Adventures In The Supernatural 32xxxx Ep Audition The Mysterious Carriage

Summary

Podcast Summary: Adventures In The Supernatural 32xxxx Ep Audition: The Mysterious Carriage

Podcast Information:

• Title: Harold's Old Time Radio
• Host/Author: Harold's Old Time Radio
• Episode: Adventures In The Supernatural 32xxxx Ep Audition: The Mysterious Carriage
• Release Date: March 27, 2025
• Description: Radio shows from the Golden Age of Radio, capturing the essence of a time when families gathered around the radio to enjoy classic programs like The Shadow, Abbott & Costello, Amos & Andy, and Dragnet.

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Introduction

In the audition episode titled "The Mysterious Carriage," Adventures In The Supernatural embarks on a gripping exploration of unexplained phenomena, presented through a blend of dramatic storytelling and analytical commentary. Hosted by Harold's Old Time Radio, the episode delves into a perplexing case reported by Major Charles Gordon Beck, involving a spectral carriage that defies natural laws. The episode skillfully balances narrative dramatization with expert analysis, inviting listeners to ponder the mysteries that linger beyond our understanding.

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Dramatic Presentation

Setting the Scene

The episode opens with a vivid depiction of an English country house library, setting the stage for a suspenseful unfolding of events.

• Narrator John Doe introduces the setting:

  "A pleasant room which looks out through a glass-paneled door onto the garden and a green velvety expanse of lawn. Invisible now in the blackness of a hot, sultry August night" ([02:28]).

The atmosphere is thick with tension as the Beck family gathers around a bridge table, engaging in a seemingly ordinary game of cards.

The Beck Family Interaction

The dialogue among the Beck family members—Charles, Mildred, Ronald, and Mary—establishes the initial normalcy before the uncanny events begin.

• Mildred Beck expresses unease:

  "It was like leaving a bright, sunlit street and suddenly stepping into a darkened room where someone lay dead" ([04:10]).

Her feelings of an oppressive stillness set the tone for the supernatural occurrences to follow.

The Mysterious Event Unfolds

As the night progresses, Mildred faints, recounting a terrifying vision:

• Mildred Beck describes her experience:

  "Everything got dark, and then I heard the sound of hoofbeats and the rumble of a carriage. It kept coming closer and closer, and finally it swept past me. And through the carriage window I saw a face, chalk white with staring eyes. It was horrible" ([06:14]).

The Beck family's skepticism and attempts to rationalize the event are evident through their ensuing conversation.

The Return of the Carriage

Later that night, the mysterious carriage reappears, causing further distress:

• Charles Beck observes the carriage:

  "There's a creek down there, a steep bank... The horses must have run away. There's probably no one in the carriage" ([10:12]).

Despite their efforts to apprehend or understand the carriage, it vanishes without a trace, leaving the family bewildered.

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Dr. Lionel Hirsch's Commentary

After the dramatization, eminent psychologist Dr. Lionel Hirsch provides an analytical perspective on the events:

"We are not out to prove or disprove anything. Our attitude is simple of scientific inquiry... Are there such things as mental telepathy? Spirits, Premonitions? Our answer is we do not know" ([01:15]).

Dr. Hirsch emphasizes the importance of a scientific approach to unexplained phenomena, encouraging listeners to draw their own conclusions based on the evidence presented.

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Interview with Major Charles Gordon Beck

Recounting the Event

Major Charles Gordon Beck and his family provide firsthand accounts of the mysterious carriage incident during an interview facilitated by Dr. Hirsch.

• Mary Beck details the incident:

  "A mysterious coach carrying a dead woman crashing across a lawn, yet leaving no marks" ([20:48]).

Investigative Questions

Inspector Roger probes deeper into the event, seeking logical explanations:

• Inspector Roger questions the lack of physical evidence:

  "But the basic facts are presented just as they were originally reported... How do you know you didn't imagine the whole thing?" ([21:38]).

Major Beck's Reflections

Major Beck contemplates the possibility of supernatural interference:

"In a universe as complex as ours, it is conceivable that there are other worlds, other planes of existence... Perhaps that coach and its strange occupants wandered momentarily from out of another world" ([17:18]).

He underscores the baffling nature of the incident, especially the absence of any physical disturbance despite the violent interaction with the carriage.

