Nightmare an episode of Suspense - Old Time Radio show OTR

Please enjoy Nightmare a great episode of the legendary Suspense - Old Time Radio show OTR - a Old Time Radio OTR classic.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Suspense radios Outstanding Theater of Thrills brings you an hour
a full sixty minutes of suspense Tonight, starring Eddie Bracken
and featuring William Conrad in Nightmare, based on the short

(00:33):
story by William Irish, directed by Anton M. Leader and
produced by Robert Montgomery.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
This is Robert Montgomery good Night.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
You know, when you stop to think about it, one
of the nicest things we say to one another is
good night. A lot of thoughts are implied in those
two words, and all of them are good. Actually, what
we're saying is have a good night.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
May it bring you rest, May you sleep well, And if.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Your sleep is invaded by dreams, may they be pleasant dreams.
All good, well intended thoughts bound up neatly into two
brief words. Good night and sleep itself is a condition
that most of us welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Quite apart from the biological need it serves.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
We're grateful for the momentary escape, for being removed from reality,
for the quiet, peaceful hours on the fringe of consciousness,
and so most of us, most of the time, anticipate
the night and sleep. Families and good friends regularly surrender
each other to the gentle care of the night and
call it a good thing. But in the blackest recesses

(01:42):
of night there can be terror. And the very night
that offers you sleep may also offer the torment of
dark dreams, vivid, terrible, half real dreams that grip you,
plague you with horror through the night, and are reluctant
to release you to the morning.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Fear.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Terror of such stuff are nightmares made nightmares like the
one we bring you tonight, and now, with Nightmare, one
of the best known and most imaginative short stories of
Cornell Woolrich, writing as William Irish, and with our star
Eddie Bracken, we again hope to keep you in suspens.

Speaker 5 (02:29):
First, all I could see was this beautiful face, this
beautiful girl's face, like a white, luminous mask, swimming detachedly
against unfolding darkness.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
There was no.

Speaker 6 (02:44):
Danger yet, but I wanted to get out of wherever
this was.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
There was eight.

Speaker 6 (02:50):
Doors in the room, with no free war space between.
I tried one, another, a third. They were the wrong ones.
I couldn't get out. The flickering white mass began to
change its expression.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Slowly, it became evil, vindictive.

Speaker 6 (03:14):
It spoke, it snarled, There he is right behind you
get him then if he who was just a black huddle,
a dark, lumpy mass. It slowly uncoiled until it loomed
before me, upright. It came toward me, toward me, toward

(03:37):
me with cataleptic slowness.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
I wanted to turn and run in the minute, the half.

Speaker 7 (03:43):
Minute, that's all I was left now.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
But I couldn't move.

Speaker 6 (03:47):
I couldn't left the foot.

Speaker 5 (03:49):
I just waved back and forth, as if my.

Speaker 8 (03:53):
Shoes were nailed to the floor.

Speaker 6 (03:59):
He came on, his outline, still indistinct, like a lumpy
clay image. I could see the arms come up from
the sides and couldn't avoid them.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
They were like lobster cloaks. I could feel.

Speaker 6 (04:11):
Its breath on my face.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
I could feel the pressure.

Speaker 6 (04:15):
Of his hands on the side of my neck rather
than in front, as if trying to break it.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Rather than strangle me. And his thongs were digging into
the straining.

Speaker 9 (04:25):
Cord foot right under my ears, pressing.

Speaker 6 (04:29):
Into the tender black flesh right beside the jawbos. I
plunged the merciless hands and cried one off at last,
but it wrenched free of my restraints, trailing a nail
scratch across my wrist and climbed itself back where it
had been.

Speaker 8 (04:50):
I beat at his hot body, and then.

Speaker 6 (04:53):
Pulled at it and grabbed at it with the instinctive
fledge of a drowning man. A button and came off
in my hand, and I hung onto it.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
I don't know why I just hung onto it.

Speaker 6 (05:08):
Is he dead?

Speaker 10 (05:11):
Finish?

Speaker 6 (05:11):
His hurry held me the drill I put hard. My
hands passed and to protect myself, and something was.

Speaker 9 (05:21):
Put into one of them.

Speaker 8 (05:23):
She put it into my hand instead of his.

Speaker 6 (05:28):
I fixed my hand on a.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Tight lifted my arm and drove it into him from
the back.

Speaker 10 (05:38):
His bed body fell heavily.

Speaker 11 (05:40):
And sprawled across me.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
It took almost a minute for me to push it away.
Is it done? Did it kill him? When I stood up,
she saw me, and then she disappeared, as though swallowed
by a strap.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
I heard.

Speaker 6 (05:58):
I heard the door closed, and turned to see which
one she'd used to get out, that I might remember
and find my way out.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
But I was too late. When I turned, she.

Speaker 6 (06:06):
Was gone, and all the doors looked alike again. I
was alone with the dead body.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
The core of.

Speaker 6 (06:14):
My fear lay sprawled on the floor. I had to
hide it, had to shut it away. I tried the
doors one by one till one of them opened. It
was a closet, a shallow closet, but enough to hold
the body.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
I dragged it across the floor.

Speaker 6 (06:35):
And I shut the door of the closet, pressing it
tight in to keep the terror that the body still
held away from me. Below the knob, I found the key,
a strange keys shaped like a green leaf clover.

Speaker 5 (06:48):
I turned it, heard the lock click.

Speaker 6 (06:51):
Into place, then put the key into my pocket. But
I couldn't keep my eyes away from the knob. It
was turning slowly to the riding in to the left,
and as it turned, it made a ringing noise, a
ringing noise.

Speaker 12 (07:09):
Range the knob, the door.

Speaker 6 (07:17):
I phone the phone.

Speaker 10 (07:20):
Hello, eight o'clock fans?

Speaker 7 (07:22):
Did I wake you?

Speaker 4 (07:23):
Why?

Speaker 13 (07:23):
Who is this?

Speaker 7 (07:24):
It's still your sister. I want you to come up
for dinner.

Speaker 6 (07:27):
High. Oh well, look, I'll phone you later when I
when I'm awake. Okay, Sue bye. It was a dream.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
It was all a dream.

