Atlanta Radio Theatre Company - The Dancer in the Dark (2 of 3)

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Atlanta Radio Theatre Company – The Dancer in the Dark (Part 2 of 3)
Date: March 19, 2026
Adaptation: Thomas E. Fuller's chilling Southern Gothic tale presented in old time radio style.

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Overview:

This episode is the second installment of “The Dancer in the Dark,” a supernatural mystery where tradition clashes with unknown ancient forces in rural Georgia. The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company uses atmospheric soundscapes and multi-character performances to explore a community plagued by inexplicable killings tied to a dark presence connected to ancient burial mounds. Tensions rise as characters reckon with gruesome deaths, suspicion, and legends deeper than they imagined.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Aftermath of Gruesome Violence ([00:51]–[03:20])

• The episode opens with chaos following the mutilation of Mammoth, a prized stallion. Suspicion falls on John McIntosh, but Sheriff Conklin insists on proof before any arrest.

  • Annabelle Blankenship: Demands John’s immediate arrest, convinced of his guilt ([00:51]).
  • Dr. Della Prego & Prof. Tremaine: Analyze the precise, unnatural nature of the wounds, casting doubt on a human culprit ([01:11], [01:19]).
  • The scene captures the suspicion and fraught dynamics among townsfolk.

  Memorable Quote:

  “Things don't have to be alive to be dead. Things don't have to be dead to be buried.”
  — Jubal Elder ([00:19])

2. Community Reels & Conflict Deepens ([03:42]–[05:30])

• Conversation shifts to the fright and ill-ease suffusing the town after the animal’s death.
  • Ms. Moffat: Struggles to understand the cruelty.

    “It just makes a body queer, you know, knowing there’s someone loose around these parts that could do a thing like that.” ([03:42])

  • Benedict Peterson: Fixated on blaming McIntosh, calling his warnings about Indian graves “superstitions.”
  • Ongoing marital tension between Benedict and Miriam Peterson is exposed; the crisis only deepens personal rifts.

3. The Legend Emerges ([06:06]–[07:47])

• Prof. Tremaine experiences the oppressive Southern heat, symbolized as something unnatural.

  • Jubal Elder cryptically warns:

    “They’re gonna break open their mounds, cut it loose from the ground, set it free.” ([06:55])

  • The first explicit mention of "the Dancer in the Dark" as an old evil bound beneath the mounds is introduced, tying nightmares and current violence to ancient myth.

  Memorable Quote:

  “Break the mounds and you’ll see it. You all see. The dancer in the dark.”
  — Jubal Elder ([07:26])

4. The Blighted Mounds ([08:33]–[10:55])

• The following morning, the group investigates the mounds and finds all plant and animal life dead—a blight seemingly centered on the ancient sites.
  • Randall Harris & Sheriff Conklin: Describe the totality of the destruction, including the discovery of animal bones.
  • Benedict Peterson: Dismisses supernatural explanations, insisting,

    “A blight. That's it. It was some kind of blight. I knew there’d be a logical explanation.” ([10:05])

5. Another Killing Stuns the Town ([12:12]–[13:48])

• Prof. Tremaine, Sheriff Conklin, and others find Annabelle Blankenship murdered inside her home; her death mirrors the mutilations seen earlier.

  • Scene is grim and psychologically intense as the group processes the extent of the horror.
  • Sheriff Conklin: Bristles with guilt and horror over the events, vowing to hunt down John McIntosh—now escaped from jail.

  Memorable Moment:

  “Sheriff, I sincerely hope so.”
  — Prof. Tremaine, responding to the question of Annabelle’s death, reflecting on the brutality of her murder ([13:30])

6. Family Falling Apart & Esoteric Scholarship ([14:23]–[17:24])

• Dinner at Moffat House is tense—Benedict and Miriam's marriage unravels under stress. Benedict confides suspicions of an affair.
  • Dr. Della Prego and Professor Tremaine discuss disturbing parallels in mythology: ancient cults, ritual killing, and demonic entities—the dancer as a mythic power fighting against the sun.
  • Academic discussion references lost texts and the possibility that the current violence is ritualistic, tied to ancient cycles.