Lack of Consistent Evidence

Mary Beck highlights the peculiarity of the event:

"There wasn't a single hoof print, the single rut of a carriage wheel... not the tiniest bit of turf had been disturbed" ([17:48]).

This absence of evidence challenges conventional explanations, leaving the case shrouded in mystery.

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Insights and Conclusions

The episode masterfully intertwines dramatic storytelling with analytical discourse, presenting a case that remains unresolved and thought-provoking. Through the Beck family's unsettling experience and Dr. Hirsch's objective analysis, listeners are invited to explore the thin veil between the known and the unknown.

Notable Quotes:

• Mildred Beck on her eerie sensation:

  "That is queer... the presence of death" ([04:05]).

• Charles Beck dismissing Mildred's fears:

  "Oh, don't be morbid, Mildred" ([04:43]).

• Dr. Lionel Hirsch on the nature of belief:

  "We all carry around a certain number of delusions" ([14:33]).

These quotes encapsulate the tension between skepticism and belief, a central theme of the episode.

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Final Thoughts

Adventures In The Supernatural in this audition episode excels in creating a haunting narrative that lingers with the listener. By presenting a detailed dramatization followed by a rational analysis, the podcast fosters an environment where the supernatural is both feared and intellectually examined. The unresolved nature of the "Mysterious Carriage" case leaves the audience contemplating the possibilities that lie beyond the realms of conventional understanding, staying true to the spirit of the Golden Age of Radio's fascination with the unknown.

Transcript

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[John Doe]

Adventures IN THE Supernatural. The XYZ Company brings you a new series of programs. A series which we believe is just a bit different from anything you have ever heard over your radio. A scientific investigation of supernatural phenomena. Adventures into that shadowy realm which lies beyond the horizon of proven knowledge. Conducting this series of investigations and acting as commentator is the eminent psychologist Dr. Lionel Hirsch. I present him now. Dr. Hirsch.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I begin by explaining the position of the sponsor and my own position as regards this series of broadcasts. We are not out to prove or disprove anything. Our attitude is simple of scientific inquiry. The question, are there such things as mental telepathy? Spirits, Premonitions? Our answer is we do not know. However, events do occur or are reported to have occurred. Weird, mysterious happenings difficult to explain through the operation of known natural laws. In this series of programs, we plan to give you in dramatic form the story of some of these happenings. Instances which have been reported to and investigated by established scientific organizations. In dramatizing these actual cases for radio presentation, it is sometimes necessary to make occasional trifling changes. For example, to fit into a half hour's broadcast events which occurred over a longer period of time. But the basic facts are presented just as they were originally reported. At the close of the dramatization, we will bring to the microphone the person or persons to whom the events occurred. And will introduce such testimony as has a bearing on the case. The final decision, however, as to whether the case is or is not an example of the supernatural will be left to you. Thank you.

[John Doe]

And so, based upon an original report, we present our first adventure in the supernatural. Our story begins in the library of an English country house. It is a pleasant room which looks out through a glass paneled door onto the garden and a green velvety expanse of lawn. Invisible now in the blackness of a hot, sultry August night. A night so black that the darkness seems to press like a tangible thing against the window panes. At a bridge table are the major, his wife, his daughter and son. Somewhere in the house a clock strikes 11.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Um, one spade, two hearts.

[Mildred Beck]

Well, Mildred. Oh. Oh, is it my turn?

[Charles Beck]

It certainly is.

[Mildred Beck]

I'm so sorry. I.

[Charles Beck]

Well. Well, what's the matter?

[Mildred Beck]

Well, nothing. I. I was just listening how quiet everything is. And even the sound of the frogs in the creek. It's as if the whole world had suddenly, suddenly stopped and was waiting for something. Are you going to finish this rubber? Yes, of course.

[Charles Beck]

I. I said, a spade. I wish you could keep your mind on the game.

[Ronald Beck]

And I said, two hearts. You know, that is queer.

[John Doe]

What's queer about the frogs?

[Ronald Beck]

Ordinarily, they'd be croaking like goodfellows. Have you noticed there aren't any beetles this evening?

[Mary Beck]

Are there?

[Ronald Beck]

Beetles fumbling against the windows. When the lights are on in here, there are usually dozens of them.

