Novel of the White Powder by Arthur Machen (Bonus 10)

“By the power of that Sabbath wine, a few grains of white powder thrown into a glass of water, the house of life was riven asunder and the human trinity dissolved” 

I’ve moved the annual summer bonus episode up in the schedule to give me more time to work on the season finale. Alas, I’ve only just about managed to put this episode out on time, nevermind start on the next one. Oh well, finger’s crossed things will still stay on schedule.  

The story I’ve chosen is a weird fiction classic by Arthur Machen. In some ways this is a more traditional supernatural genre narrative than some of his strange and debauched classics like The White People and The Great God Pan. But the gruesome transformation in this tale has always particularly stuck in my mind.  

Patrons help to keep this UK horror podcast going. If you'd like to become one, just visit https://www.patreon.com/newghoststories

Find more ghost story content on my Substack - https://newghoststories.substack.com/

Episode Transcript

(00:20):
Hello, and welcome to a bonusepisode of the New Ghost Stories podcast.
I'm moving our usual summer reading upin the schedule to give me a bit
of extra time to work on ourbig season finale. That was the plan
anyway. This time I'm reading astory by Arthur Macken, one of the
pioneers of weird fiction. The storyis called The Novel of the White Powder,

(00:42):
and I hope you enjoy it.My name is Leicester. My father,
Major General Win Leicester, a distinguishedofficer of artillery, succumbed five years

(01:02):
ago to a complicated liver complaint acquiredin the deadly climate of India. A
year later, my only brother,Francis, came home after an exceptionally brilliant
career at the university, and settleddown with the resolution of a hermit to
master what has been well called thegreat legend of law. He was a
man who seemed to live in utterindifference to everything that is called pleasure.

(01:26):
And though he was a handsomer manthan most, and could talk as merrily
and wittily as if he were amere vagabond, he avoided society and shut
himself up in a large room atthe top of the house to make himself
a lawyer. Ten hours a dayof hard reading was at first his allotted
portion. From the first light inthe east to the late afternoon, he

(01:49):
remained shut up with his books,taking a hasty half hours lunch with me
as if he grudged the wasting ofthe moments, and going out for a
short walk when it began to growdusk. I thought that such relentless application
must be injurious, and tried tocajole him from the crabbed textbooks. But
his ardor seemed to grow rather thandiminish, and his daily tale of hours

(02:12):
increased. I spoke to him seriously, suggesting some occasional relaxation, if it
were but an eyed afternoon with aharmless novel. But he laughed and said
that he read about feudal tenures whenhe felt in need of amusement, and
scoffed at the notions of theaters ora month's fresh air. I confessed that

(02:35):
he looked well and seemed not tosuffer from his labors. But I knew
that such a natural toil would takerevenge at last, and I was not
mistaken. A look of anxiety beganto lurk about his eyes, and he
seemed languid, and at last hevowed that he was no longer in perfect
health. He was troubled, hesaid, with a sensation of dizziness,

(02:58):
and awoke now and then nights withfearful dreams, terrified and cold, with
icy sweats. I am taking careof myself, he said, So you
must not trouble. I passed thewhole of yesterday afternoon in idleness, leaning
back in that comfortable chair you gaveme, and scribbling nonsense on a sheet

(03:20):
of paper. No, no,I will not overdo my work. I
shall be well enough in a weekor two. You can depend upon it.
Yet, in spite of his assurances, I could see that he grew
no better, but rather worse.He would enter the drawing room with a
face all miserably wrinkled and despondent,and endeavor to look gaily when my eyes

(03:42):
fell on him, and I thoughtsuch symptoms of evil omen and was frightened
sometimes at the nervous irritation of hismovements, and at glances which I could
not decipher. Much Against his will, I prevailed on him to have medical
advice, and with an ill gracehe called in our old doctor, doctor

(04:04):
Habbardon, cheered me after examination ofhis patient. There's really nothing much amiss,
he said to me, no doubt. He reads too hard and eats
hastily, and then goes back againto his books in too great a hurry.
And the natural sequences some digestive troubleand a little mischief in the nervous
system. But I think I do, indeed, miss Lester, that we

(04:27):
shall be able to set this allright. I have written him a prescription
which ought to do great things,so you have no cause for anxiety.
My brother insisted on having the prescriptionmade up by a chemist in the neighborhood.
Was an odd, old fashioned shop, devoid of the studied coquetterie and
calculated glitter that makes so gay ashow on the counters and shelves of the

(04:49):
modern apothecary. But Francis liked theold chemist and believed in the scrupulous purity
of his drugs. The medicine wassent in due course, and I saw
that my brother took it regularly afterlunch and dinner. It was an innocent
looking white powder, of which alittle was dissolved in a glass of water.