Speaker 6 (07:48):
Near doors, dead bodies, beautiful women. How Freudian can you get?
Must have been that Salami had last night. Never reached
salami before going to bed eleventh commandment fourteen minutes after day.
That means I still have time to I stood staring

(08:08):
stupidly at my wrist. There was a deep scratch on
my wrist. For a minute, I was startled, and I
realized what must have happened. I scratched myself and my sleep,
and the details ended into my dream. Yeah, that's what
must have happened. I dropped my watch and it was broken,
but it didn't matter. It was a cheap one. I
continued dressing. I chose a blue tie and threw up

(08:28):
the collar and drew the tie lane through and folded
it again. Out of my mind was getting ready to
get frightened, but I held on to it steady, like
I held the collar in the mirror. I could see them,
the bruises on my throat, brownish purple marks which hadn't
been there when I went to bed the night before.
It took me a moment to realize, to try to

(08:51):
reason it out, I must have done this to myself too,
crossing my arms over my chest and attempting to strangle
myself in my sleep. It didn't make my sense, but
it was the best I could do. I decided not
to think anything more about it, and continued dressing. When
I had my jacket on, I put my hand in

(09:11):
my change pocket and took what was in it to
check coff bear and lunch money. A button mixed in
with a change A button that didn't belong to any
suitor coat I owned. I closed my hand over it,
and I it had the feel, the shape. There was

(09:33):
no doubt about it in my mind. It was the
button from the dreams. I rushed to the closet, checked
every last thing I had. The button matched nothing. It
wasn't from anything of mine. It didn't belong anywhere. I
couldn't kid myself anymore. People don't find buttons and dreams.

(09:56):
I decided I needed a cup of coffee. I was
getting the jitter. I slipped into my top coat and
opened the door. Then before I shut it, I checked
to make sure I had my key. The key I
took out of my pocket wasn't my key. It was
shaped like a free leaf clover.

Speaker 13 (10:21):
My knees of a weak.

Speaker 6 (10:23):
My stomach was quivering, but I couldn't go back into
the room. I had to see people here, cars in
the streets, but it didn't help. All was real nothing
was wrong. It was me, something in me. I ducked
into a drug store, but I couldn't eat. Instead, I

(10:44):
went to the phone booth and called my sister Lil. Hello, Hello,
helloll Fence. Yes, is Cliff at home?

Speaker 7 (10:57):
No, we went down a headquarters an hour ago.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
He expecting him back.

Speaker 7 (11:01):
I am if he doesn't run off of the blonde.

Speaker 6 (11:03):
Then he won't be back until tonight.

Speaker 7 (11:05):
Well you're a detective too, how'd you figure?

Speaker 6 (11:07):
Sorry? I bothered, Julila. I just wanted to talk to Cliff.

Speaker 7 (11:11):
What about dinner? Will be able to Cliff?

Speaker 14 (11:13):
There?

Speaker 6 (11:13):
Dinner for sure?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
No?

Speaker 6 (11:15):
Thanks, I don't think so. Goodbye. I called the store
and told them I was sick. Then I walked all
day in the sunshine. Wherever the sun was brightest, I
sought and stayed in that place, And when it moved,
I moved with it. I couldn't get it bright enough

(11:36):
or strong enough, yet it didn't seem to warm me.
At about six o'clock, I found myself in front of
Cliff's house. The lights are on inside and I could
see Cliff. No, it was Lil moving around setting the table,
preparing dinner. That meant Cliff wasn't home yet I waited outside. Oh,
what's a monica?

Speaker 4 (11:57):
You afraid to ring the bell?

Speaker 6 (11:59):
Oh, Cliff didn't here? You're coming?

Speaker 13 (12:01):
Well?

Speaker 6 (12:01):
Are we going in?

Speaker 4 (12:01):
Are we going to stay out here?

Speaker 6 (12:03):
I'm hungry, Cliff, I gotta talk to you. Something crazy
happened to me.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
Okay, wait an hour.

Speaker 6 (12:08):
I've had a long, hard day at the office.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, honey, Well.

Speaker 7 (12:12):
I thought I heard you talking to someone with you now, Vince.
Oh you said you weren't coming, Vince. Well, I, oh,
never mind. The chickens will do for three. Come on in.

Speaker 6 (12:26):
Oh that's lil, and there's nothing you can do about it.
I hadn't eaten all day, and I hardly touched the
food she served. I couldn't wait to get Cliff alone
and tell them what happened. Detective should be able to
help me.

Speaker 7 (12:39):
Oh, I just finish up the dishes and then I'll
be back.

Speaker 6 (12:43):
Get your hat, Cliff, I've got to talk to you alone.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
Sure, kid, Lil, Vince and I are going to stretch
our legs. Be back in a couple of minutes.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
No, Cliff, only beer, okay, okay.

Speaker 6 (13:10):
And then there was the button, the same shape and
size and everything. It was in my trouser pocket with
my change. It's on the dresser back in my own
room now if you want to come over, you can
see it for yourself. And last of all, the key
turned up on me, next to my own keys, in
the pocket where I always keep it here.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
This is the key.

Speaker 6 (13:30):
Yes, that's the way it looked when I saw it
when I was asleep. The same shape, the same color,
the same design, It even weighed the same.

Speaker 13 (13:40):
You're all in pieces, aren't you.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
I don't take it that way, kid, no'le to get you, Cliff.

Speaker 6 (13:46):
You've got to help me. I'm walking on a high
wire and there's no net.

Speaker 13 (13:52):
Where'd you get this key from? Vince?

Speaker 4 (13:54):
I mean, where did you first get it from? Before
you dreamed about it?

Speaker 6 (13:56):
But you don't understand. That's what I've been trying to
tell you. I didn't have it before I dreamed about it.
I never saw it before. Then then I wake up
and it turns real.

Speaker 13 (14:06):
And that goes for the button too, the button too.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Hell, you not only have no net, you don't even
have a wire. What's really got you going? Are you
afraid the dream really happened?

Speaker 13 (14:18):
Is that it?

Speaker 6 (14:18):
Don't you understand? There's a door somewhere in this city,
right at this very minute that this key belongs to.
There's a man propped up dead behind it.

Speaker 15 (14:28):
I don't know where. I don't know where, no who
he is?

Speaker 6 (14:34):
How why it happened? Only that I I must have
been there. I must have done it though, Oh why
why would it come to my mind like that in
my sleep?

Speaker 4 (14:44):
Why you're in a bad way?

Speaker 13 (14:46):
Can say?

Speaker 4 (14:48):
Hop a little drinker, a little or no little?

Speaker 6 (14:51):
A waiter only coffee?

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Uh, yes, sir, h A waiter is two coffee.

Speaker 6 (14:58):
Took coffees.

Speaker 13 (14:59):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (15:00):
When the coffee came, Cliff started questioning.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
Me and the man, the fellow, whoever he was.

Speaker 6 (15:06):
No, I couldn't seem to see his face through the
whole thing. I only saw it at the very end,
after it was already too late. And then when the
door started to open again after I locked him in,
and it seemed as though I was gonna find out
something horrible about him, I guess, but I woke up
before there was time.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
Mum hum.

