Dial R for Raven

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
The sound you hear is an excerpt from Funeral March
of a Marionette by Charles Francois Gonaude. This is the
start of October. Pod of course, this isn't the bit.
Everyone knows what You're used to hearing sounds like this.

(00:34):
That's because, in addition to being a staple of Halloween
musical compositions, it served as the theme music to the
popular macab mystery anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock will not
be far from our minds as we present to you
this spooky season treat. Last year, the folks at Madison

(00:56):
on the Air invited me to narrate their Halloween episode,
and this year they've kindly invited me back. So for
the first act of this morning's entertainment, we present to
you Madison on the Air's adaptation of a story that
mister Hitchcock famously brought to the big screen, Daphne de

(01:16):
Morier's The Birds. I'll be back during the intermission to
chat with you about the bird symbolism in Hitchcock's films
The Birds and Psycho. And finally we'll leave you with
something foul. Indeed, an all new narration of The Raven

(01:37):
by Edgar Allan Poe. Make yourself comfortable. There's foul play
and hitch cockery afoot on this edition of Octoberpod. Keep
it right here.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Sins for consumer bards.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
On the makeup to Tom Reels show, she was teaching
smoking as to folks out there who really wanted to know.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
When's the freaking teaky science stuff?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Only understand banderds zapter into old radio shows the cat
you might never have heard now.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
She should probably be trying to get out the medicine.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
She's having fun living in old.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Time radio life.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Explanation is done.

Speaker 5 (02:43):
Is all.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life
of romantic adventure and want to get.

Speaker 6 (02:52):
Away from it all? We offer you.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Escape Escape, designed to free you from the four walls
of today for a half hour of high adventure. Hello everyone,
this is Edward October. I'm your host once again for
this year's Madison on the Air Halloween episode. Escape was
an anthology series. In nineteen fifty four, they premiered their

(03:20):
adaptation of Daphney de Marier's short story The Birds, nearly
a decade before Hitchcock would bring it to the silver screen.
Escape's adaptation is closer to that of the original story,
but you know what happens when Madison gets involved. I'm
just warning you there's no tippyhedron, but you still might

(03:40):
get to the end and think twice about that bird
feeder you have outside your window. Now, let me set
the scene. You are in a cottage on the southern
coast of England. The autumn countryside surrounds, desolate and bleak,

(04:02):
and you know that in the dusk outside, waiting patiently
for you, silently watching for you, is an enemy from
whom there may be no escape.

Speaker 7 (04:17):
Okay, I'd taken a job as like a governess to
the Hawkins family. They were British, so I was thinking
it would be all Mary Poppins with spoonfuls of sugar
and dancing with hot Chipney sweeps. But instead it was
just the day to day grind, dealing with two little
kids and their mom who didn't want to actually raise
her own kids but didn't trust me to do anything either.
The husband had gotten them this cottage on coastal farmland.

(04:39):
He was supposed to visit from London on weekends, but
you know how that goes. So I was stuck alone
with the mom Deborah, who clearly wasn't taking isolation very well.
There wasn't a lot to do when the kids were
at school, so she would insist I sit with her
on the cliff side while we ate lunch, and she bitched.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
The country is simply full of birds, isn't it, Madison.
Where else would you put them?

Speaker 8 (05:07):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (05:07):
The endless chopping in the city. We don't have to
hear all this mindless chattering.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
It is very inconsiderate. Damn you nature existing.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
There are so many more birds now that it's late autumn.
In the spring, they seem to know where they were going.
But now it's autumn, and well, they don't appear to
have any.

Speaker 7 (05:29):
Purpose, right They should stop playing video games, get off
the sofa and find jobs.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I mean, in the spring they build nests, lay eggs.

Speaker 7 (05:40):
You're upset that in the fall they're not horny trying
to hook up and make little baby birds.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
It gives them purpose.

Speaker 7 (05:47):
I make the male birds who do little dances and
stuff to try to attract a mate. Human dudes do
that too, but instead of flashy, colorful tail feathers, they
drive up in an expensive sports car and flash a
gold card.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
It's ensuring survival of the richest.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Just look at those flocks on the peninsula, the restless, uneasy, wheeling, circling,
coming to rest and flying again. The land birds and
the gulls down there in the bay. Oh, there's a restlessness.
Why they're more restless this year than usual, it seems
to me. You know, this morning two seagulls totally died

(06:24):
bomb me. Reminded me of the seagulls at the Santa Monic.
Appear those bastards have no fear. They will take a
French ray out of your hand and your finger along
with it. Jill said yesterday when the school bus let
her off, there was quite a few of them overhead,
as if they'd been following.

Speaker 7 (06:41):
Once I was followed by a Canadian goose, I made
eye contact and it started chasing me. I figured out
why Canadian geese are so mean, because we took their leader,
Canadian Ryan ghastling.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Or I suppose if the birds are restless, it means
a hard, lonely winter. They always seem to know, perhaps
a message comes to them in autumn, a warning about death.

Speaker 7 (07:09):
Okay, birds and death, great lunch topic goes really well
with the chicken salad.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
It's nature, Madison. Many of the birds will die, and
I think they know it. Perhaps they feel they have
to spill their motion out before they die, like people
who know their time is up and run about stupidly.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Ah, all work and no play. Make Debbie go. Craig Gray.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Oh, I'm sorry, Madison, but it's come over me lately
as I've watched them, the land birds mingling with the seabirds,
and a a sort of strange, unnatural partnership London Sea
Life and.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
Death Cray and Z.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
That night had turned colder and the wind strengthened. It
was December third, and it seemed like in only a
matter of hours autumn had been replaced by winter. Around
two in the morning, the sound of the wind beating
against the house awakened Madison.

Speaker 7 (08:25):
Am I seriously awake because of wind. Unless this house
is halfway to Oz, I'm going back to sleep.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
And then she heard it a tapping on the window.
Could it be a loose shutter, a tree branch perhaps, No, No,
it was too strong, too deliberate, So she climbed out
of bed.

Speaker 7 (08:48):
All if one of those stupid kids rig something up
to try to scare me, they're gonna have to try harder.
I had my little sister believing an evil troll lived
in her closet. I put an old cell phone in
her room and would slow scratching noises all night long.
Even in Colline, she still slept with the lights on.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Madison reached the window and opened it. Suddenly something brushed
against her hand and jabbed at her knuckles.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
Come for the French price, huh, try it with a
broken beach.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Then it was gone over the roof and behind the cottage.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Madison, be quiet. The children need the rest.

Speaker 7 (09:31):
Sure, don't mind me. I'm just here getting attacked by
a bird a bud. Yeah, look at my hand.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
The damn thing drew blood.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, don't get it on the carpeting. Your empathy has
no bounds. I don't know why you'd open a window
in the middle of a windstorm.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
The bird was pecking at the window.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Have you gotten into my husband's scotch again?

Speaker 4 (09:53):
That is irrelevant to this situation.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Just be more quiet so you don't disturb the children.
It's back, and I think it brought friends. That's just
the wind rattling the window.

Speaker 7 (10:08):
See if you can't fix it, it's not the wind
it's a bunch of birds trying to get in.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, send them away, come sleep with that noise.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Send them away.

Speaker 9 (10:20):
Do pardon me, birds, but the mistress has requested you
leave the premises at once.

Speaker 7 (10:26):
Golly, whyever did her husband send her to live in
the boonies and then never come to visit?

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Unsolved mysteries. Okay, let's send you guys away.