(05:11):
I stirred it in and it seemedto disappear, leaving the water clear
and colorless. At first, Francisseemed to benefit greatly. The weariness vanished
from his face, and he becamemore cheerful than he had ever been since
the time when he left school.He talked gaily of reforming himself, and
avowed to me that he had wastedhis time. I have given too many

(05:33):
hours to law, he said,laughing. I think you have saved me
in the nick of time. Come. I shall be Lord Chancellor yet,
but I must not forget life.You and I will have a holiday together
before long. We will go toParis and enjoy ourselves and keep away from
the Bibliothech Nationale. I confessed myself, delighted with the prospect. When shall

(05:56):
we go, I said, Ican start the day after tomorrow, if
you like. Ah, that isperhaps a little too soon. After all,
I do not know London yet,and I suppose a man ought to
give the pleasures of his own countrythe first choice. But we will go
off together in a week or two, So try and furbish up your French.
I only know law French myself,and I'm afraid that wouldn't do.

(06:19):
We were just finishing dinner, andhe quaffed off his medicine with a parade
of carousel, as if it hadbeen a wine from some choicest bin.
Has it any taste? I said, no, I should not know.
I was not drinking water. Andhe got off from his chair and began
to pace up and down the room, as if he were undecided as to

(06:41):
what he should do next. Sowe have coffee in the drawing room,
I said, Or would you liketo smoke? No, I think it
will take a turn. It seemsa pleasant evening. Look at the afterglow.
Why, it is as if agreat city were burning in flames.
And down there between the dark housesit is raining blood fast. Yes,

(07:04):
I will go out. I maybe in soon, but I shall take
my key. So good night,dear, if I don't see you again.
The door slammed behind him, andI saw him walk lightly down the
street, swinging his Malacca cane,and I felt grateful to Dr Haberdon for
such an improvement. I believe mybrother came home very late that night,

(07:30):
but he was in a merry mood. The next morning. I walked on
without thinking where I was going,he said, enjoying the freshness of the
air, enlivened by the crowds asI reached more frequented quarters. And then
I met an old college friend offeredin the press of the pavement. And
then well we enjoyed ourselves. Ihave felt what it is to be young

(07:53):
and a man. I find Ihave blood in my veins as other men
have. I made an appointment withOrford for tonight there will be a little
party for us at the restaurant.Yes, I shall enjoy myself for a
week or two, and hear thechimes at midnight, and then we will
go for our little trip together.Such was the transmutation of my brother's character,

(08:16):
that in a few days he becamea lover of pleasure, a careless
and merry idler of western pavements,a hunter out of snug restaurants, and
a fine critic of fantastic dancing.He grew fat before my eyes and said
no more of Paris, for he'dclearly found his paradise in London. I

(08:37):
rejoiced, and yet wondered, alittle, for there was I thought something
in his gaiety that indefinitely displeased me, though I could not have defined my
feeling, but by degrees, therecame a change. He returned still in
the cold hours of the morning,I heard no more about his play,

(09:00):
And one morning, as we satat breakfast together, I looked suddenly into
his eyes and saw a stranger beforeme. Oh Francis, I cried,
Oh Francis, Francis, what haveyou done? And rending sobs cut the
words short. I went weeping outof the room, for though I knew
nothing, yet, yet I knewall. And by some odd play of

(09:24):
thought, I remembered the evening whenhe first went abroad, and the picture
of the sunset sky glowed before me, the clouds like a city in burning
flames, and the rain of blood. Yet I did battle with such thoughts,
resolving that perhaps, after all,no great harm had been done.