Speaker 13 (15:26):
And uh.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
Last of all, the place, you say, nothing but doors
all around you. Have you been in a place like
that lately? I've ever seen one in a magazine illustration
and a story you've.

Speaker 13 (15:36):
Read in a movie.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
No, no, well, let's get away from the dream for
a minute. Let's leave it alone. Starting to get me too. Now,
what did you do last night before this whole thing
came up?

Speaker 6 (15:48):
Nothing, just what I do every night. I left the
store at the usual time, had my meal at the
usual Oh.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah, sure, it wasn't something you ate.

Speaker 6 (15:54):
No food is responsible for that. Key. He can't create
a thing like that from a dream, and I didn't
have it when I went to bed last night. Cliff
didn't lose his temper right away. He's a good detective
and a good guy.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
Listen, Vince, there's no half way business about these things.
It's either one thing or the other. Either you dream
a thing or you don't dream it.

Speaker 13 (16:21):
It really happens. Now.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
You're twenty six years old. You're not a kid. Now,
don't worry. You'd know it and you'd remember it plenty
plain afterwards. If you ever came to grips with a
guy and he had your butther throat like in this dream,
and you ram something in his back. I don't take
any stock in this stuff about people walking in this
sleet and doing things without knowing it. They can walk
a little ways from the bed maybe, But the minute
anybody touches him or does anything to stop him, they

(16:43):
wake right up. They can't be manhandled and go right
on sleeping through it.

Speaker 6 (16:47):
I never walked in my sleep.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
You can ask lil if you think now they have
any recollection at all, no matter how faint, of being
out of your room last night, of grappling with a
guy or ramming something into him.

Speaker 6 (16:58):
No, all I have is perfectly clear recollection of going
to bed dreaming that I did all these things and
then waking up.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Okay, then that's all there is to it, and it
didn't happen. You either dream of me, you do them.
There's no two ways about it.

Speaker 6 (17:16):
Don't say anything a little about it, will you?

Speaker 4 (17:18):
Cliff, I should say not. I wanted to take you
for bugs here. You'll get over it thence.

Speaker 6 (17:25):
First I'll get to the bottom of it, and then
I'll get over it. Cliff, are you gonna help me?
What do you want me to do? Well, you're a detective.
You got the key and the buttons are in my room.
You must have often had less to work with. Find
out where they came from, find out what they're doing
on me.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
Now listen, cut that stuff out of you here. I
don't want to hear any more about the key. I
got it and I'm keeping it, and you're not gonna
see it again. And if you hop on this spooky
stuff anymore, I'll help you. All right, right into the
nearest sanitarium.

Speaker 6 (17:59):
I was on my own, just like before I had
been there, me and my shadows. Next day I phoned
the store and told them I still wasn't feeling when
and then well, I stopped in at a newspaper advertising
bureau and composed an ad classified Yes, real estate.

Speaker 14 (18:16):
This is the entire copy. Uh huh, check it with me,
see if it's correct. Please wanted. I am interested in
inspecting with a view toward leasing or buying a house
with an octagonal mirror paneled room or alcove. Period, location, size,
and all other details of secondary importance, provided it has
this one essential feature desired for reasons of a sentimental nature.

(18:37):
Period communicate boxel world express giving exact details.

Speaker 7 (18:41):
Period.

Speaker 14 (18:42):
Is that everything you want to say?

Speaker 6 (18:43):
Sir? Yes, I believe so.

Speaker 10 (18:44):
How long you wanted to run a week?

Speaker 6 (18:46):
Should hear something in that time? Shouldn't?

Speaker 4 (18:48):
I should?

Speaker 14 (18:49):
Lady wants advertised for an alligator that answered to the
name Alulu, and she got it in four days.

Speaker 6 (19:00):
Alligators answering to the name of Lulu were more plentiful
in houses with octagonal, mirrored paneled rooms. I got some answers,
but none of them are right. None of the houses
fit the scene of the dream. Next day, Sunday, I
was in my room, hid, hello, Cliff, what are you

(19:21):
dressed for?

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Well, matter of fact, Lil and I are going to
take her ride out in the country for the day.
And she packed a lunch for three cold beer hammets.

Speaker 6 (19:29):
And I'm all right, I don't need fresh air joints
to get rid of the devils. If that's the strategy,
you're gone.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
No kid. You see, I got this new second hand
Chevy in exchange to my old secondhand Chevy, and I
thought that maybe you'd like.

Speaker 6 (19:45):
In the end, I decided to go with them on
their picnic. Cliff was right. There was no point sitting
around brooding and waiting for something to happen. I might
as well forget it for a few hours if I could.
After our picnic lunch, I was almost beginning to relax.

Speaker 7 (20:05):
Have another sandwich.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
Cliffs, Oh, why.

Speaker 7 (20:09):
I'll think of a reason later.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
You have just stuck me into it. They just toss
it over.

Speaker 7 (20:14):
How about you VNS.

Speaker 6 (20:15):
If I had another sandwich layl, I'd never be able
to move another muscle. Where are we anyhow?

Speaker 7 (20:22):
I don't know as the pilot he.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
Got his hair, so help me.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
I was flying blind.

Speaker 6 (20:26):
Well, here's a weather report. Just came in, friends, rain
and soon how.

Speaker 7 (20:32):
Soon do you think?

Speaker 10 (20:32):
Then?

Speaker 6 (20:34):
Right now? Come on, get the stuff into the car.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Then you take the blanket. I got the best.

Speaker 8 (20:40):
Hurry back to town, clip, dear.

Speaker 7 (20:54):
I hate to be a pass but the lightning frightens me.
If you can't find your way back to the I
mean road, can't you turn in somewhere and stop a while.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
I'm sorry, little, it's hard to see through the rain.

Speaker 7 (21:05):
Well, if you spot a house or a barn, please
turn and I'm scared, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Of course, I mean, hey, if only I had some
idea where we are. I can't see ten feet ahead
and this stuff.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
There's a cutoff a little ways ahead around the next turn.
If you take it, it'll lead us to a house
with a big wide porch. We can get in under there.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
Huh uh, How did you know that?

Speaker 7 (21:25):
Were you ever up around here? Did these parts before?

Speaker 4 (21:28):
No?

Speaker 7 (21:28):
Well, then howd you? I?

Speaker 6 (21:29):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
Well, let's concentrate on driving instead of conversation.

Speaker 13 (21:34):
Have you seen any road signs?

Speaker 7 (21:35):
No, Cliff, not a thing. Eh.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Are you getting us more tangled up than we already were? Then?

Speaker 6 (21:40):
No, don't stop. Keep going. They'll come to it. Two
big stone landings. Turn the car left between them. I
don't know how I knew that myself.

