233 - May 17, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[narrating]
- My name is Victoria Winters.

A violent storm rages over Collinsport.

Its ferocity and terror reaches everywhere...

and out of the tempestuous blackness

comes a horror that cannot be explained.

[thundering]

Maggie, shouldn't you be back in bed?


- Why should I be in bed?

I'm not sick.


- You're probably very weak.


- I never felt so strong in my life.


- Please, Maggie, get back into bed.

Please.

[thundering]


- Leave me alone!


- I think you should just lie quietly.

[thundering]

Maggie?

Maggie, what is it?

Maggie, what's wrong?

Maggie, are you all right?

[screaming]

[wind whistling]

[thundering]


- No, leave them, they've got to stay...

[thundering]


- Maggie?


- It's all right.

It's all right now.

It's all right.

♪♪

♪♪

[thundering]


- Vicki.
- Oh!


- What's the matter?


- I thought I saw something.


- Where?


- I don't know.

It's probably just my imagination.


- I'm so glad to see you.

Where have you been?


- I have been sitting with Maggie Evans.


- You got drenched.

Come inside and sit by the fire.


- What are you doing up so late?


- Oh, I don't know.

I
-
- I just couldn't seem to sleep.

[thundering]

Hear that? That's the real reason.

The thunder seems louder tonight.

[thundering]


- What do you mean?


- Louder and angrier.

♪♪

What's that?


- It must be the power lines.

The wind is awfully strong tonight.


- Oh, Vicki, I hope the lights don't go out.

Not on a night like this.

[thundering]


- The lightning seems to be so much more powerful

than it has ever been.

When I was driving home, the...

the flashes of it, it
-
- it lighted up

the countryside in a way that made it all seem so strange.

Everything familiar looked so unreal.

And I kept seeing things that weren't there.

Shapes and forms.

And several times I had to swerve the car because I
-
-

I thought there was something

or someone in the road in front of me.

[thundering]


- We make a great pair.


- I've never felt like this before.


- Vicki?

[thundering]


- The lines must have gone down.


- Vicki, I don't think I can stand it.


- Yes, you can. Now the...

the lights are gonna come on again soon.

But in the meantime, let's
-
- let's get some candles lit.


- How long do you think it will be

before the lights come back on?


- I have no idea.

I imagine everyone's calling the power company.

Well, that's better, isn't it?

[thundering]

[gasping]


- What's the matter?


- I thought I saw something at the window.


- Vicki, did you?


- I don't know.

I... I don't know.

Carolyn, this has been happening to me all night.

It started when I was at Maggie's house.

The storm began when I was there.

The lightning was so strong that

each flash was almost blinding.

And then suddenly the French doors burst open

and there was a huge flash of lightning,

and I saw, as clearly as I see you,

the shape of a man in the garden.

Well, I was so petrified that I couldn't move.

And then there came another flash

and it was gone.

Somehow I managed to
-
- to rush toward the window

and slam it shut.

I thought that Maggie would be as terrified as I was...

...but she wasn't scared at all.


- Vicki...

couldn't it have been one of those

things you think you saw?


- I don't know.

I
-
- I really don't know.


- Maggie would surely have seen it, too.


- Yes, I suppose so.

Oh, me and my imagination.

[thundering]

[gasping]

[screaming]

♪♪

♪♪

[thundering]


- Mr. Collins?


- I'm terribly sorry if I startled you.

I knocked but the thunder must've drowned the sound.

May I come in?


- Yes.


- Certainly.


- What happened to the electricity?


- Oh, a power failure.

The lights flickered a couple of times and then went out.


- Well, now that's something I don't have any problem with.


- No, you certainly don't.

You don't have any electricity in the old house, do you?


- One gets quite used to candlelight.

[thundering]


- This is a terrible night.

Whatever made you come out?


- I wanted to speak to Miss Winters.


- To me?


- You were with Miss Evans tonight, weren't you?