(09:45):
And in the evening, at dinner, I resolved to press him to fix
a day for our holiday in Paris. We had talked easily enough, and
my brother had just taken his medicine, which he continued all the while.
I was about to be in mytopic when the words forming in my mind
vanished, and I wondered for asecond what I see. An intolerable weight

(10:07):
oppressed my heart and suffocated me aswith the unutterable horror of the coffin lid
nailed down on the living he haddined without candles. The room had slowly
grown from twilight to gloom, andthe walls and corners were indistinct in the
shadow. But from where I sat, I looked out into the street,

(10:28):
and as I thought of what Icould say to Francis, the sky began
to flush and shine, as ithad done on a well remembered evening,
and in the gap between the twodark masses that were houses, an awful
pageantry of flame appeared, lurid whirlsof writhe cloud and utter depths, burning
gray masses like the fume blown froma smoking city, and an evil glory

(10:54):
blazing far above, shot with tonguesof more ardent fire, and below as
if there were a deep pool ofblood. I looked down to where my
brother sat, facing me, andthe words shaped on my lips. When
I saw his hand resting on thetable. Between the thumb and forefinger of

(11:15):
the closed hand, there was amark, the small patch about the size
of a sixpence, and somewhat ofthe color of a bad bruise. Yet
by some sense I cannot define Iknew that what I saw was no bruise
at all. Oh, a humanflesh could burn with flame, and if
flame could be black as pitch,such was that before me, without knowing

(11:37):
or fashioning of words, gray horrorshaped within me at the sight, and
in an inner cell it was knownto be a brand. For the moment
the stained sky became dark as midnight, And when the light returned to me,
I was alone in the silent room, and soon after I heard my
brother go out. Later, asit was, I put on my hat

(12:01):
and went to Dr Haberdon, andin his great consulting room, ill lighted
by a candle, which the doctorbrought in with him, with stammering lips
and a voice that would break inspite of my resolve, I told him
all from the day on which mybrother began to take the medicine down to
the dreadful thing I had seen scarcelyhalf an hour before. When I had

(12:22):
done, the doctor looked at mefor a minute with an expression of great
pity on his face. My dearmiss Lester, he said, you have
evidently been anxious about your brother.You have been worrying over him. I
am sure, Come now is itnot, so I have certainly become anxious,
I said, for the last weekor two I have not felt at

(12:46):
ease quite so you know, ofcourse, what a queer thing the brain
is. I understand what you mean. But I was not deceived. I
saw what I have told you withmy own eyes. Yes, yes,
yes, of course, But youreyes had been staring at that very curious
sunset we had tonight. That isthe only explanation. You will see it

(13:09):
in proper light tomorrow, I amsure. Remember I am always ready to
give any help that is in mypower. Do not scruple to come to
me or to send for me,if you are in any distress. I
went away, but little comforted,all confusion and terror and sorrow, not
knowing where to turn. When mybrother and I met the next day,

(13:33):
I looked quickly at him and noticedwith a sickening at heart that the right
hand, the hand on which i'dclearly seen the patch as of a black
fire, was wrapped up with ahandkerchief. What is the matter with your
hand, Francis, I said,in a steady voice. Nothing of consequence.

(13:54):
I cut a finger last night,and it bled rather awkwardly, So
I did it up roughly to thebest of my ability. I will do
it neatly for you if you like, no, thank you, dear,
this will answer very well. Supposewe have breakfast. I am quite hungry.
We sat down and I watched him. He scarcely ate or drank at

(14:16):
all, but tossed his meat tothe dog when he thought my eyes were
turned away. There was a lookin his eyes that I had never yet
seen, and the thought flashed acrossmy mind that it was a look that
was scarcely human. I was firmlyconvinced that awful and incredible, as was
the thing I had seen the nightbefore. Yet it was no illusion,

(14:39):
no glamour of bewildered sense. Andin the course of the evening I went
again to the doctor's house. Heshook his head with an air puzzled and
incredulous, and seemed to reflect fora few minutes. And you say,
he still keeps up the medicine.But why, as I understand all the
symptoms he can pained or have disappearedlong ago, why should he go on

(15:03):
taking the stuff when he is quitewell? And by the bye, where
did he get it made up?At Sace's? I never send anyone there.
The old man is getting careless.Suppose you come with me to the
chemist's. I should like to havesome talk with him. We walked together
to the shop. Old sace knewDoctor Haberdon and was quite ready to give

(15:26):
any information. You have been sendingthat in to mister Lester for some weeks.
I think on my prescription, saidthe doctor, giving the old man
a penciled scrap of paper. Thechemist put on his great spectacles with trembling
uncertainty, and held up the paperwith a shaking hand. Oh yes,
he said, I have a verylittle of it left. It is rather