Speaker 7 (21:52):
Oh, there they are, there they are. Well, turn, Cliff,
like he told you. Yeah, old, look with the trees.
There's a house back there. Oh, Vince's right. Oh well,
I'd be glad to get out of this storm. I'll
stop as close as the entrance as possible.

Speaker 10 (22:08):
There a.

Speaker 14 (22:19):
Well, it's dry here, but I wish you could get
in and away from that lightning and try the doorbell.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
Cliff, okay, No one.

Speaker 13 (22:35):
Seems to answer.

Speaker 6 (22:36):
There's a key under the window box with the geranium.

Speaker 7 (22:39):
He's kidding.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
But look anyway, Cliff, Okay, Oh, isn't that the slider.

Speaker 7 (22:46):
Ww I'd better put on his lights so we can
see where we're going.

Speaker 6 (22:56):
Not that switch that's the one to the porch, the
one that controls the hole is on the other side.

Speaker 7 (23:03):
He's right, What is this a rib? How do you
know so much about this place?

Speaker 4 (23:08):
Anyway, then just a lucky guess on this plan.

Speaker 6 (23:12):
Good afternoon, Cliff.

Speaker 10 (23:13):
Anybody hope don't do that.

Speaker 7 (23:16):
He's cool if he's shaking.

Speaker 6 (23:18):
Yeah, I was shaking, you see, and I was closed.
I was dripping with perspiration. I didn't what made me
say those things about the road and the key and
the light switches, but they came out as though I
had been here before. I was scared.

Speaker 7 (23:34):
Wait for the summer, I guess. But it's funny they'd
leave it on lock like that. Electricity is still unconnected. Oh, here,
being a detective comes in Handcliff. We shouldn't get in
trouble walking in like this, But as long as we're here,
I don't think anybody would mind if we made some coffee.
I'd love some, how about you, Cliff?

Speaker 10 (23:53):
Sure, go ahead.

Speaker 6 (23:55):
I couldn't look at Cliff, though I felt his eyes
burning a hole in the back of my neck. Little
went into the kitchen and I began to wander around nervously.
I found a bedroom and then a two entrance bath.
I went out by the second entrance and I was
in another bedroom. Through the doorway across the room, I

(24:15):
could see myself. My face was whiter than my shirt,
and my body was quivering. I shifted, came closer, dying
a little wavering as I advanced. Two of me three four, five,
six seven. I was across the threshold now, and the

(24:37):
door brought around from its position flat against the outside wall,
pulled in after me, flashed the eighth image of myself
on its mirror back surface of myself and.

Speaker 13 (24:51):
Cliff, Now, what's the matter of it?

Speaker 7 (24:55):
Cliff?

Speaker 6 (24:55):
This is the place.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
This is the place, Shah. Now, wipe off your foret,
your ring and what have.

Speaker 6 (25:00):
You got it?

Speaker 13 (25:01):
I got it?

Speaker 6 (25:03):
Try this one first.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
That's a fake.

Speaker 6 (25:09):
Keep it downstairs a minute.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
Don't come up one events. It's taking his pants off
to dry him.

Speaker 7 (25:16):
Around the sandwiches.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
Look, it's a safe cut open.

Speaker 6 (25:23):
That's what he was crouched before that night when he
seemed to be just like a puddle on the floor.
He must have had a blow torch down there on
the floor in front of him. That's what made the
bluish light and made her face stand out in the reflection.

Speaker 7 (25:36):
I look, you mad.

Speaker 6 (25:40):
And that door that you haven't opened. Yet it's the
one I propped him up. And no, don't not right away.
Just give me a minute longer, Just give me your.

Speaker 13 (25:53):
Empty with his blood on the back wall and the
floor dry blood.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Truepence, all right, kidd, let's hear about another dream. In

(26:22):
Tonight's full Hour of Suspense. Eddie Bracken appears as Vince
in Nightmare by William Irish, Tonight's study in Suspense. In
just a moment, we will return with that two of suspense.

Speaker 16 (26:45):
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System and.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Now back to wha Hollywood sound stage.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
I am to our producer, mister Robert Montgomery for Act two
of Nightmare, starring Eddie Bracken, in a narrative well calculated
to keep you in suspen.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
It had all belonged to.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Vince until now, a wild dream heightened by young imagination.
It was his alone, awful as it was, it all
belonged to him, but he had shared his nightmare with Cliff,
and Cliff as a detective, he'd never once believed Vince.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
He told him he was cock eye, that it couldn't
be true.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
But there they are, the two of them in a
deserted house. With which Vince seems quite familiar, although he
swears he's never been there, and they face each other
in a room paneled with eight mirrors, just like the
room in Vince's nightmare.

Speaker 6 (28:00):
I don't know what Cliff would have done up there
in the mirrored al caholed, but I blessed my sister
when she called us down for coffee. Cliff and I
went through the motions of eating with Lil and then
waited tensely until she dozed off in the living room,
tired out of the excitement of the storm. Then Cliff
pushed me back into the kitchen and shut the door.

(28:21):
He gave me a look that belonged in a police
station basement, and lit a cigarette. He didn't offer me one.
Policemen don't with their suspects. He bounced the match down.
Then he shoved his hands deep in his pockets.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
I'll make it short and make it quick and leave
throw it out of it.

Speaker 6 (28:37):
You think I lied?

Speaker 4 (28:38):
Don't you you knew which cutoff to take it would
get us here? From a dream? Didn't you you knew
about the stone latterns at the entrance from a dream?
Didn't you you knew whether key to the front door
was catched from a dream. You knew which was the
front porch switch and which was the hall.

Speaker 13 (28:50):
From a dream?

Speaker 4 (28:52):
Well, you know what i'd do to you. If you
want Lil's brother, I'd push your lion face right through
the back of your hand. Cliff. You came to me
for help, didn't you, But you didn't have guts enough
to come clean. I can respect the guy no matter
what he's done, if he'll lowan up to it, make
a clean breast of it. I can even understand and
make allowances for a guy that'll deny it flat they
lie about it. That's only human nature. But a guy
that'll come to somebody trading on the fact that he's

(29:14):
married to a sister and he knows he'll give him
an ear, making a fool out of him like you
did me, I've got no use for him. He's low
and lousy and no good. Look. I found this key
in my pocket when I got up this morning. How
did it get to Look? I found this button? Some dream,
wasn't it?

Speaker 6 (29:31):
All right?

Speaker 4 (29:33):
All the dream's over and baby's awake now, and we're
going to start in from scratch right here in this place.
You and me and I'm going to get the facts
out of you. Whether they go any further than me
or not, that's my business. But at least I'm gonna
get him.

Speaker 6 (29:43):
Don't hit me, Cliff, please?

Speaker 13 (29:44):
Now what were you doing at that place?

