
"The Pit And The Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe. Adapted by Jake Weber. 2021. Intro read by Margo Seibert.
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Narrator
Seconds, minutes, hours. The currency of our lives. Every day we're given our allowance, and every day we wrestle with the clock, a three handed robber whose furious avarice knows no sleep. We scrape by for the most part, but there will come a day when we can't pay, when our last few moments are ripped away, when the thug named Time shakes us down and his bleeding scythe comes around. In this story, every instant counts towards savings as life swings between the pit and the pendulum.
Edgar Allan Poe
The Pit in the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe Adapted by Jake Weber 2021.
Main Character
Here the Wicked mob cherished hatred and spilled innocent blood. The country has been saved and this cave of death has been demolished. Where once lived cruelty, there is now life and liberty. When they finally untied me and I could sit, it was such a relief. I felt my senses were leaving me. But then came the words. The words of my death sentence. And after that, all I could hear was a humming in my ears like the whirring of a fan. My judges were dressed all in black, and through my pain and sleep deprivation, their faces looked surreal, distorted, their lips as white as the sheet of paper on which I handwrite this account. Of those terrible days. The days I was tortured. One after the other, I watched as the merciless dark eyed judges mouthed the word death. Their lips drawn thin behind scraggly beards. But after the first judge, all I could hear was that hum in my ears. I remember the curtains were heavy and made of the soft fur of some animal. And there were candles on the table. I had been delirious with pain. They had kept me in stress positions so long I was having a hard time processing my surroundings. Candles looked like angels to me. White, tall and slim. Their flames undulating, dancing. Were they angels come to save me?
Edgar Allan Poe
Would anyone save me?
Main Character
Then, like an electric shock, a realization. There were no angels in the room. Only my tormentors. And that no one would come for me. I would die soon. There was relief in that. I could rest. I could sleep at last, peace. Anything was better than the pain and the sleep deprivation. In that moment, I welcomed death. Then the judges faces vanished, as did the candles and the drapes. And there was only blackness.
Voice of Despair
Silence.
Main Character
Stillness.
Edgar Allan Poe
Was I dead?
Main Character
Had I been executed? Obviously I didn't die, but I did lose consciousness. And I wonder if that is what death is like. Regaining consciousness is like waking from a dream you don't remember. It comes in stages. The first is mental, a spiritual reentering. Then the body follows and we are again sentient. If we could remember the experience and separate the spiritual and the physical, what might we learn about what lies beyond the grave? I believe in an afterlife. And I believe there's a spiritual realm beyond consciousness. But it is only in fleeting moments that I can conjure up the memory of that unconscious state. Was I unconscious? Or did it just seem so? Was I in a fugue state, drifting in and out of the present? I seem to remember tall figures lifting me and carrying me down steps, down, down to who knows where. After what felt like a long time, the men stopped moving and lowered me onto a flat, damp surface. The sensation of floating, of being suspended in air, was replaced by the shock of cold cement. And with that, my hearing became acute. I heard the loud thumping of my heart, the heavy breathing of men. I was aware now brought back into full consciousness. With comprehension came dread. But I knew I had to do something. I had to move. The memory of the trial, the judges, the soft fur drapes, all came flooding back. I was on my back where they had placed me. My hands were loose, they hadn't been tied again. And I reached out onto the cold, damp ground. I tried to imagine where I might be, but I didn't Dare open my eyes. I was terrified of what I might see and what I might not. When I did open them, what I saw was nothing, just blackness all around. I had no more vision with my eyes open than I had with them closed. I was engulfed in darkness, in thick, humid air that was stifling. I was struggling for a full breath, my heart palpitating. I kept still, tried not to panic, tried to think logically. Keep it together, girl. Stay calm. It felt like a long time had passed since I had lost consciousness, but I couldn't be sure. Could it have been hours? I knew I was alive, although I had been sentenced to death. Another captive had been sentenced to death earlier that day and was executed immediately. Was I being kept in this dungeon.
Edgar Allan Poe
Until it was my turn?
Main Character
For how long?
Edgar Allan Poe
Weeks? Months?
Main Character
It made no sense.
Edgar Allan Poe
They were seizing victims for public executions. To instill fear and command loyalty, to force a populace to convert to their ideology and submit to their will. Why would they be holding on to me?