- Yes, I was.
- How is she?


- The doctor gave her a transfusion last night.

She seems to be much stronger.


- Well, now that kind of news makes the night seem less bad.


- You're soaking wet.

Please, take off your coat and stay with us a while.


- Thank you.

Does the storm disturb you?

[thundering]


- Tonight it does.


- You know, this is an exquisite room.

How wonderful to see it this way, by candlelight,

the way it was designed to be seen.


- Well, it is very romantic,

but I think I could do without the lightning.


- Oh, surely you're used to the storms?


- I'll never get used to them.


- There have been worse storms here.

Storms that have made people huddle in these very rooms

and in the rooms of the old house,

such as we're doing right now.

♪♪

The hurricane winds...

pound at the foundations and tear up the roof,

making unearthly sounds.

[thundering]

It seemed as if the winds and the lightning converged

on the Collins property.

It was known that the storm would be

at its most ferocious up here.


- Why would that happen?


- No one could ever explain it.

Perhaps it was the contour of the land...

...but it was a place to be avoided in a time of storm.

[wind whistling]

There were storms that drove ships onto the rocks

below Widows' Hill,

their great masts snapping,

the decks awash with the foamy sea.

The cries of men being swept overboard,

never to be seen again,

but forever mourned by their widows.

[wind whistling]

Listen.

Do you hear that?


- The wind?
- Yes.

A sorrowful sound.

The sound of grieving, hopelessness and despair.

[thundering]

There were times when the moaning of the winds

could be confused with the cries of the widows

keeping their endless vigil.

♪♪


- There was a night such as this,

a night when a young, beautiful woman

was pressed to her limits.

She could no longer accept what the future held for her.

She knew she had to destroy herself

before she became something she did not want to be.

She had quarreled with her lover.

She tried to send him away, but...

he would not be put off.

He tried to put his arms around her,

but she broke away from him

and ran out into the stormy night.

Her white dress contrasted against the darkness.

He ran after her

and she headed for the one place on earth

that seemed to be designed for the termination of life.

[thundering]

Rain drenched her.

The winds buffeted her...

blowing her long hair wildly.

Her clothing was torn by the low branches.

Her small white feet

were bruised and mud
-stained

by the stony, cruel pathway to the summit of the cliff.

The shouts of her lover were lost in the wind

as he moved swiftly after her.

Near the top,

she stumbled over a large rock.

Crying hysterically,

she limped and crawled to the edge of the precipice.

Her lover reached her, clutched at her,

spinning her around to face him.

[thundering]

Her eyes were wide with terror

as the lover held her tightly,

his lips pressed against her throat.

Soon she grew limp... and he released her.

Suddenly, with her last surge of energy,

she broke free and hurled herself off the cliff.

Her scream...

reacting and echoing as she plunged downward.

Her body...

was impaled on the large craggy rocks below.

Her lover descended to the bottom of Widows' Hill

and found her body...

broken...

lifeless...

bloodless.

As violent as her death was,

the expression on her face was one of serenity...

...as if this were the best possible ending to her life.

[thundering]


- I
-
- I don't want to hear any more.


- Did my story startle you?


- I must be more tired than I imagined.


- I'm terribly sorry.

I
-
- I certainly didn't intend to tell it.


- No, no, it's all right.

Your familiarity with the past is a little too vivid for me.

Excuse me.

Good night.


- Good night.
- Good night.

[thundering]


- I hope my story didn't affect you in the same way.


- No.

As a matter of fact, it aroused my curiosity.


- Did it?


- It was a true story, wasn't it?


- Every word.


- There was a part when you talked about

how her lover found her body at the bottom of Widows' Hill.

You described the body as being bloodless.


- Did I?

I wasn't aware of it.


- Yes.

I heard you say it very clearly and very distinctly.

Why did you choose that word?


- Because that was the way the scene

was described to me.

I can offer no explanation beyond that.

But tell me, why do you react to that word?