Speaker 15 (29:47):
Huh?

Speaker 4 (29:48):
What brought you here?

Speaker 6 (29:49):
I was never here before. I never saw it until
I came here today with you in love?

Speaker 4 (29:54):
Who's the guy you did it too? What was his name?

Speaker 6 (29:56):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
I tell you, I don't know. You're gonna answ some events.
You're gonna answer me. I can't ask you with things.
I answer me when I asked you a question, I
don't know.

Speaker 7 (30:07):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
You're not gonna get away with this kid. I'd hand
close up guys before.

Speaker 10 (30:17):
I don't use this gun much, but I know what
to do with it.

Speaker 6 (30:21):
Who are you?

Speaker 10 (30:22):
What you two doing in here?

Speaker 13 (30:25):
We came in out of the rain. That suit him?

Speaker 10 (30:28):
Right? Might not identify yourselves? Hurry up about it?

Speaker 4 (30:34):
Looking say the wallet?

Speaker 10 (30:37):
Where are you going for a drink of water?

Speaker 4 (30:40):
Left?

Speaker 10 (30:40):
Tamp right? One's hot?

Speaker 4 (30:41):
Worried? Thanks?

Speaker 10 (30:43):
Mmm, Cliff Dodge homicide squad. Glad to know your dodge
about a little.

Speaker 12 (30:49):
Identifying yourself, Well, I'm a deputy attached Sheriff's office detailed
to keep eye on this place. Seem a badge. I
was stay home having a little supper. Hey, how don't
you get in? Thought I had it all locked up,
safe and sound.

Speaker 13 (31:06):
The key was better than the flower box on the porch.

Speaker 10 (31:09):
Was Uh, must be a spare man. Funny. We never
knew there was a second one ourselves.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
Why should this house be your particular concern?

Speaker 10 (31:17):
Was a murder uncovered in it? Last week?

Speaker 13 (31:19):
There was? But I'd like to hear about it. All
about it?

Speaker 6 (31:26):
We all sat down. I saw the deputy was enjoying
this talking shop with a big city detective. Cliff listened
while he kept an eye on me. Well, this house
belonged to a wealthy company named a Fleming. Husband was
away on business in South America when it happened. In fact,
we ain't been able to reach him to notify him. Yet.

Speaker 12 (31:43):
Wife was a pretty little thing, was yet real purty
flirty too, used to fool around with the friend of
her husband's named the heirs Dan Airs. Well, that morning
the milkman saw a bundle of rags by the side
of the road not far from here.

Speaker 10 (31:58):
Twas little miss Fleming all covered with dew and leaves
and twigs. Dead Dan.

Speaker 12 (32:04):
She must have dragged herself along the ground for hours,
too weak to yell for help. Milkman took at the hospital.
Both legs broken, skull fracture, internal injuries. Oh no, hey,
kind of gets this young fella, don't it. Stuff's new
to him.

Speaker 13 (32:19):
Guess what was it? Who did it to the woman.

Speaker 10 (32:21):
Dan Air's car?

Speaker 12 (32:23):
We found it with blood and hairs on the tires
and fenders banding under some trees. The same time, waggoner, Uh,
that's my chief. He found the safe in his house,
busted and looted. It's it's in an eight sided mirrored
room that got on the floor above. I'll take you
up and show you afterwards. Oh cut it off, eh,
Why don't he go outside?

Speaker 4 (32:44):
If this gets him, I want him in here with us.

Speaker 13 (32:46):
He should get used to this.

Speaker 12 (32:47):
Woun suit yourself well finding that safe, give us a case.
Air's new Fleming kept lots of dough in that safe.

Speaker 10 (32:54):
Knew we went away on business trips this last time.

Speaker 12 (32:57):
Airs come up here, went to work on the safe
and got caught by missus Fleming. She takes one look
and starts running for town.

Speaker 10 (33:03):
To get help.

Speaker 13 (33:04):
Why didn't she use the telephone?

Speaker 12 (33:05):
Because this warn't no simple robbery. She must have seen
by the look on his face that he'd kill her,
so she run for life. He comes down, gets into
his car, catches up with her, and runs her down,
drives right over.

Speaker 10 (33:17):
He thinks she's dead and takes off.

Speaker 13 (33:19):
You say he drove the car.

Speaker 6 (33:21):
I don't know how to drive. I don't know how
to drive. Cliff knew it till his expression changed and
he pushed his pack of cigarettes over to me.

Speaker 13 (33:31):
Ah, have a smoke head, it'll do you good.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
Thanks.

Speaker 12 (33:35):
Well, we sent out a general alarm for airs, but
a fire.

Speaker 10 (33:38):
That afternoon.

Speaker 12 (33:39):
Missus Fleming regained consciousness for a short time.

Speaker 10 (33:43):
Waggon her. My chief was there, and he heard her say,
is Dan all right? He didn't kill Dan?

Speaker 5 (33:48):
Did he?

Speaker 9 (33:49):
Well?

Speaker 10 (33:50):
That was enough to send.

Speaker 12 (33:51):
Us hot footing right back to the house and we
found Heir's dead body. No, he'd been stabbed in the
back with some kind of a drill, dead since the
night before. Missus Fleman died about eight that evening.

Speaker 10 (34:03):
They went our keys.

Speaker 13 (34:04):
Did you get anything on the real killer?

Speaker 10 (34:06):
Well, practically everything but the guy herself.

Speaker 12 (34:09):
She was right in the alcove when it happened, saw
the killer by the torchlight, and lasted long enough to
give us a complete description. All a dope is over
at my chief's office.

Speaker 4 (34:18):
Let's go over there. Give it the once an Come on, Vince,
you too, I'll leave a note for a little Come on, Vince.
I know this is out of your line, but you'd
better come anyhow.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Glad you come over, mister Dodge, you too, mister Hatty.
I'm interested in hearing the description of the killer. Well,
it's pretty complete. I got her for missus Fleming. Here's
a transcription my whole interview with her at the hospital.
Had a stenograph to take it down to the bedside.

Speaker 6 (34:57):
And he was one of those efficient young sheriffs. And
they droned on and on. My clothes became drenched with
perspiration and my stomach was quivering again.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Ah, well, here's what you want, Dodge, uh. Killer was
about twenty five and skinny cheekbone stood out cast shadows
in the torch line, is waving on his face.

Speaker 6 (35:19):
Looking at me. I covered my cheeks with my hands
and stared down at the floor. My face was burning
under my fingers.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
And light brown hair She even remembered that it was
parted low on the left side. Take a woman to
notice things like that, even at such a moment, and
an unusually long forelock that kept falling in front of
his face.

