Jack And Jill 3xxxxx 002 The Haunted House

Summary

Podcast Title: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Jack And Jill 3xxxxx 002 The Haunted House
Release Date: March 22, 2025

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Overview

In the gripping episode "The Haunted House" from Harold's Old Time Radio series, listeners are transported back to the Golden Age of Radio with the classic adventure of Jack and Jill. This installment takes our beloved duo on a suspense-filled journey from Texas to California, culminating in their eerie encounter at the infamous Pleasant Place. Through masterful storytelling, atmospheric sound effects, and dynamic character interactions, the episode weaves a tale of suspense, supernatural mysteries, and the unbreakable bond between Jack and Jill.

Characters

• Jack: The pragmatic and sometimes skeptical husband navigating the challenges of their road trip.
• Jill: The optimistic and spirited wife, whose unwavering support keeps their journey together strong.
• Mister (Town Marshal): The enigmatic stranger who introduces the couple to the haunted history of Pleasant Place.

Plot Summary

Jack and Jill embark on a cross-country journey in their modest $12 car, traveling from Texas to California. The episode opens with the couple battling car troubles as they navigate the rugged terrains of Rome, Texas. As exhaustion sets in after a grueling 14-hour drive covering 61 miles, tensions arise between Jack and Jill, highlighting their deep bond despite the hardships.

Upon encountering persistent mechanical issues—most notably, a mysteriously missing engine—Jack's frustration mounts:

Jack [02:18]: "Yeah, all right, all right, dear. Don't talk to me now until we get to the top of this hill."

Their perseverance leads them to seek shelter, where they meet a local town marshal who warns them about Pleasant Place, a supposedly haunted location with a tragic history. Undeterred by the marshal's ominous tales, Jack and Jill decide to spend the night there, setting the stage for the unfolding supernatural events.

As night falls, unsettling noises and unexplained phenomena begin to plague the couple. Jill's attempts to remain calm are juxtaposed with Jack's increasing unease:

Jill [08:32]: "Nothing is going to hurt us. Nothing's going to hurt us."
Jack [08:49]: "Nothing is going to hurt us. Nothing's going to hurt us."

The tension escalates when a mysterious entity—referred to as "the Mister"—reveals himself, leading to a climactic confrontation. The marshal's eerie presence and cryptic warnings intertwine with the couple's struggle to survive the night in the haunted Pleasant Place.

Key Moments and Notable Quotes

1. Encounter with the Town Marshal ([03:25]):
   The introduction of Mister sets the haunting backstory of Pleasant Place, deepening the mystery:

   Mister: "Everything's haunted about that place... at exactly 12 o'clock we heard shots from the Pleasant Place."

2. Decision to Stay ([05:31]):
   Defying the marshal's advice, Jack and Jill choose to remain at the haunted house, heightening the suspense:

   Jill: "Why, we're going to sleep at the Pleasant Place and we'll stay there all night."

3. Supernatural Manifestations ([09:03] – [10:06]):
   The couple experiences unexplainable occurrences, amplifying the episode's eerie atmosphere:

   Jack: "Now, don't step on my fingers."
   Mister: "It's me. It's me."

4. Climactic Confrontation ([12:11] – [14:40]):
   The tension reaches its peak as Jack and Jill face the mysterious Mister, culminating in a chilling cliffhanger:

   Mister: "Open this door. 20 years ago, in this very room at 12 o'clock."
   Jack: "Who is it knocking at the door? What is the constable's story?"

Atmosphere and Sound Design

The episode excels in creating a palpable sense of dread and suspense through meticulous sound design. From the creaking of the haunted house to the relentless storm outside, every auditory element immerses the listener in Jack and Jill's perilous night. The strategic use of silence heightens moments of tension, making the eerie occurrences all the more impactful.

Conclusion

"The Haunted House" masterfully blends classic radio drama elements with a timeless story of adventure and the supernatural. As Jack and Jill navigate the grim events at Pleasant Place, listeners are left on a cliffhanger, eagerly anticipating the resolution in the next episode. This installment not only entertains but also underscores themes of resilience, trust, and the enduring strength of companionship in the face of unknown terrors.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Jack [02:18]: "Yeah, all right, all right, dear. Don't talk to me now until we get to the top of this hill."
• Jill [08:32]: "Nothing is going to hurt us. Nothing's going to hurt us."
• Mister [03:25]: "Everything's haunted about that place... at exactly 12 o'clock we heard shots from the Pleasant Place."
• Mister [14:06]: "You're going to hear the wildest, strangest story ever told by the lips of man. Open that door."

