoken, which is not to say there
were no stories without menace. One respondent, who spent summers
with his family on Van Cleef Lake told me he
was racing his brother to a floating platform found thirty
yards from shore. He thoughtlessly wished to be able to
swim like a frog. His email ends, thank God for
(15:18):
voice to text software. You've no idea how hard it
is to type with tightly webbed fingers. Another told me
of her experience near the end of her junior year
in high school. It was early June, and she felt
overwhelmed with the coursework and impending final exams, and wished
to be anywhere but here, only to suddenly find herself
at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, where an early winter had
(15:41):
just set in, stranding her there till September. My parents
were not pleased, she wrote, Only one agreed to speak
on air, and enthusiastically at that we arranged to meet
at Martini's, where I should note they make a terrible
martini the following day. That night was a restless one
in Bedford falls as troubling as the notion of people
(16:02):
given the power to shape reality to their will might be,
It's dwarfed by the far more sinister possibilities of its source.
It seems entirely likely that George Bailey was visited by
an angel of God. There have always been stories of
angels bringing visions, but what about the one that appeared
across town. Isn't it possible that, in the face of
a divine emissary granting a wish here and on such
(16:25):
a holy evening, that those fallen angels might not seize
on that ability and use it for their own horrible,
unholy purpose. Could saving one man's soul have damned everyone
else in town. I'm back at Martini's and speaking to
Rafael de Soto. Great name for radio coming up next,
(16:47):
Rafael de Soto on WAAF AAF. You grew up in Boston, Seattle,
but I went to school there me too.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
U mass Amhurst. It's funny how you mentioned radio. I
took a communications course sophomore year. No kidding, yeah, went
in for on air talent. Did maybe three shows in
the school station before my professor quite rightly urged me
toward the technical side of things. I had the drive,
but not the talent.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Oh, I'm sure you were fine. Now, Raphael, you were
born on Christmas Eve nineteen ninety, that's correct. I was
hoping you could share your experience with the wishing phenomenon
here in Bedford Falls.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Has anyone else spoken to you about this aside from
the Bailey family. I mean, the great Christmas miracle from God?
What a joke.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Bells and wings, bells and wings.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
They didn't tell you that part. Shocking. Yeah, she always
said a bell ringing is a sign that an angel
has received their wings, not even joking.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, I did speak to the Bailey family, but I
also spoke with quite a few others. They wanted anonymity,
but they did share their stories.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Let me guess, boo, bet she talked to you.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Oh she did, And like I said, they don't want
their names released.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Damn it. Sorry. See that's why you're the big time
radio guy and I'm the third shift forklift operator at Wainwright.
But if she talked to you, I think I can
guess which others did too.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Well, they've been very forthcoming.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
I'm sure, why wouldn't they be. Most of their stories
a tailor made for the Hallmark.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Channel, and your experience was less than wonderful.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
Experience experiences plural. Let me tell you, just being around
the event when it happens can be traumatizing. Seeing something
so bizarre happened right in front of your eyes can
really do number on you. It's like they say in
Apocalypse Now. It puts the WHAMMI on your head, makes
you question reality, whether the outcome is awful or adorable,
makes no difference. And there's another part of it. This
(18:39):
is a little harder to describe. Every time it happens,
and ask anyone in town, and if they don't agree,
they're lying. Whenever it happens, everyone seems to feel a
little dimmer inside, a little wearier, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally,
maybe spiritually, if that's your thing. See, there really aren't
(18:59):
many of I know that even one of us having
this power is a major deal, But think about it.
The odds of being born at all are crazily against you.
Not to mention born here in Bedford falls, not to
mention being born on Christmas Eve, those have to be
astronomical odds. So there aren't many of us. We all
tend to gravitate toward one another. And I'm not saying
(19:21):
we're wearing matching jackets or anything. There's just a familiality
that we feel with each other, especially given the way
the rest of the town tends to treat us.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And how's that gently but.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
A merciless kind of gentle smiling too much and treating
you maybe a little too nicely. But it becomes obvious
that it's an act pretty quickly, which is worse than
the ones that are straight up avoid you. You know
they're scared, but the others faking that they're not. After
a while, it just grates on you. Anyway, Since we
tend to be around each other, we also tend to
(19:53):
be the witnesses to the events when they happen. I remember,
Oh god, it's hard not to say their names, but
I'll do my best. Okay. There were these two boys
a couple years older than me. Twins. How's that for
astronomical odds. As if twins aren't just naturally weird enough,
these ones have on unnatural power. I was ten, so
they were twelve. And you know how twelve is. You
(20:15):
want to stand out from the crowd, assert your individuality,
and these boys are trying to do it with a
literal mirror image doing exactly the same. Well, one day
they finally had it out. There was a group of
us behind the high school football field and these two
are rolling around on the ground, punching, kicking, screaming at
each other. How they were sick of each other, sick
of sharing everything. Then they were back in their feet
(20:35):
and it happened.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
They wished yeah, not.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
At the same time, one wanted the other to be older,
or old enough so they wouldn't be mistaken for each other,
and once that happened, the now older one wanted the
other to be younger. Next thing you know, they're back
on the ground, both of them drooling, an infant laying
next to a withered old man, and both with identical DNA.