(15:48):
an uncommon drug, and I havehad it in stock some time. I
must get in some more if misterLester goes on with it. Kindly let
me have a look at the stuff, said Habardon, and the chemist gave
him a glass bottle. He tookout the stopper and smelt the contents,
and looked strangely at the old man. Where did you get this, he

(16:11):
said, And what is it for? One thing? Mister says, it
is not what I prescribed. Yes, yes, I see the label is
right enough, But I tell youthis is not the drug I've had it
for a long time, said theold man, in a feeble terror.
I got it from Berberds in theusual way. It is not prescribed often,
and I've had it on the shelffor some years. You see there

(16:33):
is very little left. You hadbetter give it to me, said Haberdon.
I'm afraid something wrong has happened.We went out of the shop in
silence, the doctor carrying the bottleneatly wrapped in paper under his arm.
Dr Habadon, I said, whenwe walked away a little Dr Haberdon,
Yes, he said, looking atme gloomily enough. I should like you

(16:57):
to tell me what my brother hasbeen taking twice a day for the last
month or so. Frankly, MissLester, I don't know. We will
speak of this when we get tomy house. We walked on quickly without
another word, till we reached DtorHaberden's. He asked me to sit down

(17:17):
and began pacing up and down theroom, his face clouded over, as
I could see, with no commonfears. Well, he said at length,
this is all very strange. Itis only natural that you should feel
alarmed, and I must confess thatmy mind is far from easy. We

(17:37):
will put aside, if you please, what you told me last night and
this morning. But the fact remainsthat for the last few weeks mister Lester
has been impregnating his system with adrug which is completely unknown to me.
I tell you it is not whatI ordered, and what the stuff in
the bottle really is remains to beseen. He undid the wrapper and cautiously

(18:00):
tilted a few grains of the whitepowder onto a piece of paper and peered
curiously at it. Yes, hesaid, it's like a sulfate of quinine.
As you say, it is flaky. But smell it. He held
the bottle to me and I bentover it. It was a strange,

(18:21):
sickly smell, vaporous and overpowering,like some strong anesthetic. I shall have
it analyzed, said Haberden. Ihave a friend who has devoted his whole
life to chemistry as a science.Then we shall have something to go upon.
No, no, say no moreabout that other matter. I cannot

(18:41):
listen to that and take my adviceand think no more about it yourself.
That evening, my brother did notgo out as usual after dinner. I
have had my fling, he said, with a queer laugh, and I
must go back to my old ways. A little law will be quite a
relaxation after so sharp a dose ofpleasure. And he grinned to himself,

(19:03):
and soon after went up to hisroom. His hand was still all bandaged.
Dr Habardon called a few days later. I have no special news to
give you, he said. Chambersis out of town, so I know
no more about that stuff than youdo. But I should like to see
mister Lester if he is in.He is in his room, I said,

(19:26):
I will tell him you are here. No, no, I will
go up to him. We willhave a little quiet talk together. I
dare say we've made a great dealof fuss about very little. For after
all, whatever the powder may be, it seems to have done him good.
The doctor went upstairs, and standingin the hall, I heard his

(19:47):
knock and the opening and shutting ofthe door. And then I waited in
the silent house for an hour,and the stillness grew more and more intense
as the hands of the clock creptround. Then there sounded from above the
noise of a door shut sharply,and the doctor was coming down the stairs.
His footsteps crossed the hall, andthere was a pause at the door

(20:10):
I drew a long, sick breathwith difficulty, and saw my face white
in a little mirror. And hecame in and stood at the door.
There was an utterable horror shining inhis eyes. He steadied himself by holding
the back of a chair with onehand. His lower lip trembled like a
horse's, and he gulped and stammeredunintelligible sounds before he spoke, I have

(20:33):
seen that man. He began ina dry whisper. I have been sitting
in his presence for the last hour. My God, I am alive in
all my senses, I who havedealt with death all my life, and
have dabbled with the melting ruins ofthe earthly tabernacle. But not this,
Oh, no, not this.And he covered his face with his hands

(20:56):
as to shut out the sight ofsomething before him. Do not send for
me again, miss Lester, hesaid, with more composure, I can
do nothing in this house. Goodbye. And as I watched him totter
down the steps and along the pavementtowards his house, it seemed to me
that he had aged by ten yearssince the morning. My brother remained in