[Mildred Beck]

No doubt the heat has killed them. I've never seen it so close and stifling. I'm sure it's been hot enough to be the death of everything. Yes, that's it. That's the feeling. The presence of death. It came over me as I was returning from the tennis courts. It'd been glorious all afternoon until the sun went down. And then darkness came on so swiftly. Everything was quiet and hushed. Not the drowsy quiet of evening, but a deathly stillness. It was like leaving a bright, sunlit street and suddenly stepping into a darkened room where someone lay dead.

[Charles Beck]

Oh, don't be morbid, Mildred.

[Mildred Beck]

Feeling I can't shake it off.

[Charles Beck]

Oh, rot.

[Mildred Beck]

It is oppressive, Charles.

[Charles Beck]

We're going to have a storm, that's all. It's always this way before a storm. Now, I bid a spade and Ronnie here bid two halves.

[Mildred Beck]

Three diamonds. I pass as usual. Haven't had a bit of luck all evening.

[Charles Beck]

Well, I hope you know what you're doing, Mildred. Here's a nice run of clubs for you, too.

[Ronald Beck]

Hold on. That's Mother's trick.

[Mildred Beck]

Oh, sorry. Oh, yes. Do watch the game, Mildred.

[Charles Beck]

The roses in that bowl on the piano are quite wilted. You'd better tell Ellen to cut some fresh ones in the morning. She's getting careless.

[Mildred Beck]

Why? Those were fresh this afternoon. I saw Ellen picking them in the garden.

[Charles Beck]

I don't look it.

[Ronald Beck]

If you ask me, the whole garden looks a bit seedy, as if everything were dying. Oh, Mary.

[Charles Beck]

Where is Eldon this evening, anyway?

[Mildred Beck]

I let her have the evening off. She has some cousins living near here. She wanted to call on them.

[Charles Beck]

Yes, but it's after 11 o'clock. She should be back by this time.

[Ronald Beck]

I say, Mildred, will you please. Millie.

[Mildred Beck]

Mildred. What's the matter?

[Charles Beck]

She's fainted.

[Mildred Beck]

Mildred, darling.

[Charles Beck]

Here, here, take a swallow of water.

[Ronald Beck]

Oh, I saw me.

[Charles Beck]

Oh, she'll be all right. Well, you feel better?

[Mildred Beck]

A little awfully stupid of me. But, darling, what happened?

[Grainger]

All right.

[Mildred Beck]

I don't know. Everything got dark, and then. And then I heard the sound of hoofbeats and the rumble of a carriage. It kept coming closer and closer, and finally it swept past me. And through the carriage window I saw a face, chalk white with staring eyes. It was horrible. There, there, darling.

[Charles Beck]

Too much tennis this afternoon in the hot sun in India. I've seen things like this happen lots of times. Had a little touch of the sun myself once. Fancied I saw all sorts of weird things. One gets over it quickly. Now, there's nothing to worry about.

[Ronald Beck]

You feel better now, don't you?

[Mildred Beck]

Yes, quite all right. Only it did seem so real.

[Charles Beck]

You'd better run along to your room and get some rest anyway.

[Mildred Beck]

And tomorrow we'll call. And we'll call in Dr. Thornton. Oh, I'll be all right by tomorrow. Good night. Good night.

[Charles Beck]

Good night.

[Mary Beck]

Good night.

[Charles Beck]

And no more tennis for a few days, eh?

[Mildred Beck]

Do hope there's nothing really wrong.

[Charles Beck]

Oh, I don't see that there's anything to be alarmed about. Mildred's always been a normal, healthy girl.

[Mildred Beck]

Maybe we'd better go back to town.

[Charles Beck]

Let's wait and see what Dr. Thornton says.

[Ronald Beck]

It's odd, though it should happen tonight, what with all the other queer things. The frogs and beetles, the flowers suddenly wilting.

[Charles Beck]

Oh, I say, don't be a blithering idiot.

[Mildred Beck]

Listen. Is that you, Ellen?

[Ellen]

Ellen? Yes, ma'am.

[Mildred Beck]

Oh, I just wanted to make sure it was you.

[Ellen]

Yes, ma'am, it's me. I'm sorry I'm so late getting back. We had an accident.

[Charles Beck]

Almost an accident?