Speaker 7 (10:38):
Shot, get out of here.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
You're dang birds, or.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
I'll introduce you to a jitterbind s slash the face.

Speaker 7 (10:46):
I'm a makeup for Webster. I need to stay pretty
brand revenue.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Modison. Whatever in the world are you doing in here?

Speaker 7 (10:57):
Didn't you see that there were a bunch of the
this time they tried to peck my eyes, and I
don't think I could get replacement contacts in the nineteen fifties.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Just how much of that scotch did you drink?

Speaker 8 (11:10):
Barely any?

Speaker 4 (11:11):
There wasn't much left.

Speaker 8 (11:12):
Mummy.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Now see what you've done. You've woken up Jill. M Well,
well what go see? What's the matter?

Speaker 7 (11:23):
She's calling for you? But I pay you can I
at least see to my wounds first, No coming, Jill.
This kind of parenting is exactly the reason. I only
bonded with my nanny, my teachers, and that weird guy
who lived on our block and gave us candy.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
The room is filled with angry birds.

Speaker 7 (11:44):
Stop it, stop it.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
I am not a brain pig.

Speaker 8 (11:51):
Get a ray.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
Where's your brother under the naked.

Speaker 7 (11:55):
Come on, Johnny, we gotta get out of here. No,
he's a drinks Come on, Johnny, get out of that blanket.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
For product from monsters.

Speaker 7 (12:07):
You're gonna throw that lie back in my face?

Speaker 8 (12:09):
Now you y like?

Speaker 4 (12:12):
Yes, I lie the children to shut them off.

Speaker 7 (12:15):
Now move it, or Shanta will never ever visit you
again for the Christmas.

Speaker 8 (12:20):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
And I pushed the children out of the wad and
was alone with the birds. She seized a blanket and
used it as a weapon, sweeping it right and left
allay your song bird from hell. The birds kept coming
at her, their bodies smacking into the blanket. They jabbed
at her hands and her head, trying for her eyes
with beaks as sharp as pointed forks.

Speaker 8 (12:42):
What not days.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
She tossed the blanket around her head, flailing blindly at
the birds. Ah time beat to the rhythm of the
flapping wings until it slowed and became still. Madison unwrapped
the blanket from her face to find the floor littered

(13:05):
with the tiny corpses of the birds, robins, finches, sparrows, larks.
Some had lost feathers in the fight. Others had blood
Madison's blood on their beaks.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
It's like that zoo aviary all over again.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
The fierce sea broke harshly in the morning daylight, But
there was not a bird in sight. Not a sparrow
chattered in the hedge, No early thrush or blackbird pecked
on the grass for worms. There was no sound at
all but the east wind.

Speaker 6 (13:50):
And the sea.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Madson, Ugh, there you are. Did you see her in
children's room? I had them in my bed with me
all night, and Johnny refused to let me cover him
with a blanket because something you said about monsters. Is
it morning? On top of that, I had to make breakfast.

Speaker 7 (14:15):
Sorry, I must have slept through my alarm. What with
battling birds all night? You are a ghastly sight?

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Is that blood?

Speaker 5 (14:25):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Do you not see the dead bird's ankle deep on
the floor.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Oh? There are so many of them, like fifty or so.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
I lost count when I passed out.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, you can clean the room later. Jill needs to
get ready for school. So are you just doing the
denial thing?

Speaker 10 (14:42):
Then it's okay.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
I'm used to it.

Speaker 7 (14:45):
When a coyote broke into our garage, my mom drove
around with him in the backseat of her revertible all day,
telling people it was a skinny husky.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
I'm sure there's nothing to this bird thing. It must
be the weather. The sudden change confused them.

Speaker 4 (15:00):
It has to be that, okay. So next step is
a diamond collar and a Gucci dog sweater.

Speaker 9 (15:06):
The tea's ready, Mummy, Oh good, Madison? Are you all
cut up from the birds?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
There are no birds?

Speaker 4 (15:14):
Deer right, no birds.

Speaker 7 (15:17):
I was running with scissors and fell twenty or thirty times.

Speaker 10 (15:22):
Did did you drive away the birds?

Speaker 2 (15:26):
There are no birds, dear, So they're all gone. I
don't want to hear anything more about birds. You're giving
mummy one of her headaches.

Speaker 7 (15:37):
Yeah, Jill, they're all gone. Just maybe don't go into
your bedroom today.

Speaker 9 (15:42):
I hope they won't come again, Bobs. If we put
bread crumbs for them outside the window, they'll eat that
and fly away.

Speaker 7 (15:52):
Well, if you want to kill them, then give them
red crumbs, because When birds eat bread, it swells in
their stomachs, making them feel full, so they don't eat.
The bread has no nutritional value for them, so they
slowly waste away and die. Oh no, and after what
they did to me last night, grab me a loaf.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Jill, you'd better hurry or you'll be late for the
school bus.

Speaker 10 (16:13):
Okay, mommy, I'll go get my coat and books.

Speaker 11 (16:17):
Bus.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
She's gonna go outside and wait for the bus. What
about the birds out there?

Speaker 2 (16:22):
I told you. I don't want to hear any more
about those birds.

Speaker 7 (16:26):
Okay, I get the attitude. Your husband's not here, and
there's some sexual frustration. If you want, when I come back,
you and I can.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
If you're so worried about the birds, why don't you
walk Jill to the bus stop.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
That's fine, it's the fifties. You're trained to deny and repress.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
But hurry back. Johnny says, he's sick after what you
did last night. What I did saved his life from
monsters you invented.

Speaker 7 (16:52):
Apparently, I see what's happening here. It's the fifties and
you've never been introduced to the big Oh.

Speaker 10 (17:01):
I'm ready to go, mommy.

Speaker 7 (17:03):
Madison will walk with you while I'm out. I could
go into town and pick up some mummy's little helper.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
She's going to be late for school.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
Gone jo.

Speaker 7 (17:12):
Some women have to come to it on their own,
like I did one summer with my ten speed's money.
An like Madison, repeat that thing I'm always telling you.

Speaker 10 (17:22):
I is kind, I a is smart, I is important,
And eventually I'll grow up start eating a bad boy
with more tattoos than brains, and Mummy won't be able
to do a damned thing about it.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Good girl, So Madison escorted little Jill and waited with
her until the bus drove the child off to school.
For all outward appearances, the morning seemed like any other,
but the lack of birds anywhere on the horizon left

(17:58):
an eerie stillness, like the sky just before it unleashes
a terrible storm. It was on the walk back that
Madison encountered Missus Trigg, the old woman who owned the
farm land adjacent to the Hawkins family cottage.

Speaker 12 (18:17):
Oh, I know, missstand this, Hey Missus Tregg, how early
this morning?

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Eh?

Speaker 12 (18:23):
Or why that scotch on your breath? Perhaps you're out
late last evening?

Speaker 7 (18:29):
Speaking of alcoholics, where's your husband, somewhere's about the Can
you tell me where this cold is coming from?

Speaker 5 (18:37):
Hey?

Speaker 12 (18:38):
Is it Russia? I've never seen such a change, and
it is going on the world of sense, right, and
something to do with it the Arctic Circle.

Speaker 7 (18:48):
Do you know the average person talks about the weather
forty five hours a year. Forty five hours we give
away to surface conversations with boring people.

Speaker 12 (18:58):
Boring. Eh, well, this is something more interesting going on
that you feel worthy of conversation than.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
Didn't you guys get those crazy birds last night?

Speaker 12 (19:09):
Crazy birds? Oh you city folk. You hear one hoot
owl up in the trees and you think it's coming
for you.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
It was not an owl.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
Owls are awesome.