Main Character
I must have passed out again.
Edgar Allan Poe
When I came to and got to.
Main Character
My feet, my whole body was trembling.
Edgar Allan Poe
I reached around and above, but I could feel nothing.
Main Character
I knew I would have to move, but dreaded it in case I would.
Edgar Allan Poe
Find I had been entombed down here.
Main Character
It was hot in the dense humidity. I was drenched in sweat. I took a few tentative steps, my eyes straining into the darkness, searching for a glimmer of light so I could get a sense of my surroundings.
Edgar Allan Poe
As I moved blindly about, I was.
Main Character
Relieved to find I was not completely encased. That, at least, was good news. I was not going to suffocate in the confines of a small space.
Edgar Allan Poe
Would I starve to death?
Main Character
Was there worse than that in store? I had heard stories of the most unbearable cruelty from this group. Means of torture that seem unfathomable this day and age, which they use to brutally conquer and control territory and enslave people. I knew I was going to die, but when and how was the question. My outstretched hands hit something. A stone wall, smooth, slimy and cold.
Edgar Allan Poe
Following it would not reveal the dimensions.
Main Character
Of my dungeon because I had no way of knowing where I started.
Edgar Allan Poe
I had had a pen knife with.
Main Character
Me when I was captured, and reflexively I reached for it, but my clothes were gone.
Edgar Allan Poe
They had undressed me and put me.
Main Character
In a rough burlap smock. My thought had been to wedge the small knife into a seam in the masonry so I could have a starting and end point and know more about the dimensions of my cell.
Edgar Allan Poe
Instead, I tore off the hem of My frock and laid it on the.
Main Character
Floor at a right angle to the wall and started my way around. I was barefoot and the ground was moist and slippery, and I was so tired. After a while I slipped and fell. Then I gave in to exhaustion and let myself sleep where I lay. When I woke up, I found a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water beside me. I was hungry and thirsty, and I gobbled the bread and gulped the water. I felt stronger now and made my way around the cell until I came across the rag I had left on the ground. Before I had fallen asleep, I had counted 52 paces, and there were 48 after that. Assuming two paces to the yard. The dungeon was about 50 yards in circumference. But I had little sense of the shape of the vault because I had hit angles on my way. I would need to explore beyond the security of the wall. I started across the enclosure, moving carefully because the floor was treacherous with slime. I had gone about 10 or 12 paces when the torn hem of my robe caught under my feet and I fell face forward, landing hard on the ground. My chin was on the wet floor, but my lips and the rest of my face and head were not and were lower than the rest of my body. There was a smell of decaying matter, fungal and pungent. I reached out my arm and realized I had fallen at the brink of a circular pit.
Edgar Allan Poe
I could not know how deep it.
Main Character
Was because I was effectively blind.
Voice of Despair
At the lip of the crater, I.
Main Character
Dislodged a stone and let it fall. For several seconds. It careened off the walls of the pit and was then swallowed by the water with a splash that echoed. At that moment, I heard a door opening and a light flashed through the.
Edgar Allan Poe
Gloom of the vault For a split.
Main Character
Second before the door closed again. I could see around. Another step and it would have been the end. It would have been the death of me. I had heard of places like this.
Edgar Allan Poe
These tyrants selected you for death by either the most painful means possible or sentenced you to die publicly in the most humiliating circumstance.
Main Character
It seemed I had been sentenced to the former. I groped my way back to the wall.
Voice of Despair
I would die there.
Main Character
Rather than the terrors of the well, the death in that pit would be slow and painful. Fear kept me awake for what must have been hours. But eventually I fell asleep again. When I woke, as before, there was bread and water beside me. I was desperately thirsty, but I couldn't quench my thirst no matter how much I drank. When I downed the last drop, I became drowsy.
Edgar Allan Poe
I had been drugged, the water had.
Main Character
Been spiked, and I passed out again.
Voice of Despair
I have no idea how long I.
Main Character
Was out, but when I came to, I could see again. A surreal, silverous light revealed my prison. I had been completely off on the dimensions.
Edgar Allan Poe
The cell was half the size I thought it was. I had to know where I'd gone.