Speaker 6 (35:41):
My hand went up a little higher and brushed mine back.
It only fell down again, like it always did.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
His eyes were fixed and glassy, as though he was
mentally unbalanced. He had on a knitted sweater was darned
up in the neckline, and a different colored yarn.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Little mated for me, and I burned it with a cigarette.
She fixed up the best way she could, and Cliff
knew about it.

Speaker 13 (36:01):
Yeah, because I had to get But that's it.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
You got pictures of missus fleming and asked get photographs
art see him.

Speaker 13 (36:10):
Yeah, let's have a look.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
I got weaker and dizzy as they handed the pictures around.
I didn't look at them, but I saw Cliff distract
the other men's attention long enough to slip them on
top of the filecase. The next thing I knew, we
were getting ready to put the lights out and leave
coming Vince.

Speaker 10 (36:28):
Hey, how are you folks back to the house.

Speaker 4 (36:35):
It's on my way home, Oh, Sheriff, Thank you very much,
Oh say, Evince, I'll run back a minute and see
if I left my cigarettes in mister Wagner's office. Huh sure, Jeriff,
I want you and the deputy to look me up.

Speaker 6 (36:50):
His voice dwindled behind me, and I was in the
darkened office again alone. I knew what I had been
sent back for. He wanted me to see those pictures.
I switched on the lights. They run the filecase. I
took them in my hands and I stared at.

Speaker 15 (37:09):
Them well out like a lad.

Speaker 10 (37:21):
Now, what didn't you spoil the pictures?

Speaker 4 (37:24):
He's not well. He's under treatment by a doctor right now.
He gets these dizzy spells now and then that's all
it is. Hey, I can't drink this water. Yes, I sure,
don't say anything. You'll be all right. I'm sorry for
all the trouble we've cast.

Speaker 6 (37:37):
Perfectly, all right, come back anytime.

Speaker 13 (37:46):
If that was the place.

Speaker 6 (37:47):
I never wanted to go back to Cliff, and I
didn't say much. As the deputy droves to the house,
we picked up little and started back to town.

Speaker 7 (37:56):
I think you've got a nerve.

Speaker 6 (37:57):
We couldn't talk them either, because Lil was blazing saw
at Cliff, leaving her alone. Placed into him, and I
think for once he was grateful kept him from thinking
too steadily about me. She only quit when we were
near my place and she saw me holding my head.

Speaker 7 (38:16):
What's the matter?

Speaker 8 (38:16):
Events?

Speaker 7 (38:16):
Don't you feel well?

Speaker 13 (38:17):
The outing was a little bit too strenuous.

Speaker 7 (38:20):
No, wonder the way you drive?

Speaker 4 (38:22):
Yeah, well I got us here.

Speaker 6 (38:24):
Didn't I great.

Speaker 7 (38:25):
I'll see what I can do about having you decorated
for it.

Speaker 13 (38:29):
I'll go up with Vince a minute.

Speaker 6 (38:30):
No, it's all right, I'm feeling I'm coming up with
the events. He closed the door to my room behind us,
and then turned to me. He spoke low and very undramatically.
No fireworks.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
Lil's waiting downstairs. I'm going to take her home first
before I do anything.

Speaker 13 (38:53):
I love Lil.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
It's better enough what this is going to do to
her when she finds out. Wat to see she gets
at least one good night's sleep before she does.

Speaker 13 (39:02):
Cliff, Cliff, run out. That's the best thing you can do.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Meet you finish on the hoof somewhere else where your
sister and I don't.

Speaker 13 (39:08):
Have to see it happen.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
And if you're still here when I come back, I'm
going to arrest you for the murder of Dan Ayres
and Dorothy Fleming. I don't have to ask you if
you kill those two people. You fainted dead on the
floor when you saw other pictures. I'll take my advice
and don't be here when I get back. I'll turn
in my information at my own precinct house and they
can pass.

Speaker 13 (39:30):
It under Wagner.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
Then I'll hand over my own badge in the morning, Cliff, I,
I'm frightened. Killers always are afterwards.

Speaker 13 (39:45):
Don't forget you got a half hour.

Speaker 6 (39:55):
I didn't move for about half the time he'd given me.
Then my hand went to my ch cheek is a
hat in the Sheriff's office, and my face fell briskly.
Without thinking, I went into the bathroom and turned on
the warm water tap. I took my cream and blade
holder from the cabinet, not a sheer, reflexive habit, and

(40:18):
I realized I didn't need the cream and the holder,
and I put them back. I took the racer in
my hand. I was seeing black spots in front of

(40:40):
my eyes when he tried to get in the door.
I tried to keep very quiet, so I think i'd
lambed and go away. Why didn't he go away. I
could barely stand up up.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
On the door.

Speaker 4 (40:54):
That's when I said the lot away.

Speaker 6 (40:57):
I held my breath for a second, and then I
had no strength left. Thence you could have saved yourself
trip back, Cliff. They didn't keep me at the hospital,

(41:29):
just took stitches in my wrist and told me to
go home and take it easy for a while. I
hadn't been able to do even that, right. It was
four in the morning when we got back to my room.
The cliffs stood over me while I undressed and got
into bed.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
I remember, just take it easy.

Speaker 6 (41:48):
What about the arrest postponed?

Speaker 13 (41:51):
Canceled? I gave you your chance to or not. He
didn't take it.

Speaker 4 (41:55):
As a matter of fact, I sent a little home alone.
I've been downstairs watching the street door the whole time.

Speaker 13 (42:01):
Eh.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
When a guy's willing to let the life run out
of his veins, there must be something to his story.
They don't die to back up lies. I think you've
been telling the truth to the best of your knowledge.

Speaker 6 (42:12):
I'm tirth.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
Licked.

Speaker 6 (42:16):
I don't even wanna talk about it anymore.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
Oh well, I think I better stick with you tonight. Anyway.

Speaker 6 (42:24):
It's alright. I won't cry it again.

Speaker 17 (42:28):
Hugh mm, yeah, there's blood on the floor.

Speaker 13 (42:40):
You sure picked a messy way.

Speaker 6 (42:43):
I did think of gas that the hotel doesn't have.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
If more houses had no gas, there'd be fewer.

Speaker 6 (42:51):
Sure, all the modern conveniences, but electricity is undependable too.
Lights go out happen to a fella in the next
room one night.

Speaker 13 (43:01):
Had he had to use a candle.

Speaker 6 (43:04):
It was the same night that I had the dream.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
How did you know he had to use the candle?
Were you in there at the time.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
No, he rapped and stuck his head in my door
for a minute, wander to know if the power had
failed all over? You know how people are in little
hotels like this.

Speaker 13 (43:21):
Why do you have to do that?

Speaker 4 (43:21):
Didn't he tell me the whole.