    “Most of the fragments and pieces we have are stories of cults and sects changing, becoming different…old dark demons…walls between light and darkness.”
    — Prof. Tremaine ([16:15])

7. Secret Meeting – Local Lore Revealed ([17:33]–[21:34])

• Tremaine is brought, at gunpoint, by Jubal Elder to a clandestine meeting with John McIntosh, now a fugitive.

  • McIntosh professes innocence and shares an origin legend told by his ancestors:
    • The "People of the Dancer"—a wicked, ancient tribe—established the mounds and worshiped the “Dancer in the Dark.”
    • They were annihilated, but their god was only imprisoned, not destroyed.
    • The "dancer" is said to cause the oppressive heat and recent horrors, now threatening to escape again.
  • The story claims, “gods do not die,” and that their prison may be weakening.

  Notable Quote:

  “But gods do not die. And he is there, sleeping, waiting, dreaming. And the dream of the Dancer is the heat, lightning and the hot, dead air of timeless summer.”
  — Storyteller (John McIntosh’s legend) ([20:36])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Things don't have to be alive to be dead. Things don't have to be dead to be buried.”
  — Jubal Elder ([00:19])

• “Break the mounds and you’ll see it. You all see. The dancer in the dark.”
  — Jubal Elder ([07:26])

• “All the grass, all the trees and shrubs. Just look at this. Dry, rotted, all of it. And it ain’t just the plants… Everything in this whole damn place died.”
  — Randall Harris ([09:39])

• “Sheriff, I sincerely hope so.”
  — Prof. Tremaine, on whether Annabelle is dead given the condition of her body ([13:30])

• “But gods do not die. And he is there, sleeping, waiting, dreaming… The dream of the Dancer is the heat, lightning and the hot, dead air of timeless summer.”
  — Storyteller ([20:36])

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Event | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:51 | Annabelle demands McIntosh’s arrest; discovery of the mutilated horse | | 01:11 | Detailed medical examination of unusual wounds | | 03:42 | Community grapple with the horror | | 06:06 | Professor Tremaine’s reflection and mystical heat lightning | | 07:26 | Introduction of "Dancer in the Dark" legend | | 08:33 | Discovery of "blighted" mounds | | 10:05 | Benedict dismisses the supernatural explanation | | 13:30 | Discovery of Annabelle’s murder | | 16:15 | Professor Tremaine and Dr. Della Prego discuss ancient cult parallels | | 17:33 | Jubal Elder brings Tremaine to McIntosh for a secret meeting | | 19:16–21:34| The full telling of the “People of the Dancer” legend |

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Tone & Atmosphere

• The episode maintains a Southern Gothic mood—oppressive, fraught, dissonant with family strife, community panic, and inexorable supernatural menace.
• Language is colloquial and era-appropriate, sometimes poetic in narration.
• Sound design (e.g., heat lightning, flies, silence) enhances a sense of foreboding.
• The storytelling style blends local legend, folk horror, and classic radio drama.

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Takeaway

"The Dancer in the Dark" Part 2 cranks up both the supernatural threat and personal drama. Deaths mount, suspicion divides families, and mounting evidence suggests ancient forces at work. The episode ends with the local legend laid bare—something old and monstrous may soon break free.

Next episode tease: The conclusion of the story promises a final confrontation with the darkness unleashed upon the Georgia hills.

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Transcript

[Announcer]

Welcome back to another podcast of the Atlanta Radio Theater Company.

[Jubal Elder]

Things don't have to be alive to be dead. Things don't have to be dead to be buried.

[Ms. Moffat]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company.

[Announcer]

We continue this week with the second of three installments of Thomas E. Fuller's the Dancer in the Dark.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

So sit back, relax, and enjoy our presentation of the new Old Time Radio.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

I told you. I told you. I want him arrested. I want that monster arrested for what he did to Mammoth.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Oh, my Lord. He's been cut to ribbons. Look at that. Just look.

[Jubal Elder]

Damn, John. Damn.

[John McIntosh]

I didn't do it, JB I swear to you, I didn't do it.

[Elizabeth]

Terrible.

[Benedict Peterson]

Disgusting.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Did you notice the way the incision was made into the belly? One clean slice from the neck to the center and two others slices from the legs to the midsection.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Look at the way the organs have been shifted around in the body cavity itself. Heart moved here. The liver's over there.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

What are you waiting for? Sheriff Conklin. Arrest him.