Speaker 7 (19:22):
Ever since Hedwig took the killing curse meant for Harry,
which not only showed her devotion to him, but represented
the loss of innocence and the direness of the war
Harry was about to face.

Speaker 12 (19:32):
And speaking of boring conversations, I have already told you
just because I'm British doesn't mean I know this, Harry Potter.
You keep talking about bored downtown Abbey.

Speaker 7 (19:46):
Anyway, last night a bunch of birds broke into our
house and attacked attacked.

Speaker 12 (19:52):
You, Oh, misstandish, I'm serious.

Speaker 7 (19:58):
You could go see their little corpses all over the
kid's bedroom. It looks like Sylvester the Cat's wet dream in.

Speaker 12 (20:03):
There Heaven's Was they foreign birds?

Speaker 4 (20:07):
What a strangely racist question to ask about birds?

Speaker 12 (20:11):
He means, the birds we got round deer aren't known
for attacking anybody.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
But a foreign bird can't be trusted.

Speaker 6 (20:19):
And miss Standis, hey, mister.

Speaker 12 (20:20):
Trigg, missus standish here has been telling about birds last night?

Speaker 7 (20:26):
Oh got into the master scotch again, did, she says
the guy who's got a reserve stool at the local pub?

Speaker 12 (20:32):
She says, the attacked her?

Speaker 6 (20:34):
Birds attacked. Never heard of such a thing like that before.
Hungry maybe looking for food? Had that happened once with
a neighbor's Ever, seems she wondered off, and the next
thing I knew, she was in the middle of our parlor.
All you could do to chase her from the house.

Speaker 12 (20:48):
No, no, no, dear, that was when you came back
from the pub, in the middle of my bridge game.
You chased off poor missus Turner one was a bit large,
seeing that calfskin shawl she wore. Certain he didn't do
her any justice.

Speaker 6 (21:02):
Well, miss Standish, if you're worried about birds, you tried putting.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Out some crumbs only in self defense.

Speaker 12 (21:09):
Well, let you know if we spaw a sparrow with
mischief in his eyes.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
Or some crows gathering for murder, you know, because a
group of crows going to murder. I ain't that right though?

Speaker 12 (21:24):
Never get tired of that joke.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, you and everyone who shares those memes on social media?

Speaker 13 (21:30):
Okay, later, ordinary birds, she said, attactor, What does she
take us for coming around with a story attacked her?

Speaker 6 (21:43):
I think she reads too many of those books.

Speaker 12 (21:45):
What books? Would these be? The ones you keep under
the mattress with pictures inside?

Speaker 6 (21:51):
We could both go look at them books right.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Now before breakfast.

Speaker 12 (21:56):
Why, mister trink, you're a devilish one, aren't you? The firshpade?

Speaker 2 (22:13):
How nice of you to decide to return? Did you
know Johnny went into the children's bedroom to retrieve a
toy and I had to spend a better part of
an hour picking feathers off his pajamas.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
I'm gonna clean it up, mummy dearest?

Speaker 2 (22:27):
What took you so long getting back?

Speaker 4 (22:29):
I ran into the trigs didn't you leave me any coffee?

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Do?

Speaker 4 (22:33):
I have to be a nanny and a barista.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
The Trigs don't tell me you brought up the trouble
from last night. That's all I need is Missus Trigg
gossiping to her bridge club.

Speaker 7 (22:46):
Don't worry. They didn't believe me, and they talks made
fun of me behind my back. They didn't think I
could hear them, so I got an earful of old
people Kinkugh, I wish those birds had picked off my ears.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Well, I'd be very happy if we had no more
discussion of birds.

Speaker 4 (23:04):
Not a problem. I looked all around, no birds anywhere.
It was kind of creepy.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Reminds me of the time we went to Disneyland and
it was totally empty. No birds. What do you suppose
they've gone.

Speaker 7 (23:17):
I don't know about the birds, but apparently Disney was
closed due to a measles outbreak, so we pulled a
wally World and got the security guard to take us
on all the rides.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
We still visit Carlos on holidays. You say the Trigs
didn't have any trouble last night.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Apparently not.

Speaker 7 (23:34):
They did that whole bashing the city slickers thing like
it's a badge of honor to live somewhere without art,
culture or dentistry.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Well, once you've cleaned up the children's room, we can
put all of this bird's nonsense behind us.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
As soon as I've had my coffee.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Mommy, look at my new puppet. I'm a body.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
Tweet tweet tweet. Oh, how about I clean up those
dead birds now.

Speaker 10 (24:01):
Ummy his wing fellow fix it.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Madison went upstairs to clean up the birds and the blood.

Speaker 7 (24:18):
It looks clean to the naked eye, but luminol is
going to light this room up like a Christmas tree,
which you'll save us a holiday decorations.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Per Debra's request, she took the sackful of dead birds
down to the beach.

Speaker 6 (24:30):
To bury them.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
The wind was bitter cold. Madison dug a pit in
the sand with her heel and started to empty the
sack into it, but the wind caught the birds and
whirled them along the shore.

Speaker 7 (24:44):
It looks like my friend's wedding when they released a
flock of doves that had been left in a van
in ninety degree heat.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
No matter the tide would take them. When it turned,
Madison looked out at the crested breakers. It was then
that she saw them, the gulls out there riding the seas, thousands,
tens of thousands. They rose and fell in the trough

(25:12):
of the sea, like a mighty fleet at anchor, waiting
for the turn of the tide, waiting.

Speaker 7 (25:20):
Somebody better call MacDonald's. We're gonna need ten thousand large fries.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Madison started up the steep path home, almost running. Someone
should know this, someone should be told, but who? And
then as she opened the front door, she saw Deborah
beside the wireless.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Listening possible destruction, damage, and even attacking individuals. It has
thought that the Arctic airstream is causing the birds to
migrate south in immense numbers, and that intense hunger may
drive them to attack human beings. Householdiers have warned to
see to their windows, doors and chimneys, and to take

(26:00):
all precautions for the safety of their children. Further bulletins
will be issued with later. And now the news from what.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
They've been repeating it every few minutes since you left.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
So have you moved past denial with the birds then?

Speaker 8 (26:13):
Or what?

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Madison? You sound almost glad?

Speaker 7 (26:17):
I'm sorry, but you are gaslighting me and I'm not
gonna let you do it, just like I didn't let
that team of therapist do it at my intervention.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Oh I'm sorry, Madison. This thing has made me a
little nervy.

Speaker 7 (26:30):
I guess okay, Well pull it together for the sake
of the children or whatever.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
The wireless said. The birds are hungry.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
For human blood.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
What are you doing?

Speaker 4 (26:45):
Your husband? Got anything we can use to board up
the windows and doors?

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Do you think they could break in with the windows shut?
The sparrows and robins and such? How could they not?

Speaker 4 (26:55):
The small birds?

Speaker 7 (26:57):
The gulls, The gulls, Debbie, Debbie, have you ever been
close enough to get a good look at a gull's beak?
There must be one hundred thousand of them out there
riding the sea, waiting.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Waiting for what. Revenge?