[Ellen]

Yes, sir. Jerry, that's my cousin, was driving me back in the motorcycle. He chauffeurs for the COVID you know. And we was going along, taking it easy like, and talking over old times and. And then we hears the sound of horses and a coach coming up behind us.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

A coach?

[Ellen]

Yes, sir. A carriage traveling fast it was, too. It was on us almost before we knew it. Jerry just had time to pull to one side.

[Charles Beck]

You mean a coach almost ran into your motor?

[Ellen]

Yes, sir.

[Ronald Beck]

Oh, wait a moment.

[Mildred Beck]

What kind of a coach was it, Ellen?

[Ellen]

I don't know, Mum. I didn't see it.

[Charles Beck]

Didn't see it?

[Ellen]

No, sir. What would it beIN? Excited like. It passed us and went tearing down the road without the coach.

[Charles Beck]

Almost ran into you, past you, and you didn't see it?

[Ellen]

No, sir. All we heard was the sound. And that's the truth, sir. If you don't believe me, you can ask my cousin. But I've never lied to you in my life, and I'm not lying now. It's the truth, sir.

[Mildred Beck]

Help me. We know you're not lying, Ellen. But what you heard was probably the wind.

[Ronald Beck]

There hasn't been a breath of air stirring since sundown.

[Ellen]

It wasn't the wind. It was something terrible.

[Grainger]

Terrible?

[Mildred Beck]

Oh, now, Ellen, I'm sure it wasn't anything terrible. Anyway, it's all over now. There's nothing to cry about. You come along with me.

[Ronald Beck]

Well, how do you explain that I don't think Ellen was playing tennis in the sun this afternoon?

[Charles Beck]

Oh, a lot of nonsense.

[Ronald Beck]

That's not an explanation.

[Charles Beck]

Well, no, there isn't any explanation except that she imagined it. A coach. Nobody rides in coaches anymore. She'd have been just as reasonable if she said she'd encountered a knight in armor.

[Ronald Beck]

And I suppose the fact that Mildred spoke of a coach when she fainted.

[Charles Beck]

What are you driving at?

[Mary Beck]

I'm going to bed.

[Charles Beck]

Sitting around here talking a lot of nonsense. Hello. Hello. Thunder. Told you it was going to storm. Think I'll go out and have a look at the weather. I say, Ronald, come out here.

[Ronald Beck]

Yes, what is it?

[Charles Beck]

You know, I believe that is a coach. Who in the name of common sense would be driving a coach around the country at this time of night?

[Ronald Beck]

Listen. Sounds as if it's coming this way, too. No question about it. It is coming this way. It must be at the turn in the road.

[Charles Beck]

By Jove. Then it's coming here. There aren't any other houses this side of the turn. Must be driving without lights. I can't see a thing.

[Ronald Beck]

I can.

[Charles Beck]

There. All right.

[Ronald Beck]

And they're turning in.

[Charles Beck]

Great Scott. They're running right over the lawn and through the garden. He'll ruin it. Here. Here. I say. Hold on there.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Good Lord.

[Ronald Beck]

They're headed directly for the creek. They'll never see it without lights. They'll go over the bank.

[Charles Beck]

Stop.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Stop.

[Charles Beck]

There's a creek down there, a steep bank.

[Ronald Beck]

They can't stop at that cliff. They'll go over the bank even if they do see it.

[Charles Beck]

Go in the house and get a lantern. Hurry.

[Mildred Beck]

Charles. What is it?

[Charles Beck]

Carriage. Turn off the road and head for the creek. Slashed right across the lawn in the garden.

[Mildred Beck]

The horses must have run away. There's probably no one in the carriage.

[Charles Beck]

There were two men on the driver's seat. I saw that much.

[Mildred Beck]

What happened?

[Charles Beck]

I thought. Nothing. Nothing's happened. Go back to your room.

[Mildred Beck]

Just a carriage that got off the road, dear. A carriage? Yes. They must have lost their way. And a very old carriage with a faded crest on it. And two coachmen in livery.

[Charles Beck]

Eh? You saw it?

[Mildred Beck]

No, but I knew it would come.

[Ronald Beck]

Here's the lantern. I had a time finding it.

[Mildred Beck]

Now be careful, Charles. You don't know what you mean.