[Elizabeth]

Ms. Garrett. Elizabeth, are you all right?

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

Please, Please. I'll be okay. Just leave me alone for a. Oh, God. I've never seen anything like oh, God.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

I can't arrest him without proof, ma'.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Am.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

Thank you so much.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

Arrest him. You great staring moonpath. The Colonel always said you didn't have the sins. God gave a grace.

[Sheriff Conklin]

All right, all right. That will just about do it. Everybody shut up.

[John McIntosh]

Damn it, J.B. i.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Shut up, John.

[Benedict Peterson]

Now, see here, Sheriff, you shut up, too.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

Well, it's just about time.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Annabelle, when I said everybody shut up, I meant everybody.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I believe you have everyone's attention, Sheriff Con.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

About time.

[Sheriff Conklin]

First thing.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Dr. Peterson, I'm sorry, but you and your folks are going to have to go back into town. We're going to have to be working out here. Ms. Annabelle, you go back to Coal Pine now. I'll let you know when you come take care of Mammoth.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

I am not budging from this spot until you.

[Sheriff Conklin]

I hereby arrest you on suspicion of the destruction of valuable private property, namely one prize Ron Stallion.

[Randall Harris]

What?

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Go home, Ms. Annabelle. The law take care of this. That's the way the Colonel would have wanted it.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

I will be at my home. You will keep me informed, Sheriff.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Yes, ma'.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Am.

[John McIntosh]

If you think you're locking me up over this, JB Conklin, you've got another.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Shut up, John. Now, what else? Right? Ms. Garrett, I'd appreciate it if you'd

[Sheriff Conklin]

give me your words not to mention

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

any of that to that newspaper.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

I'm a Reporter. Sheriff Conklin, you can't muzzle the press.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Wanna bet?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

What the sheriff means, my dear, is that you don't wanna break this story too soon. I do, most assuredly. This is an opportunity to cover a major story from the very beginning.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

I'd have the exclusive. No other reporters.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

No problem.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Then.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

I'll wait.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Thank you, Professor.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Don't mention it. So we left the scene of the horror. But the great beast blood stuck to our shoes and in our ears. The constant drone of his funeral attendants. A million flies dancing this sticky heat. Dancing, dancing.

[Ms. Moffat]

It just makes a body queer, you know, knowing there's someone loose around these parts that could do a thing like that. Killing that pretty, pretty horse. Why? Just tell me that.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Why?

[Ms. Moffat]

Have some more potatoes, Professor.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I don't mind if I do, Miss Moffat. But the question isn't just why. It's also how you can't kill something that gigantic quietly. Sheriff Conklin says it couldn't have been dead for more than three hours.

[Dr. Della Prego]

An interesting thought. Do you have any theories, Hanging?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Not a one.

[Benedict Peterson]

You don't need any, Uncle Cletus. It was that deranged idiot, Macintosh. All this whole insanity with the animals didn't start until he started warning people that something terrible would happen if we kept working.

[Ms. Moffat]

No, now, that was Jubal Elder started all the warning, Doctor. I was there when he had his visions the first time.

[Benedict Peterson]

Don't be ridiculous, ma'.

[Jubal Elder]

Am.

[Benedict Peterson]

It's McIntosh. McIntosh, with his stupid babblings of Indian graveyards and Indian religions. Indian superstitions. Makes my blood boil.

[Miriam Peterson]

Benedict, please.

[Benedict Peterson]

What's the matter, Miriam? Have I offended you? Oh, believe me, the last thing I would ever want to do is to cause you any pain or embarrassment.

[Miriam Peterson]

I just wish you wouldn't take this so to heart. It's making you so different.

[Benedict Peterson]

Oh, it's not enough that I have to deal with drunks and lunatics interfering with my work. I have to deal with what I have to deal with at home. If this can be called a home. Would you call it a home, Miriam?

[Miriam Peterson]

If you gentlemen would excuse me, I feel a little faint. I think I will go up to my. To our room.

[Benedict Peterson]

Of course, Miriam. Whatever you want. Miriam.

[Miriam Peterson]

Good Evening, Uncle Cletus. Dr. Delaprego.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Goodnight, Miriam.

[Dr. Della Prego]

But ask not just. But Signora Peterson.