Speaker 6 (43:23):
All lights go out at eleven thirty? Case there was
after that.

Speaker 13 (43:27):
Now, that's still no reason why I should bust any
on you. Look, I'd like to hear the rest of this.

Speaker 6 (43:31):
Then the rest I told you all the wrist to it.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
That's what you think, Just what's what I can get
out of it.

Speaker 6 (43:42):
He wouldn't let me go to sleep. I had to
tell him about the man next door who moved in
a week or so, before the night of the dream.
That particular night, I had been reading in bed, and
as I put down the lights and about ready to
doze off, he knocked come in. He was holding the
candle right in front of his face between his eyes,

(44:04):
and in the darkness I had to stare at the
candle light and his eyes behind it. He explained about
the lights, and.

Speaker 9 (44:10):
Please excuse me for intruding. You must be tired, very tired.
You look so sleepy.

Speaker 6 (44:21):
No, I it's it's you.

Speaker 9 (44:24):
Want to sleep. I shouldn't have come. You can sleep now,
sleep well. Your eyes are so heavy, you look so tired.

Speaker 6 (44:45):
And that's all there was to it. He left, and
I went to sleep.

Speaker 4 (44:48):
Did you hear him shut the door?

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Well, I suppose.

Speaker 7 (44:51):
I don't mean.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
Suppose, I mean did you actually hear the door shut?
Think about again, this is important.

Speaker 6 (44:55):
I don't remember.

Speaker 4 (44:56):
Well another thing, And did you ever have any conversation
with him? And hello and goodbye?

Speaker 6 (45:01):
Welly, you offered me some cough drafts several times, and
I told him I didn't like him. But once going
down in the elevator, he absolutely insisted that I take one,
so I did.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Testing wheel power. Well, never mind, I don't want to
frighten you right now. Look, you get some sleep, kidd
here A week after what you try to do tonight.

Speaker 10 (45:18):
Where are you going?

Speaker 6 (45:19):
I thought you were staying here.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
I'm going back to the Fleming House and do Wagner's
headquarters too while I'm at it.

Speaker 7 (45:24):
Now.

Speaker 6 (45:24):
Yeah, you're going all the way back up there at
this hour of the morning.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
And uh, events don't give up yet. We will find
a way up without shortcuts like you tried tonight.

Speaker 6 (45:46):
I didn't wake until noon, but I didn't dare leave
the room for a cup of coffee. I didn't want
to miss Cliff. When he got back. About two, there
was a knock on the door and I almost fell
over and my rush to open it. Cliff, I, oh,
excuse me?

Speaker 7 (46:02):
I sure, mister, say are you Vincent Hardy?

Speaker 6 (46:05):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (46:06):
Well I think I got what you want?

Speaker 6 (46:09):
What I want?

Speaker 7 (46:10):
Yeah, my uncle Henry built it. He was crazy. It's
got a room with eight sides.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
I'm terribly sorry, but I'm not in the market for
that house any longer.

Speaker 7 (46:19):
You Wane.

Speaker 6 (46:20):
No, Oh, you're like uncle Henry to Huh he would
have liked you.

Speaker 10 (46:26):
Well.

Speaker 7 (46:26):
Goodbye.

Speaker 6 (46:35):
Cliff finally showed up around free He looked terrible. He
hadn't slept all night. He showed me a picture he'd broke.

Speaker 13 (46:44):
You know this sky Vince.

Speaker 6 (46:45):
This guy, well, the glasses are missing, and the mustache
and the hair isn't rumple. Uh but Cliff, uh huh, yeah,
this is the guy from next door. Where'd you get
this picture from?

Speaker 13 (46:59):
Wagner?

Speaker 4 (47:00):
It's missus Fleming's husband, both the same fellow, right, But
there's no out in it for you. I get that straight, kid,
I checked the finger. Prince Wagner got there, yours, you
and nobody. But you went into the Fleming house, killed
airs and hid his body in the closet. No, but
you didn't kill Dorothy Fleming because you can't drive. Somebody
else did that near his car, somebody who brought you

(47:21):
up there and was waiting for you at a safe distance.

Speaker 6 (47:23):
But why didn't I know I was doing?

Speaker 13 (47:25):
Well, that'll come later.

Speaker 4 (47:26):
What we have to do now is prove that the
circumstance of the drink could have happened. Get it done
on record officially. That isn't perfect, but it's the best
we can do. Well, what do you I think it's
better if you don't know too much. Uh, The telegram
addressed to missus Fleming, was received from her husband while
I was up there. He's arriving back from South America today.

Speaker 6 (47:50):
Where are we going?

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Where is the place you'd at least rather go, Of
all places right now.

Speaker 6 (47:57):
That that room, that house.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
I'm sorry, kid, but that's the place you're going to
have to go back to and stay in alone tonight
if you ever want to get out from under the
shutters again.

Speaker 13 (48:09):
Now, what do you say? Shall we make the try?

Speaker 6 (48:13):
Okay, I'm ready. I'd been sitting on the floor outside
the mirrored alcove to rest when I heard him come in.
He didn't come right up. I suppose he stopped to

(48:34):
put his things away. Then I heard him tap the
keys of the piano downstairs. Then I heard his footsteps coming,
and I pushed myself backwards along the floor into the alcove.
My heart was pounding so hot I had to keep

(48:58):
my mouth open. He was in the bedroom, opening suitcases,
looking for things. I pushed myself into the closet where
the body had been, and in a moment, he walked
into the alcove and put on the lights. I could
see him through the keyhole as he walked past the door.

(49:19):
Then he stood still, turning to go This was the
time now. I held the gun tight and pushed the
door open soundlessly. He heard me as I stepped into
the room and whirled around. I wanted to yell at
the top of my lungs at him, but I kept

(49:40):
my lips together. Cliff had drilled me carefully on how
I should act, what I should say. He'd particularly warned
me to make fleming talk.

Speaker 13 (49:50):
First.

Speaker 9 (49:53):
Hid you get here?

Speaker 6 (49:56):
He showed me the way. Didn't you sure you remembered
coming here? Didn't think I would? Did you You couldn't have?
And how did I come back again? You explain it?

Speaker 9 (50:11):
How long have you been in here like.

Speaker 6 (50:14):
Like this since after doc I got in, before you
came home.

Speaker 9 (50:18):
What'd you bring with you?

Speaker 6 (50:19):
Nobody? Just this A forty four automatic. That's all the
company I wanted.

Speaker 13 (50:22):
With you exactly?

Speaker 6 (50:25):
How much do you remember? Much more than you think
you remember?

Speaker 4 (50:29):
The drive up?

Speaker 9 (50:31):
You couldn't have. I told you to remember it only
a dream.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
You had to look?