Speaker 4 (27:13):
Revenge for what they've got? Long memories, Debbie, long memories.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
What are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (27:21):
I've said too much.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
She's gotten into the sculpt again.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Madison worked upstairs boarding the bedroom windows how the best
she could while intoxicated. This is London, Debrah continued to
listen to the wireless. At first, some of the bulletins
had been liked in tone, but as the day wore
on the concern, and the announcer's voice became more and
more apparent. After she'd finished upstairs, Madison took the rest

(27:59):
of the lumber down stairs and boarded up the lower
floor windows.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
Ducks, geese, and swans.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
What they up to do is call the army out
and shoot the birds. I would soon scare them off.
How the citizens we deserve to be protected.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Well, if they're foreign birds, maybe they'll call the Marines.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Are you finished boarding up the house? Yeah? I think
I got everything. Mommy, Mommy, talk in here. Did you
bold Johnny in the cupboard? It's for his own good Mommy,
Just take your nap, dear. So Debbie, how are we
for food? We've got whatever you bought in the latda
what I bought. You're supposed to do the shopping, right?

(28:42):
You haven't gone shopping, have you? How am I supposed
to go grocery shopping?

Speaker 10 (28:46):
We don't even have a car.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
You walk, and I suggest you go immediately.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
But look at the sky. It's only three in the
afternoon and it's practically dark.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Whats why? Yes, the sky it looked so so heavy.

Speaker 7 (29:05):
Look the tides turned, the galls they've risen circling over
the sea.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Not a sound from them. Madison, you must go for Jill.
Wait for her at the bus stop.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
How I will She's your kid, You'll go get her.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
But you're the nanny.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Fran Rusher would never have put up with this.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Outside, Madison looked for a weapon, but all she could
find was a garden hoe. And then she went to
the top of the hill and waited. The surf was
booming below when a dark mass rose behind the clay
hills in the distance. It widened, divided, and spread north
east south west. It was a vast cloud of birds,

(29:58):
and it passed close by Heady inland up country, as
if they had no business with the people there. On
the peninsula. Brooks crows, jackdaws, magpies, birds that usually preyed
upon the smaller species, flew as one and headed to
town found on some other mission. Finally the bus came

(30:19):
and Jill got off. Madison took her by the hand.

Speaker 10 (30:24):
Madison, what's the helpful.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Keeping daddy tappy for money?

Speaker 10 (30:29):
How does it do that?

Speaker 2 (30:31):
How does it?

Speaker 8 (30:32):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (30:32):
You mean that?

Speaker 4 (30:33):
Oh, never mind, just stop dawdling.

Speaker 10 (30:36):
Look, Madison, look at the goose.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
Must go faster, welly nine two, must go faster.

Speaker 10 (30:43):
The seconding must go faster, Madison, slow down.

Speaker 7 (30:49):
I can't keep up you either mo those little legs
of yours, or on leaving you behind.

Speaker 10 (30:54):
It looks like the gulls are painted for something.

Speaker 7 (30:58):
Yeah, for a signal from the mothership. They've been counting down.
Check mate, what I just wedged in? Two Jeff Goldlan
references in one seat?

Speaker 4 (31:08):
Now let's move it. Wait, isn't that mister Trigg's cool bright?
Another bird denial?

Speaker 6 (31:15):
Ah, looks as we're in for some fun. I, miss Danish.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
I really don't want to hear what you and missus
Trigg do behind closed doors.

Speaker 6 (31:22):
I'm near heard the news. Everyone's gone bird crazy, talking
to nothing else. I'm gonna take a crackt and with
my gun.

Speaker 7 (31:29):
Oh good, the solution to our problems an army of
gunnuts shooting into the sky.

Speaker 6 (31:34):
Say you one, you look at a breath?

Speaker 10 (31:37):
Modices been making me fun.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
We have to get home like now, I'll buy her.

Speaker 6 (31:43):
Take Jill O in my car. Yes please, it's a
two set your mind only room for one passenger. I'm afraid.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
Oh well, Jill, you know your way home, don't you?

Speaker 1 (31:54):
What?

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Fine?

Speaker 7 (31:56):
Go, but I will never understand why the leads in
these stories always sacrifice themselves to save the children. I
hate kids, aren't you there, nanny? Okay, I like getting
paid more than I hate kids.

Speaker 6 (32:09):
Well, nonsense, all this bird talk.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
Have you boarded up your windows?

Speaker 6 (32:14):
No to scare you in the wireless As the lead.

Speaker 7 (32:19):
I'm giving you the official warning that could save your life.
Of course you're going to ignore it, and then later
on the audience is going to be like, hmm, you
should have listened to her.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Oh, come on, proving my point.

Speaker 6 (32:31):
Well, see you in the morning. I'll give you a
count for breakfast.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
Be afraid, be very afraid. Jeff Goldblum movie references.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Madison watched mister Trigg drive Jill toward the cottage and
then followed on foot. The sound made her look up.
The gulls were approaching. The order had been given. The
black backed gulls were leading and were bigger birds, and
its turns, and suddenly one of them dove, ha.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Your mess may.

Speaker 8 (33:08):
Missed again.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
Straight three, you're out, And then came the others six seven,
a dozen. Madison dropped the hoe, covered her head with
her arms, and ran toward the cottage. The birds kept
coming at her face from the air with beating wings.
Each stab of a swooping beat tore at her flesh.

(33:31):
Now there, aim got better, closer to her eyes, closer,
and then she reached the door of the cottage.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Bloody is six bloody In there.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Above her, she saw the ganet poised against the sky
for its dive. The gulls drew back, only the huge
ganet remained. Its crown of yellow feathers framed its head
like a halo, but its cold stare was that of
a demon. Suddenly the wings folded to its and he
dropped at her like a stone.

Speaker 7 (34:03):
Not a scene anyway, woman, good lord, what was that?
I think the avian flu got big bird, big bird.
Someone needs to tell him how to get how to
get to sesame streight.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Better?

Speaker 8 (34:21):
Now?

Speaker 6 (34:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (34:22):
Thanks?

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Where'd you get the scotch? I thought we were out.
I had a hidden stash. Mummies, little helper, Debbi.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
The children are in the other room. I didn't want
them to see you this way drunk. No, that seems unavoidable.
I mean bleeding from the bird attack. Wait, listen that sound?

Speaker 1 (34:47):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (34:49):
The birds?

Speaker 7 (34:49):
They're crowding against the outside of the house. They're trying
to find a way in, like ugly girls trying to
get into a popular nightclub.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Do you think they'll get in?

Speaker 4 (34:58):
I don't know. I was never outside the club long
enough to see what happened.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
I mean the birds.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
I boarded up all the windows and doors.

Speaker 11 (35:05):
But will that hold?

Speaker 4 (35:06):
I don't know. Why do I look like Bob Bela.

Speaker 7 (35:11):
I'm more like the Property Brothers because I'm hot and
you wish there were two of me. They must hold,
They simply must. Maybe everyone should sleep here in the
kitchen tonight. It's got the brick features and all that.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Will you bring down the mattresses?

Speaker 7 (35:24):
Oh yeah, I'm drunk and my hands look like I
reached into a garbage disposal to get a lost earring,
which I don't recommend doing.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Let's sleep on the floor.

Speaker 7 (35:33):
I've slept on kitchen floors before. It's part of my
past work experience. You should have seen it at my resume.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
I can't stand listening to those birds. I'll turn on
the wireless. That'll drown them out. That's better anything, so
I can't hear that horrible racket.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
As long as they don't play freebird.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
It's the food that worries me. Madison. You never made
it to the shops.

Speaker 7 (35:58):
Hang on idea. I noticed that the birds come in
with the tie. But the title go out about what
nine tonight.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
So there's would be a lull of about six hours.

Speaker 7 (36:10):
Yeah, and I could run over to the trains place
and see if they'll give me something for us to eat.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
I'll say it's for the kids.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
No one wants to be the one who says no
to starving children, unless you're a politician.