[Benedict Peterson]

I don't want any more food. I'm going into the parlor to smoke a cigar.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Your nephew and his wife seem to be having some problems, Professor.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

That is a diplomatic way of putting it,

[Elizabeth]

miss Moffat. If Dr. And Mrs. Peterson aren't coming back. Would it be all right if Elizabeth and I had their cobbler?

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

Well, please, Ms. Florence, it's a real fine cobbler.

[Ms. Moffat]

Oh, all right. Just don't you make yourself sick on it, you hear? Yes, ma'.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Am.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Signora Moffat, if I may. I will indulge myself with my flute if you think it will not disturb.

[Ms. Moffat]

Oh, you go right ahead, Doctor. Your music doesn't bother anyone. And if it does, they'll get over it.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Thank you. Good evening all.

[Narrator/Outro]

Such a fine gentleman.

[Ms. Moffat]

So genteel. Pity he's a foreigner. Oh, well.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Abandoned by family, forsaken for cobbler, I made my way to the screened in front porch of the market house and a contemplative pipe. The warm dead air of the summer country surrounded me. Wrapping the world in a mind numbing blanket. Old man shouldn't have to sweat in October. Sweat among trees that should be red and gold instead of green. Never realized what an ugly color green was. Then I saw it. The air suddenly flared with a bright flash of light that sent drunken shadows reeling down the hills, capering and prancing into the dark and hidden hollows.

[Jubal Elder]

Heat lightning. Heat lightning. That's what we call it. That dry, dead light with no rain or Thunder. Heat lightning.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Mr. Elder, I didn't hear you come up.

[Jubal Elder]

You're smarter than the rest of these fools. They're gonna mess with things that hadn't ought to be messed with. They're gonna break open their mounds, cut it loose from the ground, set it free.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

It, Mr. Elder.

[Jubal Elder]

You think it's the drink talking, don't you? Ain't enough moonshine in the state of Georgia to make a man see what I seen. It's in the mounds. It and all them other things.

[Randall Harris]

What's that?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

That? Well, offhand I'd say it was Dr. Della Prego practicing his flute. Surely heard that before.

[Jubal Elder]

Ah, Mix. No, never mind. I know what I seen and I don't want to see no more. Mark me, Yankee man. Them fools. Break the mounds and you'll see it. You all see. The dancer in the dark.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

So the wrong had a name at last. The dancer in the dark. Something that wanted to be free. Wanted to dance and twirl and the stagnant hair of the summer country. Something that billowed and blazed in the heat. Lightning something. The dancer in the dark. October 20, 1928. In the bright light of morning, Jubal Elder's ranting seemed distant and more than a little silly. I went down to breakfast.

[Ms. Moffat]

Morning, Professor Tremayne.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Oh, good morning, Ms. Moffatt has my nephew or his wife come down yet?

[Ms. Moffat]

Well, yes. Yes, they have, in a manner of speaking.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

From your answer, I can only assume they brought last night's atmosphere down with them.

[Ms. Moffat]

It's a shame. They seemed like such a nice couple.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

They were.

[Randall Harris]

Dr. Peterson. I got to see Dr. Peterson. Where is he?

[Ms. Moffat]

Randall Harris.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

You knock on the door before you

[Ms. Moffat]

come barging into a body.

[Randall Harris]

Dr. Peterson.

[Benedict Peterson]

What's the meaning of this? Harris, how dare you come charging into this house like a drunken bull.

[Randall Harris]

You gotta come out to the mountains, Dr. Peterson. You gotta come out right now. Something's happened. Something terrible's happened.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I thought that happened yesterday.

[Randall Harris]

Must have been last night. Everybody's scared half out of their minds. You gotta come out, sir.

[Benedict Peterson]

I demand to know what is going on.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Benedict, I suspect that if you want to find out what the problem is, you're going to have to do what Mr. Harris suggests.

[Benedict Peterson]

This had better be good, Harris. This had damn well better be good.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Get your coat, Jerry.

[Elizabeth]

I don't think we should miss this coat, Professor Tremaine. It has to be at least 90 degrees out there.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

So once again, we found ourselves moving through the North Georgia countryside to the Malatoa Mounds. Then the trees opened up and we saw the mounds rearing up in the soft morning light. We saw the mounds. You see?

[Randall Harris]

You see?

[Benedict Peterson]

Oh, my God.