[Charles Beck]

I'll be careful. Take Mildred inside. Give me the lantern, Ron. Come along. Hello. Hello there. I say, hello. There doesn't seem to be anyone about.

[Ronald Beck]

Here they are.

[Charles Beck]

Over here.

[Ronald Beck]

They pulled up and swung around just in time too. Another person, they'd have been over the edge of the bank and into the creek.

[Charles Beck]

Yes, yes. But where did the coachman. Hello.

[Ronald Beck]

I don't see how these horses could have run that fast. Positively skeletons. And the coach looks like something out of a museum. I wonder it didn't fall apart.

[Charles Beck]

I can't understand what became of the coachman. I say that.

[Ronald Beck]

Dead. I think there's someone inside the coachman.

[Charles Beck]

Wait a moment. Stay here. Anyone in there, sir?

[Ronald Beck]

Why don't you open the door?

[Charles Beck]

Oh, I beg your pardon, madam.

[Ronald Beck]

I. Oh, dad. Hear the coachman? Wait a moment, you fellows. What are you doing here?

[Charles Beck]

Ask her.

[Ronald Beck]

Come down off that coach. I tell you, you're trespassing. We want to talk with you. I say we want to talk with you.

[Charles Beck]

You know. There.

[Ronald Beck]

Wait. Wait a moment.

[Charles Beck]

They won't stop.

[Ronald Beck]

I didn't see them until they were climbing up on the coach. I don't know where they could have come from.

[Charles Beck]

That's not the only curious thing. There's a woman in that coach. And she was dead.

[John Doe]

Again, the scene is the library. The time the following morning. The garden doors are open and sunlight streams into the room. In the garden, birds sing. The Major and Dr. Thornton are standing.

[Grainger]

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[Charles Beck]

Sorry to bring you out here on the wild goose chase, Doctor. I didn't imagine there was anything really the matter with Mildred.

[Dr. Thornton]

Still, nothing to worry about at all. Mildred's in perfect health. If everyone in the village were as healthy as she is, I'd have to give up my practice.

[Charles Beck]

What do you suppose made her faint?

[Dr. Thornton]

Oh, any number of things. The heat, perhaps a little touch of indigestion. She's never been subject to fainting spells, has she?

[Mary Beck]

No.

[Dr. Thornton]

Some little temporary condition, that's all.

[Charles Beck]

I. I don't know whether she mentioned it to you or not, but for a moment after she came to, she talked rather incoherently. She seemed to have the impression that she'd seen a coach. A rather queer coach.

[Dr. Thornton]

Nothing especially unusual about that. Happens lots of times. Ever see a patient come out from under an anesthetic? Same thing. Simply a dream.

[Charles Beck]

Only this one persisted. We had a bit of a time convincing her that she hadn't seen it.

[Dr. Thornton]

Well, the human mind's a peculiar mechanism. We don't know very much about it. I don't suppose there are any of us who can tell exactly where dreams leave off and reality begins. We all carry around a certain number of delusions.

[Charles Beck]

Yes. Yes, I understand there's no one quite sane. Not so sure about myself. But I wonder. Suppose a person's mind were a mechanism so finely tuned that it could record a happening long before the less sensitive minds recorded it. Or haven't you ever heard of dreams coming true?

[Dr. Thornton]

Only in romantic novels. Well, I still have two more calls to make. Goodbye.

[Charles Beck]

Goodbye.

[Dr. Thornton]

Doctor, what about golf tomorrow?

[Charles Beck]

Oh, yes. Right.

[Mildred Beck]

Right.

[Charles Beck]

Come in. Yes, Ellen?

[Ellen]

The inspector is here again, sir.

[Charles Beck]

Oh.

[Ellen]

Oh, yes, and I've taken fresh roses. They look much better today, sir.

[Charles Beck]

Yes, don't they?

[Ellen]

I'll put them here in the bowl. I think they're as pretty as we've had this summer.

[Charles Beck]

They are pretty. Oh, show the inspector in.

[Ellen]

Yes, sir.

[Charles Beck]

Oh, come in, Inspector. Sit down, Roger.

[Inspector Roger]

Thank you. I dislike to be bothering you again, but since I talked to you last night. Well, there are several little details that need clearing up, no bother at all. Now, in the first place, are you sure that woman in the carriage was dead? Sure she hadn't merely fainted?