Speaker 5 (36:21):
This is Radio London. A national emergency was proclaimed at
four o'clock this afternoon.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
It might not be bird related, maybe it's another German blitz.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
Measures being taken to safeguard the lives and property of
the population that it must be understood that these are
not easy to effect immediately due to the unforeseen and
unparalleled nature of the pressing crisis.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Is it birds be specific?

Speaker 5 (36:46):
It is absolutely imperative let everyone remain indoors until further notice.
The birds in vast numbers are attacking everything inside. It
has to remain calm and not to panic. Will be
no further transmission from any broadcasting stations until seven am tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
It's like this, Olomphi, Then what should we do.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
Let's get those mattresses and just try to get some
sleep here in the kitchen.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
You're not worried.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Hey to everything, turn turn turn.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Madison. Wake up?

Speaker 4 (37:32):
Huh what you tell me your girlfriend was away for
the weekend?

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Madison? The back again. She's early.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
Tell her she gets sleep on the sofa.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Wake up. It's a little after three. The tides come
in again. The birds are back.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
Ew.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
What's that smell? Are you cooking?

Speaker 8 (37:51):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (37:51):
I'm not cooking. It's three in the morning.

Speaker 7 (37:54):
Aren't those kids playing with matches? I told them I'd
take the matches away if they started burning things again
with smell rather like burn feathers, burned feathers.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
The chimney, did you open the damper?

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Well, of course I did. I was burning a fire
to keep a swarm, but.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
The fires died out.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
They're coming down the chimney, probably all pleasing you through
the chimney.

Speaker 10 (38:21):
I'll just hear your bustards O burn you up.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
A sigh, huge flame on human torch.

Speaker 8 (38:29):
Chill.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Where did you get that oil?

Speaker 10 (38:31):
And Johnny he found it in the cupboard.

Speaker 4 (38:34):
Well, keep it coming, dit me, paper wood, anything, it'll burn.

Speaker 10 (38:39):
Hurry, can I get you Johnny to burn?

Speaker 7 (38:42):
Okay, demon child, Let's deal with one horror film at
a time.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Here, the bird's charred bodies kept dropping down the chimney.
Madison raked them to one side, but more came. They
piled papers on it, kindling anything they could find. Jill
threw on the rest of the oil and liked it.
The flames roared higher, more bodies. The stinch was unbearable.

(39:07):
Finally the birds gave up. Eva went over to the basin.
She was sick. Jill sat down, exhausted, mesmerized by the
carcasses before her and Madison.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
The sky is falling chicken bitches.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Around nine in the morning, the rustling ceased. Madison opened
the door a crack. Crushed birds were deep about the house.
There was not a living bird in sight. The tide
had gone out. Now was her chance to get food
and fuel. She ran all the way to the farm.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
All these bird guts are going to ruin my shoe.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Madison walked briskly to the farm.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Ah, damn it, Well, that's what I get for wearing swede.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Madison eventually made it to the farm. There was no
smoke from the chimney. She came round the corner of
the house and stopped in the doorway covered with dead
birds where mister and missus Trigg what was left of them?

Speaker 7 (40:24):
Okay, audience, say it with me. I told you so, dude,
mister Drigg's car, I could get out of here. Well,
if ten and movies have taught me anything. When the
lead urgently needs keys to.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
A stranger's car, the keys are always hidden in the
sun visor.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
Or there's a map.

Speaker 7 (40:44):
Well, it looks like I'm hot wiring the car, which
the leads also always know how to do. Oh gee,
there aren't so many wires under here.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Hours passed, Soon the tide would be coming in.

Speaker 4 (41:00):
Don't hurry the plot along. I'm trying to hot wire
the car.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
It was then that Madison noticed the keys had been
in the ignition all along.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
They would oh thank you.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
Madison loaded the two seater with all the food she
could find, although her insistence on taking only gluten free
items severely limited her choices. Then she started driving. She
would go anywhere anywhere that wasn't here. But suddenly a
woman ran out in front of the car.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
Madison, girl, what are you doing in the middle of
the road.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
That's the tricks came. Ah they did. Then we're all alone.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Richin, you're all alone. I'm out of here.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Who's you're leaving?

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Consider this my two minute notice?

Speaker 2 (41:51):
What's about me? The children?

Speaker 4 (41:53):
Good luck?

Speaker 2 (41:56):
The ghos? Please take us with you, loved you, But
I can't.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
This is a two seater and I got a black
seat out lost. You understand you're not petrol.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Hurry into the house.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Madison, Debrah and Jill huddled by the fire and listened
to the rustle as the birds crowded against the house.
But this time there was a new sound. They brought
up their heavier forces, the birds with larger beaks. The
sound of tiny bits of wood being torn away filled
the room.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
We'll stay till the tide turns, and then they'll come
back again. Look, keep coming back, mummy.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
Mummy's gone. Jill, say where's your brother?

Speaker 10 (42:49):
He's also gone.

Speaker 4 (42:51):
Oh okay, I'm gonna move over.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
To the sofa.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Madison listened to the sound of the splintering wood and
wonder how many million years of memory was stored in
those little brains now, giving them this instinct to destroy
mankind with all the deft precision of machines. She switched
on the wireless. It was then she reached for the

(43:17):
bottle of scotch. There was one swig left. She downed
it and threw the empty bottle into the fire and
watched it burn.

Speaker 7 (43:29):
Hi, I'm the lead here. Shouldn't be escaping? Didn't he
escape in a Hitchcock movie?

Speaker 1 (43:36):
But this adaptation is based on the short story, not
the Hitchcock film, and not everyone on this series escapes.
Escape was an anthology series which ran on CBS from

(43:56):
July nineteen forty seven two September nineteen fifty four. It
was a spin off from the series Suspense, but unlike
other similar anthology series, Escape spent most of its seven
year run without a sponsor, which led it to having
a lower budget and frequently shifting time slots. The episodes

(44:18):
consisted of both original and adapted stories, which would include
science fiction, horror, and murder mystery. Stories usually featured a
protagonist in a dire life and death situation.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
Oh okay, but did they escape?

Speaker 1 (44:34):
What do you think? Yes, monsters do have their place
in the zoo, in your nightmares, in the deep, in
your favorite horror movies, but not on your phone. During

(44:58):
an ad break. Politically motivated interests are seeking to influence
you through the ads placed on this podcast. Hi, I'm
your host Edward October, reminding you that we have very
limited control over the ads you hear on October Pod.
Please remember that only the ads and promos I read

(45:18):
with my own voice carry the endorsement of Edward October
and October Pod. Furthermore, I and the makers of October
Pod repudiate any entity advertised which seeks to promote hatred,
anti American or anti democratic sentiments, or the spread of misinformation.
Now with that in mind, October Pod will return after

(45:41):
this brief ad break. It's seventeen ninety one. Do you
know where the Headless Horseman is? Welcome to Terrytown, a

(46:02):
peaceful New York hamlet with one exception. It's located only
a mile away from the most haunted place in America,
Sleepy Hollow. They said it was safe to venture into
the Hollow at night. They were wrong. October Pod presents

(46:25):
The Brides of Sleepy Hollow, a shocking, all new, all
original sequel to the Ultimate Halloween Ghost Story, The Legend
of a Sleepy Hollow, written by Amber Jordan Whitney Zahar
Jane knightshun Dan b Fierce from an original idm by

(46:45):
Edward October, starring Ari Sha, Karen Rayner of chick Lit Podcast,
Tom O'Connor of Madison on the Air, Chauncey K. Robinson,
host of YouTube's production Tales from Hell, and Edward October
The Bribes of Sleepy Hollow. Coming to October Pod am
and October pod home Video on the Tuesday before Halloween,

(47:09):
October twenty seven. This time you may lose more than
your head. October Pody, It's intermission time. I'm your host,
mister Edward October. I was recently listening to a movie
podcast that lumped Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds into the Nature

(47:33):
Runs a muck genre, and then they say the bird's
motive for attacking the good citizens of Bodega Bay was
because humans had encroached on their territory and abused the environment.
I feel that this is a gross misreading of the film,
a lazy one too. If you actually watch the picture,

(47:55):
and if you haven't by now, you should, because from
here on out, I'm going to assume that you have,
you'd know that the film makes no real mention of
environmental issues. The birds, and this is an even more
frightening notion strike for apparently.