- Because there have been certain recent occurrences

that are very similar.

There were the animals that died,

they were drained of blood

and Willie Loomis and now Maggie Evans

have lost a great deal of blood and no one knows how.

That's why I reacted to your story.


- Well, my story took place well over a century ago.


- I know that...

but it's so strange.

As strange as the things that have happened to Maggie Evans.


- Such as?


- Such as, why was she sleepwalking in the cemetery?


- Have you any idea?


- No, none.

I would never have thought to look for her there

if I hadn't gotten the phone call.


- Phone call?


- Yes.

We had searched everywhere for her

and then I got a phone call from someone

who said that she was there in the cemetery and to hurry.


- Who called?


- I don't know.

He wouldn't say who he was

and I couldn't recognize the voice.


- Yes.

I wonder, who could it be?

[thundering]


- At any rate, whatever is wrong with Maggie,

I don't think we're going to find out what it is

by any logical process.


- You're a very clever girl, Miss Winters.

Please take care that what happened to her...

...doesn't happen to you.

♪♪


- What do you mean?


- Just that I shouldn't like to see you

with the same illness that she has.


- How could that happen to me?


- It could happen to anyone.


- Pardon me.

I wasn't sure anyone was in here.


- No, I'm just getting ready to go up to bed.


- Well, I hope I'm not interrupting.


- Not at all.


- Well, you'd better go up and see Mrs. Stoddard

and tell her she should pay more attention

to her electric light bills.


- Well, now I must leave and let this household

get back to sleep.


- Oh, I don't think there's much chance for sleep tonight.

Not with that going on out there.


- Well, if you'll excuse me now I'll say good night.


- Good night, Miss Winters.


- Good night, Vicki.

Well, I've been wanting to have a word or two with you.

The dark.

One gets used to electricity

and if you're without it for minutes,

you feel like your whole world is coming to an end.


- What did you want to speak to me about?


- Well, it's about your servant problem.


- Willie?
- Yes.

Now I told you I was keeping an eye on him.

And I think it's time to warn you

that he's up to something.


- What?


- Well, I haven't the slightest idea,

but something is happening.

And I say now is the time to take some action.


- What action do you recommend?


- Well, now...

much that he's my friend and all,

I think it's necessary and very important

that you get rid of him right away.


- But he seems to be doing so well.


- Well, then he's putting on an act.

Because something is happening.

You've got to protect yourself at least.


- Well, just what do you think he's up to?


- I can't put my finger on it right off.

But I'll tell you this.

It's got something to do with that cemetery.


- Cemetery?


- Yes, there's a cemetery on the other side of town

and Willie's been there a few times.


- What does he do there?


- Well, I don't know exactly.

But I followed him there once,

and right before my very eyes, he disappeared there somewhere.


- Are you sure?


- Now, am I a man to make up a story like that?

No, no, there's something very funny going on there.

And I'm going to get it out of him,

one way or another.


- I think you're being unduly suspicious.


- Oh, am I now?

Well, what do you make of the latest incident?


- Which incident?


- What happened to that girl.

Maggie Evans.

Poor thing.

They found her in that very same cemetery,

under very strange circumstances.

I don't know why she was there,

nor do I know what it means,

but what I believe it is,

Willie Loomis has something to do with it

and he's got to be removed from the scene

before it goes any further.


- You are very determined, aren't you?


- Aye, that I am.

I don't know that I can handle him the way that I used to.

That worries me.

A change come over him.

I've never seen him behave like this before.

He's hurt himself, too, had some kind of an accident.

He's bruised all over.


- I thought he'd fallen off from a ladder.


- Oh...

Is that what he told you?


- I believe so.


- He didn't fall from any ladder.

No, he tried to give me some sort of story,

but I wouldn't buy it.

The man just can't be trusted.


- Well, then...

it seems that I shall have to take steps.

[thundering]

♪♪

Willie?

Willie?!

Willie?!

♪♪

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