Their family moved away a couple months later, I don't
know where, probably to a town where they wouldn't be
(21:01):
questioned about a brand new baby and an elderly man
that they introduced to people as Grandpa. Another time, there
was a girl in my biology class just obsessed with unicorns,
stickers on her locker, a thousand scribbled drawings on her notebooks.
We were studying fauna, different classes of animals. She insisted
on the existence of unicorns. Our teacher disagreed, and not
(21:22):
very nicely, which is how Bedford Falls ended up with
the world's only unicorn, racing down the halls of BF
High School and onto New England Street and out in
the forest. You see him every once in a while,
people who didn't know the story would freak out when
they saw him. Oh my god, it's a unicorn, an
actual unicorn. I never had the heart to tell him
that his name was Karl and his favorite band was
run DMC. And those are just the ones I witnessed
(21:43):
firsthand the event. I mean, heard the words, saw it happen.
We all saw the after effects on a half a
dozen others. A kid over at Potter Elementary School who
wanted to fly. He must have floated over the town
for three days before spring storm blew him to who
knows where. Don't know if you noticed the new police
station down the street. They built it about five years
ago after the first one disappeared. One day it was there,
(22:04):
and the next it and everyone who was in it
was just gone.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
The way you talked about the Baileys, I suppose it's
safe to assume that you don't subscribe to their belief
in an angelic intervention, that a divine hand set these
events in motion.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
Maybe to start and maybe for them. But what kind
of divine being allows children to turn their parents inside out,
or cause a blizzard in the middle of July, or
saddles a human being with that kind of power. I'm
not saying there hasn't been kindness because of it. But
the bad is just so, and it keeps on rolling.
You know, every year there's at least one or two
(22:41):
new Christmas Eve recruits to this freak show.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Why don't you leave.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
And go be the same boring drone doing the same
boring thing, just in a new locale where I'm a
stranger and I don't have ties to anything. Yeah? No, thanks?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Is that it? Or is there something else keeping you?
You haven't told us about your wish?
Speaker 6 (22:59):
No, but I also haven't done anything that would make
me feel responsible enough to stay here. The fact is
I never used mine.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You're kidding, But that's incredible. What an opportunity, Raphael. If
this whole thing was set in motion by demonic forces,
if it's perpetuated endlessly just as a mockery of the
divine and causes havoc on a regular basis, don't you
see that you have the ability to end it? Wish
the power away for good.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
That's possible. I've considered it.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
What are you waiting for?
Speaker 6 (23:30):
I said, it's possible, not probable. If this is an
evil power that we've been given, then it might make
everything worse. Give everyone in town the ability, regardless of
birthday or where they'd been born, give it to everyone
on earth. Can you imagine that? How long before all
of existence disappeared? No, I can't risk that, but I
do think you brought up another avenue. That's starting to
(23:52):
sound very tempting. Leaving Bedford Falls.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You don't need to wish for that, and you said
you would rather.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Not me me leaving town doesn't appeal. I'd just be
the same loser I was here, but somewhere else. But
given the opportunity to be someone else, preferably already established
in a career I've always wanted. You must travel a lot,
get to meet lots of interesting people.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh please, don't.
Speaker 6 (24:20):
Not to mention renown. I looked you up after you
contact me. You've got quite a career, lots of awards,
lots of respect.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
Very tempting. I wish I was you.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Interesting. Well, So ends our investigation here in Bedford Falls.
Thank you for tuning in. This has been Raphael Wait,
Joseph Joseph Hooks, you're intrepid reporter. Wishing all of you
a very merry Christmas. God bless us everyone.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
This episode of Dark Destinations was written and produced by
Father Malone and featured performances by Antonio Yupor from Swampmediagroup
dot com and Spacedetective dot com and Justin Billard. The
music was adapted and performed by HP Music from Hpmusicplace
dot bandcamp dot com. We hope you'll join us next time.
(25:28):
Until then, may all your travels lead to dark destinations.
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