
Atlanta Radio Theatre Company - The Dancer in the Dark (2 of 3)
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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])
“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])
Prof. Tremaine experiences the oppressive Southern heat, symbolized as something unnatural.
“They’re gonna break open their mounds, cut it loose from the ground, set it free.” ([06:55])
Memorable Quote:
“Break the mounds and you’ll see it. You all see. The dancer in the dark.”
— Jubal Elder ([07:26])
“A blight. That's it. It was some kind of blight. I knew there’d be a logical explanation.” ([10:05])
Prof. Tremaine, Sheriff Conklin, and others find Annabelle Blankenship murdered inside her home; her death mirrors the mutilations seen earlier.
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])
“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])
Tremaine is brought, at gunpoint, by Jubal Elder to a clandestine meeting with John McIntosh, now a fugitive.
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])
“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])
| 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 |
"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.