Speaker 6 (48:11):
No reason, or do they.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
If you watch this film focusing on birds of the
feathered persuasion and their motivations, you're simply watching the wrong
picture and Cockney slang a bird can be a woman,
and so the birds you should really be paying attention
to in this picture are the birds of the female persuasion,
namely Tippy Hedron as spoiled rich girl, Melanie Daniels, Jessica

(48:44):
Tandy as matriarch Lydia Brynner, and Suzanne Plichette as school
teacher Annie Hayworth. Each of these women form the corners
of a love triangle, with Rod Taylor as dashing San
Francisco lawyer Mitch Brenner. The first triangle is Mitch Annie
and Lydia, the mother for whom he's acted as a

(49:07):
de facto husband since the death of his father. Mitch
must choose between his lover and his mother. Lydia wins
this round, but after an elaborate meet cute at a
pet shop resulting in the purchase of two love birds,
the only fowl in the picture who don't go batshit,
Melanie enters stage left and rocks the boat quite literally

(49:31):
when a seagull dive bombs her perfectly quaffed noggin. Her
arrival at Podega Bay brings with it a new corner
of the love triangle and a challenge to Lydia's motherly affections,
as well as all those pesky bird attacks. This lover
versus mother conflict might ring a bell to anyone familiar

(49:55):
with another Alfred Hitchcock thriller. Psycho Norman Bates likes to
watch birds. He watches the female kind through hidden peep holes.
He also stuffs birds. The feathered birds he stuffs are
displayed in his office, and the female bird he's stuffed

(50:15):
his mother is rotting away in the basement. Want more puns?
Many Hitchcock scholars believe that Rod Taylor's character in The Birds, Mitch,
is a stand in for Hitchcock himself. Mitch hitch get It,
and the presence of Tippy Hedron, who plays Melanie, excited

(50:35):
Hitchcock as much as it excited the local bird population.

Speaker 6 (50:41):
More on that later.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Indeed, bird attacks punctuate emotional beats in Melanie's character arc.
A bird attacks her in a boat just after She's
rowed out to the home Mitch shares with his mother
and his much younger sister, Kathy played by an adolescent
Veronica Cartwright, to deliver the love birds. While Annie Hayworth
and Melanie discuss Annie's failed romance with Mitch and the

(51:05):
indomitable motherly influence of Lydia, a bird crashes into the
front door, killing itself. Later, Melanie wanders away from Cathy's
birthday party to have a conversation about Melanie's emotionally unavailable
mother and the scars it left her. This discussion of
emotional trauma from when Melanie was a girl Kathy's age

(51:27):
is interrupted by the visceral trauma of the film's first
truly violent bird attacks. Near the climax of the film,
Lydia watches as Cathy turns to Melanie, not her own mother,
to be comforted. A look of understanding falls over Lydia's
harsh gaze, as though she's beginning to realize that Melanie

(51:51):
might not be such a bad match for her son.
This realization is soon followed by the vicious bird attack
on Melanie. In the attic, bird attacks seem to be
linked to Kathy as much as to Melanie. After all,
it's Kathy's birthday party that gets ruined by birds, it's

(52:15):
Kathy who receives two love birds as a gift. It's
Kathy's school that's attacked, Kathy's teacher who is killed, and
Kathy's home that's flooded with murderous birds. It's almost as
though Kathy represents Melanie's in her child, or the child
Melanie could have been, and the bird attacks are a

(52:36):
metaphor for the psychic rage and sadness brought on by
Melanie's childhood trauma. It's likely that the bird attacks are
symbolic of more than just Melanie's psyche Alfred Hitchcock was
rumored to have been infatuated with actress Tippy Heedron, and
the attack in the Attic plays almost like a sexual assault.

(52:58):
It's jagged editing also symbols Psycho's shower scene in its ferocity.
Numerous critics and film historians have theorized that this symbolic rape,
a scene so grueling that Hedron suffered a real life
nervous breakdown while filming it for five days straight using

(53:18):
live birds, was an extension of the director's unrequited lust
for his leading lady, and I'll just leave that sitting
right there. If you want to learn more about Hitchcock's
fixation on and inappropriate behavior towards Tippy Hedron, or about

(53:41):
the subtext behind the Birds in Psycho, that's all covered
in great detail in the Dark Side of Genius, The
Life of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spotto. It's an excellent
book which examines the entirety of Hitchcock's long career and
complicated in her life, which, along with various documentaries and

(54:03):
commentary tracks, served as a major source for this segment.
People who dislike The Birds often cite its rom calm
like beginning and its slowly paced first half. But then again,
I say they're looking for a nature attacks movie while

(54:25):
ignoring the nuanced psychodrama playing out right in front of
their noses. Still not convinced, still think the Birds. As
for the Birds, well, then let me point you towards
the short story upon which the film is based, The Birds,
by daph New du Maurier. Hitchcock fans will recognize du

(54:46):
Maurier as the novelist who gave us the wonderfully haunting
Gothic pot boiler Rebecca du Maurier's vision of the birds
bears zero similarity to the Hitchcock film, aside from common
birds one day deciding to go ham on all of
humanity or on the coast of Cornwall at the very least.

(55:08):
Where Hitchcock's film is a psychodrama of childhood trauma and
sexual frustration, du Maurier's story is a meditation on England's
collective shell shock following the Second World War. The bird
attacks are very much like a German air raid. One
of the story's most haunting images is of gulls gathering

(55:30):
and floating on the ocean waves, waiting to pounce. It
was adapted several times for old time radio. My favorite
adaptation was broadcast on Escape and starred Benwright, an English
actor whose voice can be heard in a number of
Disney cartoons and in countless radio plays. Escapes dramatization turns

(55:53):
the birds into a metaphor or Cold War paranoia, and
makes it clear that the attacking birds are coming in
on cold winds from the northeast the vicinity of Russia.
For example. Lux Radio Theater also did a version, this
one starring Hitchcock regular and one of my old time

(56:16):
radio favorites Herbert Marshall. But it's pretty awful.

Speaker 6 (56:21):
And there you have it.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
I've recommended something for you to watch or to rewatch
more critically, something to read, and something to listen to.
And now for your uneasy listening, our next spook story
is pretty foul. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Once

(56:55):
upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
where any quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore? While
I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as
of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door,

(57:20):
Only this and nothing more. Ah, Distinctly I remember it
was in the bleak December, and each separate dying ember
wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow.
Vainly I sought to borrow from my books surcease of sorrow,

(57:42):
sorrow for the lost Lenore, for the rare and radiant
maiden whom the angels named Lenore, nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
thrilled me filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before,

(58:05):
So that now to still the beating of my heart,
I stood, repeating, tis some visitor entreating entrance at my
chamber door, some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.
That is it, and nothing more. Presently my soul grew stronger, hesitating.