Main Character
Wrong in my calculations.
Edgar Allan Poe
At the point at which I fell, I had only been a few feet.
Voice of Despair
From the strip of burlap when I woke.
Main Character
I had mistakenly gone back the way I came.
Edgar Allan Poe
And so doubled in my head the.
Main Character
Circumference of the prison, I hadn't the.
Edgar Allan Poe
Acuity to realize I had started with the wall on my left and ended with the wall on my right.
Main Character
I had also got the shape of the place all wrong.
Edgar Allan Poe
I had thought because of the irregular angles, the cell was asymmetrical, when in fact, those irregularities in the wall were minor variations in what was essentially a square cell.
Voice of Despair
What I had thought was stone was.
Main Character
In fact iron or some other metal.
Edgar Allan Poe
In huge plates whose joints accounted for the irregularities that I thought was where bricks met mortar.
Main Character
The walls were painted, painted with crude renditions of weapons of torture operated by men. The frescoes faded and blurred by the dampness of the atmosphere in the center of the stone floor. There it was, the circular pit, the jaws of which I had almost fallen into. There was just the one in the room I had to strain to see because I was on my back, strapped.
Edgar Allan Poe
To a framework made from wood.
Main Character
My entire body was wrapped in what appeared to be thick bandages.
Edgar Allan Poe
Only my head was free and part.
Main Character
Of my left arm just enough to.
Edgar Allan Poe
Reach a bowl of food, which I.
Main Character
Took to my mouth. It was too late before I realized there was no water and my mouth burned from the heavily spiced food. I looked at the ceiling, which was constructed of the same metal ore as the walls and rose 30 or 40ft above me. Painted there was the Grim Reaper, but not as he's usually depicted.
Edgar Allan Poe
Instead of a scythe, this Father Time carried what looked like a pendulum, the kind you would find in a grandfather clock. Did it just come to life?
Voice of Despair
I was sure I saw it move.
Edgar Allan Poe
Morph from two to three dimensional.
Main Character
Was there something in the food causing me to hallucinate?
Edgar Allan Poe
There was a sound to my right. I snapped my head in its direction. Up from the well came a horde of rats with red, ravenous eyes, apparently drawn by the scent of the meat. For the next half hour, maybe an hour, time was difficult to gauge. I did my best to keep them off me. With my one free hand, Screaming, all.
Voice of Despair
The while growing hoarse.
Edgar Allan Poe
When I raised my eyes to the ceiling again, what I had thought in.
Main Character
The opaque lighting had been a fresco.
Edgar Allan Poe
Was in fact a mechanical device, behind.
Main Character
Which lay the painted image of Father Time.
Edgar Allan Poe
The sweep of the pendulum had increased by nearly a yard, and so had its speed.
Main Character
It was descending towards my body.
Edgar Allan Poe
And I saw now that the bottom of the pendulum was a crescent of glittering steel about a foot in length.
Main Character
And sharp as a razor, hissing as it swung through the air. I knew now how I was meant to die. I had heard rumors of this contraption. No one had lived to tell the tale. But here it was. And here was I. Its horror, its slow means of death, would be worse than one could imagine. I had avoided falling into that pit by pure chance, by blind luck. In these torture chambers, these death dungeons.
Edgar Allan Poe
Unexpected terror is what the sadistic jailers.
Main Character
Enjoy in their work.
Edgar Allan Poe
You were a toy for them to play with.
Main Character
They were not about to just hurl me into the abyss of the well.
Edgar Allan Poe
No, the menu here was varied. Just when you think you have escaped.
Main Character
A particular torment, another awaits. I wonder if you need to hear this, what the point is of reliving.
Edgar Allan Poe
The horror of those hours upon hours as I lay there and watched and counted as the vibrating steel passed over my body, descending fractionally inch by inch until it was close enough. I could smell the steel.
Main Character
I prayed.
Edgar Allan Poe
It was all I could do. I prayed for the blade to drop faster. I prayed for a speedier death than.
Main Character
The one I was due.
Edgar Allan Poe
I tried to stretch my body towards it, anything to speed up the process.
Main Character
But I was helpless. All I could do was wait, pray and wait. I became calm for a period and lay smiling at the incoming blade, like a child mesmerized by a toy. I believe I passed out again, briefly.