(21:18):
his room. He called out tome in a voice. I hardly recognized
that he was very busy and wouldlike his meals brought to his door,
and left there I gave the orderto the servants. From that day it
seemed as if the arbitrary conception wecall time had been annihilated. For me,
I lived in an ever present senseof horror, going through the routine

(21:42):
of the house mechanically, and onlyspeaking a few necessary words to the servants.
Now and then I went out andpaced the streets for an hour or
two, and came home again.Whether I were without or within, my
spirit delayed before the closed door theupper room, and shuddering waited for it

(22:03):
to open. I have said thatI scarcely reckoned time, but I suppose
it must have been a fortnight afterdoctor Haberden's visit that I came home from
a stroll a little refreshed and lightened. The air was sweet and pleasant,
and the hazy form of green leavesfloating cloudlike in the square, and the
smell of blossoms had changed my senses, and I felt happier and walked more

(22:29):
briskly as I delayed a moment atthe verge of the pavement, waiting for
a van to pass by before crossingto the house. I happened to look
up at the windows, and instantlythere was the rush and swirl of deep
cold waters in my ears. Myheart leapt up and fell down down,
as into a deep hollow, andI was amazed with a dread and terror

(22:53):
without form or shape. I'd stretchedout a hand blindly through the full of
thick darkness from the black and shadowyvalley and held myself from falling or the
stones beneath my feet rocked and swayedand tilted, and the sense of solid
things seemed to sink away from me. I had glanced up at the window

(23:15):
of my brother's study, and inthat moment the blind was drawn aside,
and something I had life stared outinto the world. Nay, I cannot
say I saw a face or anyhuman likeness, a living thing. Two
eyes of burning flame glared at me, and they were in the midst of
something as formless as my fear,the symbol and presence of all evil and

(23:37):
all hideous corruption. I stood shudderingand quaking as with the grip of a
gew sick with unspeakable agonies of fearand loathing, and for five minutes,
I could not summon force or motionto my limbs. When I was within
the door, I ran up thestairs to my brother's room and knocked Francis.

(24:00):
Francis, I cried, for Heaven'ssake, answer me, what is
the horrible thing in your room?Cast it out, Francis, Cast it
from you. I heard a noiseas of feet shuffling slowly and awkwardly,
and a choking, gurgling sound,as if someone were struggling to find utterance,

(24:23):
and then the noise of a voice, broken and stifled, and words
that I could scarcely understand. Thereis nothing here, the voice said,
Pray, do not disturb me.I am not very well today. I
turned away, horrified and yet helpless. I could do nothing, and I

(24:47):
wondered why Francis had lied to me, For I'd seen the appearance beyond the
glass, too plainly to be deceived, though it was but the sight of
a moment, and I sat still, conscious that there had been something else,
something I'd seen in the first flashof terror before those burning eyes looked
at me. Suddenly, I remembered, as I lifted my face, the

(25:10):
blind was being drawn back, andin my recollection, I knew that a
hideous image was engraved forever on mybrain. It was not her hand.
There were no fingers that held theblind, but a black stump pushed it
aside. The moldering outline, andthe clumsy movement of a beast's paw had

(25:32):
glowed into my senses before the darklingwaves of terror had overwhelmed me. As
I went down quick into the pit, my mind was aghast at the thought
of this, and of the awfulpresence that dwelt with my brother in his
room. I went to his doorand cried to him again, but no

(25:52):
answer came. That night, oneof the servants came up to me and
told me in a whisper that forthree day's food had been regularly placed at
the door and left untouched. Themaid had knocked but had received no answer.
She had heard the noise of shufflingfeet that I had noticed. Day

(26:15):
after day went by, and stillmy brother's meals were brought to his door
and left untouched. And though Iknocked and called again and again, I
could get no answer. The servantsbegan to talk to me. It appeared
they were as alarmed as I.The cook said that when my brother first
shut himself up in his room.She used to hear him come out at

(26:37):
night and go about the house.And once, she said, the hall
door had opened and closed again.But for several nights she had heard no
sound. The climax came at last. It was in the dusk of the
evening, and I was sitting inthe darkening, dreary room when a terrible

(26:57):
shriek jarred and rang harshly out ofthe silence, and I heard a frightened
scurry of feet dashing down the stairs. I waited, and the servant maid
staggered into the room and faced me, white and trembling. Oh, Miss
Helen, she whispered, Oh,for the lord's sake, Miss Helen,