[Charles Beck]

Inspector, I've served in the army for a long time. I've seen death too often not to recognize it. The woman was dead.

[Inspector Roger]

And these two coachmen, what did they look like?

[Charles Beck]

Well, as I told you, I got only a glimpse of them. Besides, it was quite dark. Oh, here's one thing I did notice. They wore livery. Livery? Yes, the coach had a crest on it, a coat of arms. As my son said it, it looked as if it might have come out of a museum.

[Inspector Roger]

Your son saw all this, too?

[Charles Beck]

Yes, and so did my wife and daughter. At least they saw the coach pass the house again as it returned from the creek and swung back onto the road.

[Inspector Roger]

You know, Major, this case has some very extraordinary aspects. My first theory was that the two coachmen were taking a body somewhere with the idea of disposing of it, and got onto the wrong road. However, an investigation of the vicinity shows no deaths nor disappearances reported. And if these two men were attempting to dispose of a body, they'd scarcely want to attract attention to themselves by dressing in livery. What's more, such a coach as you describe would certainly have been noticed on the road. Thus far, we haven't discovered anyone who has seen it.

[Charles Beck]

It passed our maid on the road last evening.

[Mary Beck]

Oh.

[Inspector Roger]

Well, would you mind if I had a talk with her and get her description of it?

[Charles Beck]

She won't be able to give you a description. She didn't see it either.

[Inspector Roger]

Didn't see it? If it passed her on the road. I'm afraid I don't understand, Major.

[Charles Beck]

I don't think any of us understand. I don't think we'll ever understand.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Why?

[Inspector Roger]

What do you mean?

[Charles Beck]

When I say this, Inspector, I want you to know that I'm a sane, sensible, practical sort of a person. But in a universe as complex as ours, it is conceivable that there are other worlds, other planes of existence. Events which occur in time and space, not our time and space. Perhaps that coach and its strange occupants wandered momentarily from out of another world. Well, I. You recall last night I told you the carriage had plunged off the road, crashed through the garden and cut across the lawn?

[Inspector Roger]

Yes.

[Charles Beck]

Under those galloping hooves and careening carriage wheels, I naturally assumed the garden would be wrecked. The lawn pieces. Well, this morning when I looked out, there wasn't a single hoof print, the single rut of a carriage wheel, a single broken trellis in the garden on the lawn, not the tiniest bit of turf had been disturbed. Inspector. There was not one sign that the carriage had ever been.

[John Doe]

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I am turning the microphone over to Dr. Hirsch for his comments on the story you have just heard.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Thank you. This dramatization was based upon an actual report given to the British Society for Psychical Research by Major Charles Gordon Beck. A mysterious coach carrying a dead woman crashing across a lawn, yet leaving no marks, then disappearing into the night. And, mind you, four sane people believe they saw it. What is the explanation? Now, from a scientific standpoint, we cannot begin our investigation with the assumption that the report is true. Neither can we take the opposite assumption, that it is false. In drawing our conclusions in this respect, there are several points to be considered. First, the character of the percipient, that is, the person who claims to have perceived or witnessed the phenomenon. We have to decide, by whatever ability we have in judging a man's character, whether he is truthful or not. Before we decide he is not telling the truth, we should find some inconsistencies in his story, or at least some motive or reason for his telling a falsehood. But if we fail to find these, we do not yet have to assume that his story is true. The man might be telling an untruth and yet be perfectly honest. He may be an imaginative type, capable of conjuring up in his mind all manners of weird experiences and actually believing them. Or he might have had an hallucination. Once again, we have to judge a man and decide whether he is an imaginative type, the kind of person who would dream dreams and see visions. If we decide that he is telling the truth, that he actually saw what he claims to have seen, there is still the possibility that he is a victim of a hoax, a practical joke. So before we arrive at any conclusion at all, we should look for natural causes to explain the affair rather than supernatural. Now, I am going to let you make your own decisions on all of these points. I'm bringing to the microphone for an interview the man who saw the coach and its occupant and who made the report to the British Society, Major Charles Gordon Beck. Major Gordon Beck. Was the dramatization you heard just now an accurate representation of what happened?

[Mary Beck]

Yes. As far as the facts are concerned, of course, the words which your characters used were not precisely our words, of.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Course, but the story we presented was just as it actually happened.