[Elizabeth]

Impossible.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

It's highly improbable, Jerry, but it's obviously not impossible.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Amazing.

[Randall Harris]

This is just the way we saw it last night. Like it's been dead for years. It's all dead.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

All of it.

[Randall Harris]

All the grass, all the trees and shrubs. Just look at this. Dry, rotted, all of it. And it ain't just the plants. Dr. Peterson, we found the bones of small critters all over the place. It ain't just the plants. Everything in this whole damn place died.

[Dr. Della Prego]

It all falls to dust when you touch it. Truly amazing. Hmm.

[Benedict Peterson]

A blight. That's it. It was some kind of blight. I knew there'd be a logical explanation for this. It was a blight.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Now, that's a nice theory, Benedict.

[Benedict Peterson]

Theory? Come on, Uncle Cletus. It's the only possible explanation.

[Randall Harris]

What you want us to do, Dr. Peterson?

[Benedict Peterson]

Send everyone home? Tell them. Tell them we're going to find out what happened here. We'll prove that it's totally safe, and then we'll get back to work.

[Randall Harris]

Yes, sir, Dr. Peterson.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Hey, you men.

[Randall Harris]

Listen up. Got some news here. What we're all going to do is.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh, Lord.

[Benedict Peterson]

This is all I need now.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Howdy, Dr. Peterson. Professor Tremaine.

[Sheriff Conklin]

I was just on my way to. Good Lord Almighty. What the hell happened here?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Everything died.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

I can see that.

[Sheriff Conklin]

But how?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Completely.

[Benedict Peterson]

Please, Uncle Cletus. What can we do for you, Sheriff?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Damn, I ain't never.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

What?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Oh, well, I thought you ought to know that John McIntosh busted out of jail last night.

[Benedict Peterson]

I told you it was McIntosh.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And what do you plan to do now, Sheriff?

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Well, I need to stop by and tell Miss Annabelle, I suppose. I mean, she's the one that got

[Sheriff Conklin]

John locked up in the first place.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Since she's right about him, she might be in some danger.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Would you mind if I accompanied you? I have a few questions of my own for the good lady. And she did invite me. Do you think you can fit us all into your car, Sheriff Conklin?

[Sheriff Conklin]

It'll be a mite crowded, but let's get going if we're going.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Benedict and Dr. De la Prego returned to Moffet House. The rest of us were soon motoring up the winding lane that led to Coal Pine Plantation. It grinned as we approached it, a bleached bone grin, empty and humorless.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

It sure is quiet.

[Jubal Elder]

Yeah.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Miss Annabelle's only got one servant left named Elora now. She's off down Decatur way visiting kin folks. So Miss Annabelle be answering the door? Be a minute. She don't move as fast as she did when she caught the colonel.

[Storyteller]

Oh, hell.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Do you usually draw a gun when you go calling, Sheriff?

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Professor, I have known Annabel Segris Blankenship all my life. I know her pretty well.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Any door between her and the outside

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

world's always going to be locked. This one ain't.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Miss Annabelle? Miss Annabelle? John Bell Hood Conklin. Miss Annabelle? You here? Miss Annabelle?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Jerry, I suggest we help the sheriff. Look, Ms. Garrett, I also suggest that you stay close to Mr. Masters.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

Yes, sir.

[Elizabeth]

Miss Annabelle?

[Sheriff Conklin]

Miss Annabelle.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

We walk through the dark halls and rooms of Colquine Plantation, occasionally calling out more to reassure each other than to find the owner.

[Sheriff Conklin]

Miss Annabelle.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

But we did find her. If what we found could still be said to be her anymore.

[Elizabeth]

Professor Tremaine, sir, Have you found Sherry?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

If Miss Garrett's still with you, please see she doesn't come any closer. We're going to need Sheriff Conklin.

[Benedict Peterson]

Yes, sir.

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

I refuse to be treated like a child. I'm a graduate of Agnes Scott College and a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution, and.

[Ms. Moffat]

Oh. Oh, my God.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I told you there was no need, child. You should have listened.

[Elizabeth]

They're right over here, Sheriff. I think it's an office, Ms. Garrett. Elizabeth.

[Benedict Peterson]

Are you all right?

[Reporter Ms. Garrett]

It's so terrible. It's so.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Is Annabelle dead, Professor?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Sheriff, I sincerely hope so.