(27:17):
what's happened? Look at my hand, Miss look at my hand. I
drew her to the window and sawthere was a black, wet stain upon
her hand. I do not understandyou, I said, Will you explain
to me. I was doing yourroom just now, she began. I

(27:37):
was turning down the bedclothes, andall of a sudden there was something fell
upon my hand, wet, andI looked up and the ceiling was black
and dripping on me. I lookedhard at her and bit my lip.
Come with me, I said,bring your candle with you. The room
I slept in was bene my brothers, and as I went in I felt

(28:02):
I was trembling. I looked upat the ceiling and saw a patch all
black and wet, and a dewof black drops upon it, and a
pool of horrible liquor soaking into thewhite bedclothes. I ran upstairs and knocked
loudly of Francis. Francis, mydear brother, what has happened to you?

(28:25):
And I listened. There was asound of choking, and a sound
like water bubbling and regurgitating, butnothing else. And I called louder,
but no answer came. In spiteof what doctor habard And had said,
I went to him with tears streamingdown my cheeks. I told him all

(28:47):
that had happened, and he listenedto me with a face set hard and
grim. For your father's sake,he said, at last, I will
go with you, though I cando nothing. Went out together. The
streets were dark and silent, andheavy with heat and a drought of many
weeks. I saw the doctor's facewhite under the gas lamps, and when

(29:11):
we reached the house. His handwas shaking. We did not hesitate,
but went upstairs directly. I heldthe lamp, and he called out in
a loud, determined voice, misterLester, do you hear me? I
insist on seeing you answer me atonce. There was no answer, but

(29:34):
we both heard that choking noise Ihave mentioned, mister Lester. I am
waiting for you open the door.This instant, I shall break it down.
And he called a third time,in a voice that rang and echoed
from the walls, mister Lester,for the last time, I order you
to open the door. Ah,he said, for a pause of heavy

(30:00):
silence. We are wasting time here. Will you be so kind as to
get me a poker or something ofthe kind. I ran into a little
room at the back where odd articleswere kept, and found a heavy adze
like tool that I thought might servethe doctor's purpose. Very good, he
said, that will do I daresay. I give you notice, mister

(30:23):
Lester, he cried loudly at thekeyhole, and I am now about to
break into your room. Then Iheard the wrench of the adze, and
the woodwork split and cracked under itwith a loud crash. The door suddenly
burst open, and for a momentwe started back aghast, and a fearful

(30:44):
screaming cry, no human voice,but as the roar of a monster that
burst forth inarticulate and struck at usout of the darkness. Hold the lamp,
said the doctor, and we wentin and glanced quickly round the room.
There, it is, said DrHaberden, during a quick breath,
look in that corner. I looked, and a pang of horror seized my

(31:10):
heart, as with a hot iron. There upon the floor was a dark,
putrid mass, seething with corruption andhideous rottenness, neither liquid nor solid,
but melting and changing before our eyes, and bubbling with unctuous, oily
bubbles, like boiling pitch. Andout of the midst of it shone two

(31:33):
burning points like eyes, and Isaw writhing and stirring as of limbs,
and something moved and lifted up whatmight have been an arm. The doctor
took a step forward, raised theiron bar and struck out the burning points.
They drove in the weapon, andstruck again and again in the fury

(31:53):
of loathing. A week or twolater, when I had recovered to some
extent from the terrible shock, DrHabardon came to see me. I have
sold my practice, and tomorrow Iam sailing on a long voyage. I
do not know whether I shall everreturn to England. In all probability,

(32:15):
I shall buy a little land inCalifornia and settle there for the remainder of
my life. I have brought foryou this packet, which you may open
and read when you feel able todo so. It contains the report of
doctor Chambers and what I've submitted tohim. Goodbye, miss Lester, goodbye.