Edgar Allan Poe
When I regained consciousness, I saw the pendulum had not moved. They were watching me and controlling the descent of the blade. I was to be aware of every horrifying moment of the filleting of my body.
Main Character
I was hungry now. Even in this state, the body needs what it needs.
Edgar Allan Poe
I reached for the bowl for what might have been left me by the rats.
Main Character
As I took a remnant to my mouth, a thought not fully form occurred to me, and with it an inkling of hope.
Edgar Allan Poe
But I couldn't hold on to it.
Main Character
The fleeting thought with its promise of relief, vanished.
Edgar Allan Poe
The pendulum was swinging across my body, its path directly across my heart. Before it got there, it would fray.
Main Character
And then sever the bandages that bound me.
Edgar Allan Poe
It was now swinging in a 30 foot arc above my torso with such velocity that it could have cut through the walls of my cell. When it finally reached me, it would be taken up with the thick bandages that covered my chest.
Voice of Despair
I was aware of the coarseness of.
Main Character
My robe and anticipated the tingling sensation of the scratchy fabric against my skin.
Edgar Allan Poe
When the blade reached it. As the blade made its measured way.
Main Character
Towards me, I became frenzied.
Edgar Allan Poe
I traced its downward and lateral movements as it stalked my heart, screamed. I laughed. I howled as it vibrated within inches of my bosom. Manic now, I struggled to free my arm. But even if I had managed to get it loose, what could I have done? I was as powerless to stop the descent of that blade as I would have been in stopping an avalanche. I gasped and shrunk in convulsive terror at each sweep, my eyes following every inch of its arc. Death would have been a relief. This was unbearable, each sink of the blade coming closer and closer to slicing into my breast.
Main Character
It was hope. Hope that made me quiver, that made my body recoil. The hope that all victims of torture must feel in fleeting moments. You'll be okay. You're strong. You can get through this. You'll survive. 10 or 12 more passes and the steel would meet my robe. A calmness again washed over me, a despair of sorts. I was no longer frenzied or manic. It occurred to me that the bandages that secured me were not bound by.
Edgar Allan Poe
A separate cord, meaning, once the blade passed over them, I would be able.
Main Character
To pull at them with my left hand.
Edgar Allan Poe
But that blade would be perilously close, and the slightest movement could be deadly.
Main Character
And what about the man operating the device?
Edgar Allan Poe
Hadn't they taken into consideration what I was thinking? Weren't they watching at all? Just waiting for the precise moment when their device would slice open my skin? How would I escape right under their very noses?
Main Character
Was there even a bandage over my bosom?
Edgar Allan Poe
I lifted my head to look.
Main Character
I was bandaged everywhere except in the.
Edgar Allan Poe
Path of the blade, whose trajectory would.
Main Character
Pass right across my heart. My torturers had thought this through, had.
Edgar Allan Poe
Placed me exactly right.
Main Character
I had to think of something else.
Edgar Allan Poe
I was running out of time. I flashed back to the moment I had that inkling of an idea, only to have it vanished. It was when I had brought that morsel of meat to my lips. It was a long shot, but there was an idea there. For hours now, the area around me had been swarming with wrath. Their greedy, hungry eyes watching, waiting for my body to be still enough for them to feast on me. They had already gotten at all but a morsel of the meat from the bowl. My free hand had been passing over that in a see saw motion to keep them away. But after a while, the regularity of the motion became less and less of a deterrent, and they sank their sharp teeth into my fingers.
Main Character
I had a plan now.
Edgar Allan Poe
I rubbed what was left of the meat over the bandages, wherever I could reach. When I was done, I took my hand from the bowl, dropped it by my side, and waited as still as possible. The change in the motion confused the rats, and some of them shrank back down the well, only to return seconds later. A few of the boldest jumped up on the wood frame and sniffed at the bandages, and this sent a signal to the rest. Soon the frame was swarmed, more and more of them coming up now from the well, hanging off the frame, Hundreds of them, climbing over my body, navigating to avoid the pendulum blade, busying themselves with the bandages that smelled of spiced meat.