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Oh, God. I was in the Great War. I never seen nothing like this.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Yes, you did, Sheriff. Saw it yesterday. Only then it was a gigantic horse this time. An old woman. But it's the same mutilations, the same positioning of the limbs. What are you going to do now?

[Sheriff John Bell Hood Conklin]

Get some boys together and hunt down John McIntosh. He's gone mad like a rabid dog. Like a rabid dog has got to be stopped. Damn, John. It was just some old bounds. Ain't worth this. Nothing's worth this.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Dinner at Moffatt House was a bit subdued that evening. Even Jerry and Elizabeth had no appetites. The only thing that was normal, for want of a better word, was the sparring between my nephew and his wife. And that was as unpleasant as usual.

[Miriam Peterson]

But, Benedict, all I said.

[Benedict Peterson]

I know what you said, Miriam. I know exactly what you said, and I don't want to discuss it any further. Have I made myself absolutely clear?

[Miriam Peterson]

Yes, but.

[Benedict Peterson]

Then why are we still talking?

[Miriam Peterson]

Yes, you're right, Benedict. If you will all excuse me.

[Benedict Peterson]

I'm sure they will. Good night, Miriam.

[Miriam Peterson]

Good night, Benedict.

[Benedict Peterson]

Has everyone else left, Uncle Cletus?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Well, you and Miriam do have a way of clearing a room, Nephew. And it is really starting to get on there.

[Benedict Peterson]

She's having an affair. My wife. Miriam is having an affair. She denies it, of course, but I'm not stupid. I wake up in the middle of the night and she's getting back into bed, her naked feet soaked with dew, her hair all wild. And in the morning, she pretends nothing has happened. She denies she ever left. She just stands there and cries, benedict. I loved her, Uncle Cletus. I loved her. And I thought she loved me. I really thought she did.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Damn.

[Benedict Peterson]

Good night, Uncle Cletus.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

I never know what to say when people do that. The good thing about tobacco is it gives you something to do with your hands. And it keeps your mouth shut. Why not just Dr. Del Prager? I didn't know you were out here. Hope my pipe won't disturb you. If it does, I can always.

[Dr. Della Prego]

On the contrary, I could use your assistance, if you have the time. You are aware of my work here in Blankenship?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Primarily the possibility of the movement of Aztec culture far beyond the current boundaries that we ascribe to it. Something pretty close to that.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Very close to that. I had thought I was making some progress, but now. Now I am no longer sure. It is very distressing.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Anything can be Perverted, my friend. You only have to look in my field to see that.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Ha, ha. Prehistoric myth cycles.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Most of the fragments and pieces we have are stories of cults and sex changing, becoming different. Warped sun figures being supplanted by old dark demons. All powerful monstrosities that cannot be fully visualized. Fairly constant. The walls between light and darkness. There's an example in the Garazic Codex

[Dr. Della Prego]

and in the Garazic Cortex. You are familiar with it?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Yes. There's a school of thought that holds as the last part of the Necronomicon. It's totally absurd and the styles completely different. Unpleasant at work, though. True. Discredited.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Perhaps there is more to it than that and is at first apparent. You discovered the body of the late Mrs. Blankenship Professor?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Yes, unfortunately. But that wasn't as disturbing as the blight it appeared last night. Annibel Blankenship died last night. Ritual death. The ritual result. The potential of this train of thought is provocative.

[Dr. Della Prego]

Yes, it is. We must continue it sometime. Now I fear I must retire. I have a great deal to do before I sleep. Good evening to you, Professor Tremaine.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

And to you, Dr. Della Prego. I hereby promise to never complain about being cold again.

[Jubal Elder]

Hard, ain't it?

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Mr. Elder, I have had a very trying day, and I am just not in the mood to listen to. That is a very impressive piece of artillery you have there, ain't it?

[Jubal Elder]

We needs to talk, Yankee man. We needs to talk real bad.

[Narrator/Producer]

But we can't do it here.

[Jubal Elder]

You come with me. We'll get it all straightened out.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

We walked down the street to old men out for an evening constitutional. Finally, we reached an old barn on the far end of town. It had obviously been abandoned for some time and was just as obviously our destination.

[Jubal Elder]

It's me, Jubal. I brung em just as you told me.