(32:38):
When he was gone, I openedthe envelope. I could not wait,
and proceeded to read the papers within. Here is the manuscript, and
if you will allow me, theywill read you the astounding story it contains.
My dear Haberdon, I have delayedinexcusably in answering your qui questions as

(33:00):
to the white substance you sent meto tell you the truth. I have
hesitated for some time as to whatcourse I should adopt, For there is
a bigotry, an orthodox standard inphysical science as in theology, and I
know that if I told you thetruth, I should offend rooted prejudices which

(33:20):
I once held. Dear myself However, I have determined to be plain with
you, and first I must enterinto a short personal explanation. You have
known me Haberden for many years asa scientific man. You and I have
often talked of our profession together anddiscussed the hopeless gulf that opens before the
feet of those who think to attainto truth by any means whatsoever, except

(33:45):
the beaten way of experiment and observationin the sphere of material things. I
remember the scorn with which you havespoken to me of men of science who
have dabbled a little in the unseen, and have timidly hinted that perhaps the
senses are not after all the eternal, impenetrable bounds of all knowledge, the

(34:08):
everlasting walls beyond which no human beinghas ever passed. We have laughed together
heartily, and I think justly atthe occult follies of the day, disguised
under various names, the mesmerism's,spiritualism's materializations, theosophies, all the rabble

(34:28):
route of imposture, with their machineryof portraits and feeble conjuring the true back
parlor of shabby London streets. Yet, in spite of what I have said,
I must confess to you that Iam no materialist, taking the word
of course in its usual signification.It is now many years since I have

(34:51):
convinced myself convince myself as skeptic,remember that the old iron bound theory is
utterly and entirely false. Perhaps thisconfession will not wound you so sharply as
it would have done twenty years ago. For I think you cannot have failed
to notice that for some time hypotheseshave been advanced by men of pure science

(35:13):
which are nothing less than transcendental.And I suspect that most modern chemists and
biologists of repute would not hesitate tosubscribe the dictum of the old schoolman Omnia
exeunt in mysterium, which means Itake it that every branch of human knowledge,
if traced up to its source andfinal principles, vanishes into mystery.

(35:39):
I need not trouble you now witha detailed account of the painful steps which
led me to my conclusions. Afew simple experiments suggested a doubt as to
my then standpoint, and a trainof thought that rose from circumstances comparatively trifling,
brought me far my old conception ofthe universe has been swept away,

(36:01):
and I stand in a world thatseems as strange and awful to me as
the endless waves of the ocean seenfor the first time shining from a peak
in Darien. Now I know thatthe walls of sense that seemed so impenetrable,
that seemed to loom up above theheavens and to be found below the
depths, and to shut us infor evermore, are no such everlasting,

(36:25):
impassable barriers as we fancied, butthinnest and most airy veils that melt away
before the seeker and dissolve as theearly mist of the morning about the brooks.
I know that you never adopted theextreme materialistic position. He did not
go about trying to prove a universalnegative. But your logical sense withheld you

(36:47):
from that crowning absurdity. But Iam sure that you will find all that
I am saying strange and repellent toyour habits of thought. Yet, Haberden,
what I tell you is the truth. To adopt our common language,
the soul and scientific truth, verifiedby experience, and the universe is verily
more splendid and more awful than weused to dream. The whole universe,

(37:14):
my friend, is a tremendous sacrament, a mystic ineffable force and energy,
veiled by an outward form of matter. And man and the sun and the
others, and the flowers of thegrass and the crystaline the test tube are
each and everyone as spiritual as material, and subject to an inner working.

(37:37):
You will perhaps wonder, Habitan,whence all this tends? But I think
a little thought will make it clear. You'll understand that from such a standpoint,
the whole view of things is changed, and what we thought incredible and
absurd may be possible enough. Inshort, we must look at legend and
belief with other eyes, and beprepared to accept tales that have become mere

(37:59):
fable. Indeed, this is nosuch great demand. After all, modern
science will concede as much. Ina hypocritical manner, you must not,
it is true, believe in witchcraft, but you may credit hypnotism. Ghosts
are out of date. But thereis a good deal to be said for
the theory of telepathy. Give superstitiona Greek name, and believe in it.

(38:24):
It should almost be a proverb.So much from my personal explanation,
you sent me Haberden a file stoppedand sealed, containing a small quantity of
flaky white powder obtained from a chemistwho has been dispensing it to one of
your patients. I am not surprisedto hear that this powder refuse to yield

(38:45):
any results to your analysis. Itis a substance which was known to a
few many hundred years ago, butwhich I never expected to have submitted to
me from the shop of a modernapothecary. There s no there a reason
to doubt the truth of the man'stale. He no doubt got, as
he says, the rather uncommon saltyou prescribed from the wholesale chemists, and

(39:10):
it has probably remained on his shelffor twenty years or perhaps longer. During
all these years, the salt inthe bottle was exposed to certain recurring variations
of temperature, variations probably ranging fromforty degrees to eighty degrees. And as
it happens, such changes, recurringyear after year, at irregular intervals and