Main Character
They were heaped on me now, writhing against my throat, their whiskers scraping my face, tails dragging across my mouth, cold lips touching mine, their acrid, rancid smell filling my nostrils. I felt I was suffocating, but I had to stay still and control the retching in my throat. One of the bandages was coming loose.
Edgar Allan Poe
If I could just stay still a minute longer, I would be free of my constraints and I might stand a chance. The last swipe of the blade had cut through the burlap and now stung my skin. But I could move.
Main Character
At the next upswing of the pendulum.
Edgar Allan Poe
I carefully slid sideways and scuttled from the path of the returning blade. I was free. For the time being, at least, I was free and still alive.
Main Character
My feet were back on the ground, and I pulled at the remaining bandages until they lay in a pile at my feet.
Edgar Allan Poe
Just then the machine stopped and was hoisted back to towards the ceiling. Any hope I may have had was dashed.
Main Character
I was still in the hands of.
Edgar Allan Poe
My torturers, of course. They had watched it all. Did I just trade one horrible death for another? I looked around at the walls of my prison and located the source of that sulfurous yellowish light. It was emanating from a continuous crack around the base of the wall, about half an inch in height.
Main Character
I lay on the ground and tried to see through the crack, but there was nothing beyond. I stood back up and tried to think. How could my cell walls have been raised half an inch? Were they on a pulley system? I looked around me and the frescoes that I had seen before, as faded, blurred and indistinct, now appeared vibrant and sharply detailed.
Edgar Allan Poe
All around me, vicious, demonic eyes glared, rippling in what looked like flame light. Was I hallucinating? Was I still drugged? Was I even alive? Was I in hell? Then a metallic wind wafted towards me. The odor of hot iron. The eyes that bore down on me were bright red. The red of freshly drawn blood.
Main Character
And there it was.
Edgar Allan Poe
The source of the hot metal smell. The red, hot metal walls of my cell were coming towards me, backing me up to the center of the dungeon, towards the pit. Some say the world will end in fire. Some in ice.
Main Character
In that moment, I made my choice.
Edgar Allan Poe
The cold of the rat infested well had to be better than being burned alive against metal.
Main Character
I backed up to the lip of the well and looked down. Now I could see all the way to the bottom. What I saw there, I cannot relive right now. It's too soon. I put my head in my hands and screamed. Screamed in terror, in horror, in frustration, in despair at how my life was about to end.
Edgar Allan Poe
It got hotter as the walls closed in. My torturers were losing patience with the prisoner who had twice escaped their machinations. The room was shifting in front of me. What had been a square was now an inverted triangle moving towards me, cutting off any way but down. Down into the belly of the well. Soon I would be enclosed. The burning hot walls rumbled and groaned as they reconfigured. It could not go into that pit.
Main Character
Not after what I had seen down there. Anything but that.
Edgar Allan Poe
That is where they wanted me. My torturers. That had been their original plan. But could I withstand the pain of my burning flesh against those walls?
Main Character
And what about the pressure?
Edgar Allan Poe
How would I resist being pushed over the edge? And now the walls were adjusting again, surrounding the well, trapping me up against its lip. Any moment now, any moment, and I would tip over and plummet into that water. I let out a final primal scream, all my despair in one plaintive moan from the depths of my soul as I tottered on the edge of that well. Then suddenly. Suddenly, loud blasts, what sounded like explosives. Then voices. Voices in a language I understood, not the language of my tormentors. The walls were moving in the opposite direction now, rushing away from me. And the voices. The voices were close in the room now, approaching me. As I tipped back towards the well, an arm grabbed mine and pulled me towards him. I looked into the eyes of a bearded JSOC man in desert camo. I later learned he was a Navy.
Main Character
Seal and he saved my life.
Edgar Allan Poe
Po is an Audio Chuck Original this episode was read to you by Ashley Flowers.
Main Character
So what do you think Chuck?
Edgar Allan Poe
Do you approve?
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Full Body Chills: Episode Summary - "POE: The Pit And The Pendulum (2021)"
Podcast Information:
In this gripping episode, Full Body Chills presents a chilling adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, "The Pit and the Pendulum." Narrated with intense dramatization, the story immerses listeners into a harrowing experience of psychological and physical torment within a sinister dungeon. The episode masterfully blends atmospheric narration, character-driven monologues, and moments of despair to evoke a profound sense of fear and suspense.