Speaker 6 (50:37):
What look? I was holding a thumbtack pressed into the
palm of each hand the whole way.

Speaker 9 (50:43):
Then why did you do everything that you were directed
to do?

Speaker 4 (50:47):
So passively.

Speaker 6 (50:49):
I thought there might be something in it formulated. If
anyone went to all that trouble.

Speaker 9 (50:52):
Purposely faked, I can't believe it. You didn't even draw back,
show a sign why. I'll let you out of the car,
put the knife in your hand, sent you on towards
the house, told you how to get in. What to
do you mean you went ahead unconsciously?

Speaker 7 (51:07):
Sure?

Speaker 6 (51:08):
I figured you'd pay me off afterwards.

Speaker 4 (51:10):
Oh well, what went wrong? Inside? Well?

Speaker 6 (51:16):
I I accidentally uh dropped the knife you gave me.
Airs jumped me in the alcove in the darkness. Your
wife put a drill into my hand instead of his,
and I killed him in self defense.

Speaker 9 (51:27):
Yes, and you ran out. I had to go after
her and stupp her myself. I got her with Air's car.

Speaker 4 (51:35):
If you never even saw.

Speaker 6 (51:36):
Me, that's what I wanted to know.

Speaker 13 (51:40):
Are you crazy? You must have known?

Speaker 6 (51:42):
No, I tricked you. You had me hypnotized that night, all right,
But you've just convicted yourself out of your own mouth
to me. I don't want to be paid off. You
picked someone with a weak will power maybe, but strong scruples.
I was an honest man. You made me commit murder.
I can't clear myself in the eyes the law ever.
But you're gonna pay for doing that to me now

(52:03):
this way.

Speaker 9 (52:04):
Wait, don't do that. That won't help you winning.

Speaker 6 (52:09):
You shouldn't have left me alone. That was your mistake.
Here you go, Fleming.

Speaker 9 (52:13):
Wait, wait one minute more, just a minute a look.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
Look at me, Look.

Speaker 13 (52:22):
At my eyes.

Speaker 6 (52:26):
Cliff had warned me to be careful, but I wasn't
careful enough. I couldn't seem to help myself. I just
glanced at him. Our eyes met, and suddenly mine couldn't
get away anymore, as though they were hit by glue.
A sort of toper turned me into wax. But I
made enough to do one more thing. It came out
as a single sentence. I mean, I'm I'm I'm going

(52:57):
to shoot you.

Speaker 9 (52:59):
Though, Hi, you don't want to shoot anybody.

Speaker 13 (53:05):
You're tired.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
A gun is too heavy for you.

Speaker 18 (53:09):
Why do you want to hold that heavy thing?

Speaker 13 (53:15):
That's right, you're tired, tire?

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Why this will stand up in any card. There's enough
evidence on this wire recorded to send Fleming to the
electric chair.

Speaker 4 (53:39):
Listen, listen, Uh that's all that mumbling. I can't quite
my god?

Speaker 13 (53:43):
What this?

Speaker 4 (53:44):
Hey, we'd better get up there. Come on, hem, he
must be trying to do Holy smokes, he's getting away.

Speaker 9 (53:49):
Come on, there's a pencil and paper in the glove compartment.
Take them out, very alright, what I tell you start.

(54:15):
I am wanted.

Speaker 17 (54:18):
With a murder.

Speaker 9 (54:20):
Of those two people at the Fleming house. They're bound
to get.

Speaker 13 (54:28):
Me sooner or later, and I have no chance. I
see no other way.

Speaker 6 (54:39):
But this.

Speaker 18 (54:41):
NA have signed your name, Vincent Hardy. Now get out
of the car quickly and take the chain attached to

(55:02):
that anchor over there, and.

Speaker 9 (55:05):
You're right over there, over ahead. That's right.

Speaker 11 (55:09):
Uh, tie it around your stomach and legs and pick
up the anchor. Yes, that's it, carry it in your hands. Yes,
very good. I'll then walk walk to the end of
the dock.

Speaker 10 (55:26):
Hurry, you pool and throw.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
The anchor into the lake.

Speaker 9 (55:30):
Wa ahead, hurry, said why? And then.

Speaker 6 (55:45):
I knew what I was doing was wrong. I poured
against it as hard as I could, and when I
got to the end of the dock, I just threw
the anchor into the lake and my body went up.

Speaker 13 (56:24):
Well there he is, he's all right now she got Fleming.
Fleming's dead.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Mister Dodge car hit a train folded up like an accordion.
Events would be gone too if I dosed another minute
of not selling he had o't feel bad. You did
all right by the boy. You went in after him
like a veteran lifeguard. Say if you can take care
of him, mister dodge eye. I want to get these
recordings in my safe at the office and send some boys.
Have to pick up Flemming in that car.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Yeah, sure, go ahead, Sheriff. That'll be all right.

Speaker 6 (56:55):
What is he telling the truth, Cliff?

Speaker 4 (56:57):
Yeah, that's Fleming is to be a Voteville hypnotist tried
using his old act to get rid of heirs and
his own wife. That you'll be cleared because we have
proof that you were not responsible for your acts well
under the hypnosis. Thanks that you'll have to appear in

(57:19):
court and stand charges.

Speaker 13 (57:23):
I will.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Scared, kid, sort of.

Speaker 13 (57:33):
Yeah, you be all right.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
I'll be standing there next to you the whole time.
H Come on, now, let's go.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
This is Robert Montgomery. Our congratulations and thanks to Eddie
Bracken and William Conrad for two fine performances in Nightmare.
Next week, for suspense, we treat the subject of weather
in a locale that is famous and infamous for its weather, England.
And in order to do justice to the ill famed

(58:16):
atmospheric conditions which often shroud this island, we shall present
an hour of suspense, divided into two separate half hour dramas,
two select studies with two elements in common, dramatic weather
and dramatic suspense. Taken one of the time, these plays
are singular triumphs. Put them together, and well I can

(58:38):
promise you a deadly combination. Next week when with Wet
Saturday by John Collier and August Heat by W. F. Harvey,
we again hope to keep you in suspense.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Good Night.

Speaker 16 (58:52):
Mister Montgomery may currently be seen in the Universal International
production ride The Pink Horse. Mister Bracken will soon be
seen in his forthcoming product, Auction seven fifty Smith Nightmare
by William Irish was adapted for radio by Alfred Pauka,
directed by Anton M. Leader and produced by Robert Montgomery.
Lud Gluskin is our musical director and conductor, and Lucian

(59:13):
Morroweck composes the original scores. Next week here two great
shows Wet Saturday and August Heat on Radio's outstanding Theater
of Frills.

Speaker 10 (59:24):
One hour of suspain.

Speaker 16 (59:39):
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System