(58:26):
Then no longer sir, said I, or madam, truly your forgiveness,
I implore. But the fact is I was napping, and
so gently you came rapping, and so faintly you came
tapping tapping at my chamber door. That I scarce was
sure I heard you here. I opened wide the door,

(58:48):
darkness there and nothing more. Deep into that darkness, peering long,
I stood there, wandering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal
ever dared to dream before. But the silence was unbroken,

(59:09):
and the stillness gave no token. And the only word
there spoken was the whispered word leonore. This I whispered,
and an echo murmured back the word leonore, merely this
and nothing more back into the chamber, turning all my

(59:36):
soul within me burning. Soon again I heard a tapping,
somewhat louder than before, surely, said I, surely that is
something at my window lattice. Let me see then what
thereat is, and this mystery explore, Let my heart be
still a moment, and this mystery explore tis the wind,

(01:00:00):
and nothing more open. Here I flung the shutter, when
with many a flirt and flutter in there stepped a
stately raven of the saintly.

Speaker 6 (01:00:13):
Days of yore.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
Not the least obedience made he not a minute stopped
or stayed. He, but with mien of Lord or lady,
perched above my chamber door, perched upon a bust of
palace just above the chamber door, perched and sat. And
nothing more then this ebony bird, beguiling my sad fancy

(01:00:39):
into smiling by the grave and stern decorum of the
countenance at war. Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,
I said, art sure, no craven, ghastly grim and ancient
raven wandering from the nightly shore. Tell me what they
lordly name is on the night's Plutonian shore. Quoth the

(01:01:03):
raven never more? Nottschy marveled this ungainly fowl to hear
discourse so plainly, though its answer little meaning, little relevancy bore,
for we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door,

(01:01:27):
bird or beast upon the sculpted bust above his chamber door,
with such a name as never more. But the raven,
sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only that one word,
as if his soul. In that one word he did

(01:01:47):
out pour nothing farther than he uttered, not a feather.
Then he fluttered till I scarcely more than muttered other
friends have flown before. On the morrow, he will leave
me as my hopes have flown before. Then, the bird said, nevermore.

(01:02:09):
Startled at the stillness, broken by reply so aptly spoken, doubtless,
said I what it utters is its only stock and store,
caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster followed fast,
and followed faster till his songs one burden bore till

(01:02:31):
the dirges of his hope, that melancholy birden bore of
never nevermore. But the raven, still beguiling all my fancy
into smiling straight, I wheeled a cushioned seat in front
of bird and bust and door Then, upon the velvet sinking,

(01:02:53):
I betook myself to linking fancy, unto fancy, thinking what
this ominous bird of yore? What this grim ungainly, ghastly,
gaunt and ominous bird of your ment in croaking? Nevermore?
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

(01:03:16):
to the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my
bosom's core. This and more I sat divining, with my
head at ease, reclining on the cushions velvet, lining that
the lamp like gloated o'er she shall press ah. Nevermore, then,

(01:03:37):
methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
swung by seraphim, whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. Wretch,
I cried, Thy God hath lent thee by these angels.
He hath sent thee respit respite and nepenthee from my

(01:04:00):
memories of Lenore. Quaff oh, quaf this kind nepenthe, and
forget this lost Lenore quoth the raven never more, Prophet
said I thing of evil. Prophet still, if bird or devil,
whether tempter sent or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

(01:04:23):
desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land, enchanted on
this home by horror, haunted. Tell me truly, I implore,
Is there is there balm and gilead, Tell me, tell
me I implore, quoth the raven nevermore, Prophet said I

(01:04:46):
thing of evil.

Speaker 6 (01:04:47):
Prophet.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Still, if bird or devil, by that heaven that bends
above us, by that God, we both adore. Tell this
soul with sorrow laden, if within the distant aiden it
shall clasp as sainted maiden whom the angels name Leonore,
clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore.

(01:05:10):
Quoth the Raven never more, be that word our sign
of parting bird or fiend, I shrieked up, starting, get
thee back into the tempest and the Knight's Plutonian shore.
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie
thy soul hath spoken, Leave my loneliness unbroken. Quit the

(01:05:32):
bust above my door. Take thy beak from out my heart,
and take thy form from my door, quoth the raven nevermore,
And the raven never flitting still is sitting still, is

(01:05:53):
sitting on the pallid bust of palace just above my
chamber door, and his eyes have all the seeming of
a demon's that is streaming, and the lamplight or streaming
throws his shadow on the floor, and my soul from
out that shadow that lies floating on the door shall

(01:06:17):
be lifted nevermore. Hello, this is your host Edward October
once more. Some Halloween tales are meant to make your
spine tingle, but sometimes we want Halloween stories that can

(01:06:39):
help us wrap ourselves up in the cozy vibes of
the season and soothe us to sleep. Our final tale
belongs in the latter category, and it spoofs a Hitchcock
horror classic in the guise of a children's bedtime story.
Let us know in the comments if you can get

(01:07:00):
which movie we're spoofing. A Ghosteam Hotel. Once upon a
time there was a young woman named Marian, and even
though she worked at a bank, she didn't have very
much money. She wanted to marry her boyfriend and settle
down some place nice, maybe by a house, but settling

(01:07:24):
down simply wasn't in the budget. One fine day, the
bank manager handed her an envelope of cash, lots of
cash that some foolish old man had wanted to deposit.
The bank manager didn't want to keep that much money
in the small vault over night, so he asked Marian
to drive it over to the main branch of the
bank and deposit it in the big vault. Except Marian

(01:07:49):
didn't do that. No, she placed the envelope in her
purse and went home and packed a suit case and
got in her car and drove all night. She had
no idea why she had done that. She supposed seeing
all that money drove her a little mad and made
her think that if she took it then it would

(01:08:10):
solve all of her problems, but of course it would
only create more problems for her. Marian drove until very
late at night, and would have kept on driving too,
but she drove into a rain storm and could barely
see the road ahead of her, so she pulled over
for the night at a roadside motel out in the

(01:08:31):
middle of nowhere. The motel was old and run down,
so old and run down that it looked like a
ghosty motel. Of course, it wasn't haunted by any real ghosts,
not really. But if I was a ghost looking to
haunt some one, that motel would be a dandy place
to do it. Marian booked a room for the night,

(01:08:54):
and the first thing she wanted to do was take
a nice long shower. So she went to check out
the bathroom, and when she pulled back the shower curtain, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.
Out from the shower flew dozens of bats, which scared
poor Marian so badly that she ran off into the woods,

(01:09:17):
never to be heard from again. Back in her hometown,
everyone was beginning to wonder what had happened to Marian.
Her sister Lila, and her boyfriend Sam hired a detective
to find her. The detective retraced Marian's steps until at
last he found his way to the Rundown Motel in
the middle of nowhere, which looked like a ghosty motel,

(01:09:41):
but which wasn't really haunted at all. The detective saw
her car parked out front and asked the manager to
let him inspect her room. There he found Marian's luggage and,
most curious of all, the envelope of stolen cash, but
no Marian. The detective no noticed that on a hill

(01:10:02):
overlooking Marian's home there stood an old, dark house, which
looked even more haunted than the motel did. The detective
went over to the house to explore. He knocked on
the door, and when no one answered, he invited himself
in to investigate further. He saw a grand old staircase,

(01:10:23):
and he decided to climb the stairs to look for clues,
when all of a sudden, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, out
from a room at the top of the stairs flew
dozens of bats, which scared the poor detective so badly
that he ran off into the woods, never to be

(01:10:45):
heard from again. Lila and Sam became worried when they
didn't hear from the detective they had hired, so they
decided to investigate for themselves. They retraced the detective's steps
as he had retraced Marian's, until at last they found
the run down motel in the middle of nowhere, which
looked like a ghosty motel, but which wasn't really haunted

(01:11:09):
at all. They found Marian's car, the empty motel room,
Marian's suit case, and the envelope of stolen cash, and
they too found the old house on the hill. They
went inside the house to investigate further, but unlike the detective,
they looked in the basement. The basement was dark and

(01:11:30):
the steps down to it were uneven. Lila switched on
the basement light to keep from tripping, when all of
a sudden.

