Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Beyond Midnight — Under the Hau Tree (aka Under the Hav Tree)
Date: March 13, 2026
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio

Episode Overview

This episode features a classic South African radio drama from the "Beyond Midnight" series, titled "Under the Hau Tree" (also known as "Under the Hav Tree"). Set in a Hawaiian hotel shaded by an ancient tree, the story weaves a tale of memory, loss, and lingering love, sliding gradually from the mundane into the mysterious. The drama is introduced as "something quite unbelievable" that, though lacking final proof, feels hauntingly real. The episode explores themes of time, nostalgia, the persistence of love after tragedy, and an encounter with the past that verges on the supernatural.

Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. The Unsettling Photograph (00:51–04:12)

• Setting: Late afternoon in Hawaii, under the Hau Tree. A woman strings scarlet seeds for a necklace while a man flips through old photographic prints.
• Inciting Event: The man discovers a photo that shocks him. His reaction: amazement → fear → disbelief.
  • Quote:
    • "Where did you get this one?" — Storyteller (01:50)
• Mystery Introduced: The man questions the woman about the photo's origins, but she insists she took it, leading to unease — how could she have taken a photo of people he seems to recognize in an impossible way?

2. Searching for Identity (04:12–10:27)

• The Quest: Both characters embark on a quest around the hotel to identify the mysterious couple in the photograph.
• The Hotel Register: Staff and guests cannot recall or find the couple’s names or details, despite seeing them only three weeks prior.
  • Quote:
    • "You can't any of you remember their names nor which room they stayed in? ...You can't find anything about them in the book. They only been gone three weeks." — Storyteller (09:23)
• Additional Details: The woman in the photo wore old-fashioned clothing and had a white scar on her neck, heightening the mystery.

3. The Character of the Couple (11:31–14:44)

• Uncanny Details: The couple is "queer" — out of step with time and fashion, as if "being asleep for twenty years."
  • Clothing matches what the narrator’s aunt wore twenty years ago.
  • Her manner: always waiting, sweet, worried about spots on her travel dress.
• Emotional Atmosphere: The sense of nostalgia and waiting permeates — "She always had this look. As if sort of expression of waiting." (13:36)

4. The Story Behind The Photograph (18:03–25:56)

• Revelation: The man gradually reveals that the couple in the photograph were his relatives, Uncle Johannes and his beloved Jenny, from South Africa.
  • Backstory:
    • Lifelong love.
    • Years of saving for their dream honeymoon trip around the world.
    • Jenny was almost 35 when their journey finally began.
• Tragic Turn: Shortly after their wedding and as they began their journey, they were in a train accident. Jenny was mortally wounded, and Johannes died soon after, both expressing longing and regret over unfulfilled dreams.
  • Memorable Quote:
    • "She was trying to wipe the spots from the shoulder of her traveling frock with her handkerchief. Weak, ineffectual... Such poor, useless little movements." — Storyteller (24:00)
    • "And when the little movement stopped, he looked up at me... he said, 'It isn't the end. I've got to begin all over again somewhere, somehow.'" — Storyteller (25:19)

5. The Haunting Conclusion (25:56–26:54)

• The Story’s Implication: The narrator suggests that the couple’s spirits, bound by their unfulfilled plans, may have completed their round-the-world trip — perhaps still visiting hotels, appearing in photographs, and reenacting their dream.
  • Quote:
    • "I'm going to take Jenny around the world yet... I have Grandfather's watch here, you see. And in the back is the photograph taken on the way to the station on their wedding day." — Storyteller (25:57)
• Atmosphere: Bittersweet — a mix of love, loss, and a gentle haunting.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Photograph Discovery and Astonishment:
  • "Where did you get this one?" — Storyteller (01:50)
  • "You couldn't have. Well, I did." — Character in Story (03:58)
• Uncanny Nostalgia:
  • "They were sort of mips and wrinkles. That's the only way I can describe them. As you say, being asleep for 20 years." — Character in Story (11:57)
• Tragedy Remembered:
  • "I found my Uncle Johannes and his Jenny. Uncle Johannes was propped up against a big rock. Jenny was half leaning, half lying against him. There were three red gashes across her throat." — Storyteller (24:00)
  • "He said, 'It isn't the end. I've got to begin all over again somewhere, somehow.'" — Storyteller (25:19)
• Bittersweet Closure:
  • "I'm going to take Jenny around the world yet... I have Grandfather's watch here, you see. And in the back is the photograph..." — Storyteller (25:57)
  • "Let's go in. Let's go where the lights are." — Character in Story (26:54)

Important Timestamps

• 00:51 — Drama opens: Introduction and mystery of the photograph
• 04:12–10:27 — Search for the couple’s identity; hotel staff interview
• 11:31–14:44 — Character description and eerie details
• 18:03–21:56 — The couple's backstory: love and preparations
• 24:00–25:19 — Description of the fatal accident and tragic last words
• 25:57–26:54 — Haunting resolution: the narrator reveals the photo’s true origin

Tone & Atmosphere

• Evocative, melancholic, slightly surreal
• Language and narration are gently formal, poetic at times, reminiscent of Victorian and Edwardian storytelling

Summary Takeaway

“Under the Hau Tree” is an elegantly told ghost story about enduring love and the ache of dreams left unfulfilled. Through a mysterious photograph, the episode blurs the lines of time, memory, and the possibility that love can echo beyond death, allowing the listeners to glimpse something of the unexplainable tenderness that lingers beneath losses long past.