[01:37] Opening Narration: The episode begins with a reflective narration on the inexorable passage of time, setting a somber and tense mood. The narrator personifies time as a relentless entity that eventually leads to an inescapable end.
[02:26] Adaptation of Poe: The story transitions into a first-person account of a victim entangled in the gruesome mechanisms of torture. The main character recounts their experience of being sentenced to death by a group of merciless judges embodying cruelty and oppression.
[02:35 - 04:48] The Trial and Sentence: The protagonist describes the aftermath of a cruel trial where judges pronounce death sentences amidst an atmosphere of pain and sleep deprivation. The surreal imagery of black-clad judges and candlelight resembling angels introduces an eerie juxtaposition between hope and despair.
"I felt my senses were leaving me. But then came the words. The words of my death sentence."
— Main Character [02:35]
[04:48 - 08:56] Descent into Darkness: After losing consciousness, the protagonist grapples with the fear of death and the unknown. The description of a damp, dark dungeon with acute sensory perceptions heightens the sense of entrapment. The arrival of a loaf of bread and water initially provides relief but soon reveals deeper layers of psychological torment.
"In this story, every instant counts towards savings as life swings between the pit and the pendulum."
— Narrator [01:37]
[09:26 - 16:00] The Pendulum's Approach: The narrative intensifies as the pendulum, a deadly blade suspended above, begins its descent. The protagonist's detailed observations and frantic attempts to survive against the mechanical horror underscore the relentless nature of their punishment.
"I knew I had to do something. I had to move."
— Main Character [08:56]
[16:00 - 22:35] Struggle Against the Torment: Facing the imminent threat of the pendulum, the protagonist employs desperate tactics to divert the attention of ravenous rats by spreading spiced meat over their bandages. This clever maneuver momentarily confuses the rats, allowing a narrow window for escape.
"I had to think of something else."
— Main Character [22:32]
[25:00 - 27:50] Final Struggle and Rescue: As the walls of the dungeon shift towards the pit, the protagonist faces the ultimate choice between escalating torment and unknown depths. In a climactic moment of sheer terror, explosive sounds and unexpected voices signal an abrupt rescue by a Navy SEAL, who saves the protagonist from certain death.
"I made my choice. The cold of the rat-infected well had to be better than being burned alive against metal."
— Main Character [27:12]
This adaptation delves deep into themes of fear, survival, and the psychological impact of prolonged torture. The relentless depiction of the protagonist's struggle against both physical constraints and mental anguish underscores the enduring human spirit in the face of unimaginable horror. The episode also explores the illusion of hope and the thin line between consciousness and unconsciousness, leaving listeners contemplating the nature of existence and resilience.
[29:51 - 30:02] Author’s Note: The episode concludes with a brief acknowledgment from Edgar Allan Poe, noting that this adaptation is an Audio Chuck Original read by Ashley Flowers. This final touch bridges the classic literary work with contemporary audio storytelling, providing a satisfying closure to the intense journey.
On Sentencing and Despair:
"Their faces looked surreal, distorted, their lips as white as the sheet of paper on which I handwrite this account."
— Main Character [02:35]
On Consciousness and Afterlife:
"Regaining consciousness is like waking from a dream you don't remember."
— Main Character [04:53]
On the Pendulum's Horror:
"Its horror, its slow means of death, would be worse than one could imagine."
— Main Character [16:00]
On Desperate Hope:
"Hope that made me quiver, that made my body recoil. The hope that all victims of torture must feel in fleeting moments."
— Main Character [21:02]
"POE: The Pit And The Pendulum (2021)" is a masterfully crafted episode of Full Body Chills that brings Edgar Allan Poe's macabre tale to life through immersive narration and vivid storytelling. The episode effectively captures the essence of fear and the human struggle for survival, making it a standout installment in the anthology. Whether you're a fan of classic horror literature or contemporary thriller adaptations, this episode promises a spine-tingling experience that resonates long after the final moment.
Note: For those inspired to share their own spine-chilling tales, Full Body Chills encourages listeners to submit their stories via their website.