Speaker 2 (01:11:39):
Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
Out from a dark corner of the basement flew dozens
of bats, which scared poor Lila and Sam so badly
that they ran off into the woods, never to be
heard from again. They were never heard from again because
in the woods they found a little off grid farm
powered by solar energy, where people were growing organic crops.

(01:12:07):
Best of all, they found Marian and the detective, who,
after being scared away by the bats, decided to start
a new life with the organic farmers and help them
work the land. Marian was in charge of making apple
butter and bake goods from apples harvested from their small
apple orchard. The detective discovered that he was a natural

(01:12:28):
at keeping bees and a harvesting wildflower honey. Lila and
Sam were so pleased to see them, and so enchanted
by farm life, that they too, decided to live simply
and sustainably on the farm and when I say they
were never heard from again, cousin, they wouldn't have it
any other way. Stick around after the credits for a

(01:12:55):
brief word from some of our fellow indie podcasters, creators
and friends. There may even be some bloopers, outtakes and
bonus content as well.

Speaker 14 (01:13:04):
Madison on the Air was written and produced by Christy Talentsage,
with music composition and audio engineering by Jeremy Sage. The
role of Madison Status was played by Christy Tallonsage, Sharon
Grewin Waldevered as Debraah Hawkins, and Edward October as our narrator.
Other actors in the cast were Melrose as Jill Hawkins,
Sarah Golding as Missus Trake Korean, Cronfley as Mister Drake,
Jeremy Sage as Johnny Hawkins, and Scott R. McKinley as

(01:13:27):
the BBC announcer.

Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
You have been listening to October Pod. October Pod is produced,
edited and directed by Edward October. The series co producers.

Speaker 6 (01:13:37):
Are m J.

Speaker 1 (01:13:38):
McAdams and Amber Jordan. Logo and banner graphics by Jessica
Good Edward October, character design by Nick Calavera. Select still
photography courtesy of unsplashed dot com. Select music cues by
Doctor dream Chip and various other stock music and sound
effects courtesy of freesound dot org. Music from big Foot

(01:14:00):
Apocalypse and Thorax theme from Octoberpod composed by Nico Vittasi.
All other images, music, and fxques, except where noted, are
sourced from within the public domain. Follow us on YouTube
at Octoberpod, home video, on Instagram and the app I
Still Call, Twitter at octoberpodvhs, and on TikTok and blue

(01:14:23):
Sky at Octoberpod. Or find us and all of our
links on the world wide Web at octoberpodvhs dot com.
For business inquiries or story submissions, email octoberpodat gmail dot com.
If you enjoyed this program, we'd be very pleased if
you told your friends about us, and while you're at it,

(01:14:44):
write us a five star or equivalent review. Wherever you
were listening, the man who spoke to you was mister
Edward October.

Speaker 11 (01:14:54):
Do you feel that a sudden chilled a single down
your spine.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
It's not a draft, is it.

Speaker 11 (01:15:00):
No, it's the unmistakable sign that we've found them the
most terrifyingly delicious ghost stories you've ever heard.

Speaker 1 (01:15:08):
And trust us, We've had some close calls.

Speaker 11 (01:15:11):
We're talking haunted halways, phantom apparitions, and things that go
bump in the night, all served up on our new show,
Ghost Bites.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
Join us as we dig into the spectral secrets and
spooky sightings that will have you sleeping with the lights on.

Speaker 11 (01:15:27):
So if you're brave enough, come grab a bite with us.

Speaker 6 (01:15:31):
Just try not to let it be your last.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
Ghost Bites streaming now on all your favorite podcast platforms.
They rule the streets. They take what they want.

Speaker 2 (01:15:53):
And it over street meets before we meet you.

Speaker 1 (01:15:56):
Dead meats, and you'll have to deal with this if
you want to make it through the night. If Ashley
wants to survive, she'll need to fight on their turf.
She'll have to fight dirty, stop struggling, and she'll have

(01:16:20):
to pick them off one by one if she hopes
to make it through the night. Make It Through the Night,
the savage novel of revenge and violence on the Streets
by Amy Koto, available now from Amazon dot com. Find

(01:16:40):
more by author Amy Koto by visiting TV Fanatic dot
blog or on Twitter at TV Underscore Fanatic Underscore Girl.
Make It Through the Night by Amy Coto her Night
from Hell has only just begun.

Speaker 15 (01:16:56):
First impressions can take only six seconds to make. But
if you're neurodivergent, those quick judgments about you can be misleading.

Speaker 12 (01:17:03):
Because of most people's ignorance around learning disabilities, people think
it means you're intellectually incapable.

Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
I'm not rain Man.

Speaker 4 (01:17:12):
Every relatiacy person is in rain Man. I thought I
was talking to people who understood, just like saying ADHD,
but they did not.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
They freaked out, and We're like, well, if you've got
to rest, if it's going to be a problem, then
we can just find you and get someone else.

Speaker 15 (01:17:26):
I'm Carolyn Keel and I host Beyond six Seconds, a
podcast where neurodivergent people share their lives and advocacy.

Speaker 8 (01:17:34):
One of my.

Speaker 15 (01:17:35):
Goals is making autism not something gets scary.

Speaker 4 (01:17:39):
I really want to help people understand this proxy a
little bit better.

Speaker 15 (01:17:44):
Get the real life of threatsundrom out there. Stop thinking
we are nothing but a joke. Let's shatter misconceptions and
celebrate neurodiversity together. Listen at Beyond six seconds dot net
or wherever you get your podcasts and the bid you're.

Speaker 16 (01:17:57):
Here, what your use to hearing sounds like this, dumb
dum tataram dam dam damadarama.

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
And then as she opened the front door, she saw
Deborah beside the wireless. And then as she opened the
front door, she saw Deborah beside the wireless. That's hard
to And then as she opened the front door, she
saw Deborah bus dumb dumdum dum dunda dam.

Speaker 16 (01:18:43):
Dundaam tataram tata.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
Her name is Deborah, Deborah and Namasuta. Scene eight.

Speaker 8 (01:18:59):
Tum m.

Speaker 17 (01:19:05):
Mm hmmmmmmmmm.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
That was the life I normally do on my show,
but I can do a different one.

Speaker 17 (01:19:15):
Yeah, dumb tarumum.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
But you still might wow.

Speaker 8 (01:19:35):
What was that?

Speaker 17 (01:19:37):
Dump dump dum.

Speaker 1 (01:19:41):
Dump dump dum.

Speaker 17 (01:19:46):
Clean that up? Dump do them ye do do something
with that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:01):
Alright, I'm done. Who doggies.

Speaker 8 (01:21:48):
Yah yah h m hm love same

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