[John McIntosh]

Evening, Professor Tremaine.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Good evening, Mr. McIntosh.

[John McIntosh]

Sorry I had to get you here like this, but I didn't kill Ms. Annabelle. I swear it. I didn't kill her damn horse or any of them other animals. I don't want the damn mounds disturbed. But, hell, I'm not about to kill folks I've known all my life to stop it.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Strangely enough, Mr. McIntosh, I believe you. I also believe there's more to this than a tribal burial ground. Benedict does his research. And if he says they were never used as burial grounds, well, then they were never used as burial grounds. There is more, isn't there?

[Jubal Elder]

You tell him, John. You tell him, or I will. Heat lightning's Getting stronger. Every night it gets stronger. Soon it'll be too late. Then it'll be loose and no power nowhere. Ever gonna chain it up again. I seen it. I knows all.

[Benedict Peterson]

Jubal, Nose, you keep watch.

[John McIntosh]

Jubal, let us know if anyone comes by.

[Jubal Elder]

No one gets past old Jubal.

[John McIntosh]

You're right. Of course. There's more to this than burial grounds. My granddaddy used to tell me this story he got from his granddaddy, who got it from his granddaddy. Now, he used to tell lots of stories, but this one he made me repeat over and over till I had it, too. It's all about the people of the Dancer. That's what they call the old folks who grazed the mounds. It's just an old legend.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

Perhaps you could just tell me your story and let me draw my own conclusions.

[John McIntosh]

Okay, Here goes. Now, back in the beginning days, in the early times, when the great ones still walked the world and the white man was a dream in the mind

[Narrator/Producer]

of the sun, there dwelt upon the

[Storyteller]

land a great and wicked people who practiced abominations and evils. From the south, they came and raised up the Serpent Mound and the Eagle Mound and the smaller ones and set the standing stones upright. They were the people of the Dancer, the children of the Bright One. And they worshiped the terrible thing that dwelled on the Great mound. And they called it the Dancer in the Dark.

[Jubal Elder]

Then the old men, the men of

[Storyteller]

power, gathered the other tribes together and fell upon the people of the Dancer and killed them.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

All of them.

[Storyteller]

Every man, woman and child. The temples of the Dancer were brought down, and the men of power struggled with the Dancer in the Dark until he was imprisoned in his mound, locked away, buried, and the ground was burned and the place was forgotten. But gods do not die. And he is there, sleeping, waiting, dreaming. And the dream of the Dancer is the heat, lightning and the hot, dead air of timeless summer. The world has turned since then, and this tale is forgotten. But I know it. And you know it. And the Dancer knows it, grandson.

[John McIntosh]

The Dancer knows.

[Professor Cletus Tremaine]

The Dancer in the Dark.

[Announcer]

Join us for the conclusion of Thomas E. Fuller's the Dancer in the Dark on our next podcast.

[Narrator/Producer]

The Dancer in the Dark was written by Thomas E. Fuller and directed by Doug Kay. The music was created by Terry Sanders. It starred Brad Strickland as Professor Cletus Tremaine, Joyce Lee as Annabelle, Ron N. Butler as Benedict, Dina Friedman as Miriam,

[Elizabeth]

Terry Sanders as Professor De la Prego, Doug K. As Jewel Elder, and the old Indian, Daniel Taylor as McIntosh. Thomas E. Fuller as JB Karen Barrett

[Narrator/Producer]

as Elizabeth, Phil Carter as Jerry, Matt Sakato as Harris and Karen Wilbanks as Ms. Moffat.

[Elizabeth]

Our floor manager was Amanda Baskin. Live sound effects were performed by Lily Sonya and by Jeff Baskin. Tape sound effects were created by Henry Howard. The sound engineers were David Carter and Bill Rich.

[Narrator/Producer]

This show was produced by William Allen Richard and we are your announcers, Doug

[Elizabeth]

Kaye and Phil Carter.

[Narrator/Producer]

And we are the Atlanta Radio Theater Company.

[Announcer]

Once again, intro music was by Alton Leonard, and intro sound clips are of Tamara Morton and Doug Kay.

[Narrator/Outro]

For more information about artsy and how you can order recordings of our studio productions, please visit www.artc.org. all material is copyright by its creators or the Atlanta radio theatre company.

[Annabelle Blankenship]

Artc.org.