(39:36):
with varying degrees of intensity and duration, have constituted a process, and the
process so complicated and so delicate thatI question whether modern scientific apparatus directed with
the utmost precision, could produce thesame result. The white powder you sent

(39:57):
me is something very different from thedrug you prescribed. It is the powder
from which the whine of the Sabbath, the Venum Sabbati, was prepared.
No doubt you have read of theWitch's Sabbath and have laughed at the tales
which terrified our ancestors, the blackcats and the broomsticks and dooms pronounced against

(40:22):
some old woman's cow. Since Ihave known the truth, I have often
reflected that it is, on thewhole a happy thing that such burlesque as
this is believed, for it servesto conceal much that it is better,
should not be generally known. However, if you care to read the appendix

(40:44):
to pain Knights Monograph, you willfind that the true Sabbath was something very
different, though the writer has verynicely refrained from printing all he knew.
The secrets of the truth Sabbath werethe secrets of remote times, surviving into

(41:04):
the Middle Ages, secrets of anevil science which existed long before aryan Man
entered Europe. Men and women seducedfrom their homes on specious pretenses were met
by beings well qualified to assume,as they did assume the part of devils,

(41:28):
and taken by their guides to somedesolate and lonely place known to the
initiate by long tradition, and unknownto all else. Perhaps there was a
cave in some bare and wind swepthill, perhaps some inner most recess of
great forest, and there the Sabbathwas held. There in the blackest hour

(41:51):
of night, the venom Sabbati wasprepared, and this evil gruel was poured
forth and offered to the neophiles,and they partook of an infernal sacrament cumenties
callous and principe inferorum, as anold author well expresses it. And suddenly

(42:14):
each one that had drunk found himselfattended by a companion, a share of
glamour on an earthly allurement, beckoninghim apart to share in joys more exquisite,
more piercing than the thrill of anydream, to the consummation of the
marriage of the Sabbath. It ishard to write of such things as these,

(42:35):
and chiefly because that shape the lurd, with the loveliness, was no
hallucination, but awful, as itis to express the man himself by the
power of that sabbath wine and afew grains of white powder thrown into a
glass of water. The house oflife was riven asunder, and the human
trinity dissolved, and the worm,which never dies, which lies sleeping within

(43:00):
all of us, was made tangibleand an external thing, and closed with
a garment of flesh. And thenin the hour of midnight, the primal
four was repeated and represented, andthe awful thing veiled in the mythos of
the tree in the garden was doneanew. Such was the nuptuai Sabbatai.

(43:27):
I prefer to say no more,you Haberden, know as well as I
do, that the most trivial lawsof life are not to be broken with
impunity. And for so terrible anact as this, in which the very
inmost place of the temple has brokenopen and defiled, a terrible vengeance followed.
What began with corruption ended also withcorruption underneath, as the following in

(43:53):
doctor Haberden's writing, the whole ofthe above is unfortunately strict and entirely true.
Your brother confessed all to me onthat morning when I saw him in
his room. My attention was firstattracted to the bandaged hand, and I
forced him to show it to me. What I saw made me a medical

(44:14):
man of many years standing, growsick with loathing. And the story I
was forced to listen to was infinitelymore frightful than I could have ever believed
possible. It has tempted me todoubt the eternal goodness which can permit nature
to offer such hideous possibilities. Andif you had not with your own eyes
seen the end, I should havesaid to you, disbelieve it all.

(44:37):
I have not. I think manymore weeks to live, but you are
young and may forget all this.In the course of two or three months,
I heard that doctor habbard And haddied at sea, shortly after his
ship had left England. Thank youfor listening to the New ghost Stories podcast.

(45:12):
If you've enjoyed the podcast and wantto support what I do, please
like, comment, or leave areview on any platform and subscribe to hear
future releases. You can also supportthe show by becoming a patron and visiting
Patreon dot com slash New ghost Stories. The show is written and produced by
me, David Paul Nixon. Ifyou like to read more from me,

(45:34):
visit my Substacknew ghost Stories dot substackdot com, and you can also find
me on Instagram, threads mastered onFacebook, and the website formerly known as
Twitter at New ghost Stories, NextTime. On the New ghost Stories podcast,
we go all the way back tothe very beginning