[Charles Beck]

Yes.

[John Doe]

Yes.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

How long ago did this happen?

[Mary Beck]

Let me see. About 10, no, about 11 years ago, last August.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Where did it happen?

[Mary Beck]

In Devonshire, England, where I was living.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Did the house you lived in have the reputation of being, well, haunted?

[Mary Beck]

No, not that I heard of.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

In your experience, had anything strange ever happened there before?

[Mary Beck]

No.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Or after this curious affair?

[Mary Beck]

Never.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

You are an army officer, are you not?

[Mary Beck]

I was. I'm retired.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Now, in your own personal experience, not only in your home in Devonshire, but anywhere, anytime, has any other occurrence like this ever happened to you? Have you ever experienced hallucinations?

[Mary Beck]

No, nothing like that.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Do you believe in supernatural phenomena?

[Mary Beck]

Well, no, I can't say that I do. I've always considered myself a practical man.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Yes. Now understand, Major, we are not trying to trip you up, but simply attempting to find some sort of logical explanation. How do you know you didn't imagine the whole thing?

[Mary Beck]

Well, if I'd been the only one to have seen it, I think I would have doubted my own sanity. But my son accompanied me down to the creek. And my wife and daughter saw the coach pass the house. I don't think we all could have imagined it.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Well, how do you know it wasn't a practical joke that someone was playing on you?

[Mary Beck]

That wouldn't explain the absence of wheel marks on the lawn and in the garden.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

All right, then let's take another assumption. Assume there's a family living in the country getting a bit bored with life, and they make up the story just to amaze the neighbors, Remember? I'm not saying you did make up the story, of course. I'm asking if that isn't a logical explanation.

[Mary Beck]

Yes, perhaps it is. But they'd have to be very silly people. And they'd probably gain a reputation of being unmitigated liars. And in such a case, I don't think they'd take chances of running afoul of the law by leading the police on a wild goose chase. Of course, they. They might try to amaze their neighbors. No, I don't think they'd try to amaze the police.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

How long after this happened did you notify the police?

[Mary Beck]

Immediately. The same evening.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Did you tell anyone else about it?

[Mary Beck]

Not at the time. You see, at first I was mainly concerned with the fact that the woman in the coach was Dead?

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Yes.

[Mary Beck]

I didn't realize how unearthly the affair was until the next morning. Until I saw there were no marks on the lawn. Then I decided I had better not say anything more about it. You see, people might think I'd gone out of my head.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

And you didn't say anything about it?

[Mary Beck]

No.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

You didn't use the affair to gain Any notoriety?

[Mary Beck]

No.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

But you intimate that some time later you did mention the affair. How long afterwards and to whom?

[Mary Beck]

I should say about three months afterwards. I mentioned it to some friends in London. One of them suggested that I reported to the British Society for Psychical Research.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

And you did?

[Mary Beck]

Yes. Yes, I made a report. And it's included in the proceedings of the Society.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Did the British Society for Psychical Research offer any explanation?

[Mary Beck]

No. But they did tell me a very unusual thing. They said that at four different times four different people in four different parts of the world had reported a similar occurrence.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

What do you mean by a similar occurrence?

[Mary Beck]

I mean a coach with coachmen and carrying the corpse of a woman.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

And this strange equipage was never apprehended, never caught, never explained?

[Mary Beck]

No.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Have you yourself any explanation to offer?

[Mary Beck]

No, I haven't. I've puzzled over it for years and so has my wife and my son and daughter. As I told you several days ago, my only reason for coming to your wireless studio here would be for the purpose of putting the story before a great many people. Perhaps. Perhaps there's a very simple explanation that I've overlooked that some of them might see.

[Dr. Lionel Hirsch]

Thank you, Major Gordon Beck. Thank you very much. So there you are, ladies and gentlemen. That's as far as we've been able to go. Is there an explanation for Major Gordon Beck's unusual experience? We leave that to you. And now I am returning the microphone to your announcer.

[John Doe]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are genuinely interested in studying so called supernatural phenomena. If anything of this nature has happened to you, we would greatly appreciate a letter about it. Giving names, dates and the facts as you remember them. If your report is adaptable to dramatization, we will reimburse you for the story. We say good night now and allow you to draw your own conclusions concerning the story you have heard.