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For those who cherish the nostalgia of old-time radio and crave thrilling narratives, "The Haunted House" offers a captivating listening experience that embodies the spirit of radio's golden age.

Transcript

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[Jack]

Jack and Jill from Texas to California in a $12 car. At the end of the first day's travel, it's hard to tell which is the worst wreck, Jack or the car. They are pulling a long hill into Rome, Texas.

[Jill]

There's some lights, dear. We must be coming into some town.

[Jack]

14 hours, 61 mil. Oh, gosh, I'm tired.

[Jill]

I know you are, dear. But remember, whatever happens, we're together.

[Jack]

You bet. Are you glad you married me?

[Jill]

Sure.

[Jack]

Would you do it again?

[Jill]

Uh huh.

[Jack]

Kiss me. Put that back.

[Jill]

What's that noise?

[Jack]

Well, this is a pretty tough hill. The engine is missing.

[Jill]

Well, I haven't noticed any tender hills since we left home. How could the engine be missing? It was in there when we started this morning.

[Jack]

Yeah, all right, all right, dear. Don't talk to me now until we get to the top of this hill. It's a narrow road bed and anything can happen. That last piece of adhesive tape I put on that tire isn't holding any too good.

[Jill]

Say, Jack, I want.

[Jack]

Not now. Not now, honey. Don't talk to me now until we get.

[Jill]

But dear, this is important.

[Jack]

I know, but. Save it, dear.

[Jill]

But you ought to know about it yet.

[Jack]

Not yet. Now, can't you see I'm having a hard time with this? Just a hundred feet more now. Just a. Oh, here we are.

[Jill]

Well, can I tell you now?

[Jack]

All right, dear, go ahead, tell me.

[Jill]

Well, honey, the back of the car's on fire. The tent and everything's burning.

[Jack]

Oh, Lord, why didn't you tell me? Come on, get out. Can't you get out? Help me put the fire Out. Throw dirt on it. Not on me, on the fire.

[Mister]

Throw dirt. What's this fire?

[Jack]

What does it look like?

[Mister]

I was going to say that. If you've got that wreck insured for anything over 40 cents, you'll be ahead to let it burn.

[Jack]

Listen, don't clown around here. I don't feel funny.

[Jill]

Say, mister, our tent's burned up. Is there a hotel here?

[Mister]

None that I know, Z. I've been here 65 year come next grass. And I've been town marshal for 30.

[Jack]

He's just a stranger here. He wouldn't know.

[Jill]

Jack, isn't there any place we can stop for the night? There's a storm coming up and we're just worn out.

[Mister]

There's the old Pleasant Place on the hill. But I don't know. I reckon you'd better go on to crosby. It's only 12 miles.

[Jill]

Well, what kind of a place is a Pleasant Place?

[Mister]

It's a haunted place.

[Jack]

Oh, hot dog. How far did you say Crosby was?

[Jill]

Now wait just a minute. We can't go another mile on these roads with this storm coming up. Yeah, we're going to the Pleasant Place. Now, what's haunted about it? Mysterious.

[Mister]

Everything's haunted about that place. We don't talk much about it here, but 20 years ago a man took his bride there, just like you're wanting to do now. I remember. It was a warm summer night, just such a night as this. A storm was coming up just like tonight. I think that was the darkest night I ever saw.

[Jack]

Just like tonight.

[Jill]

Go on, mister.

[Mister]

At exactly 12 o'clock we heard shots from the Pleasant Place. The bridegroom jumped out of the window, ran down the hill in his night clothes, ran into the river and was drowned.

[Jill]

Oh, the poor man, Goodman. Well, what about his bride?

[Mister]

They found her murdered in her bed. And every night at 12 o'clock you can still hear them shots. They're so regular. Folks round here sets their watches fire them shots.

[Jill]

Do you suppose we could get a room there for the night?

[Mister]

Nobody ever slept there all night since the shooting. They always go crazy, jump out the window into the river. There's an old caretaker there and they say he's crazy. Been that way since the tragedy.

[Jack]

Well, thank you very much, mister, but my wife is very nervous, you see. We'll just mosey on to Crosby now, Jack.

[Jill]

We'll do nothing of the kind. Why, we're going to sleep at the Pleasant Place and we'll stay there all night. Come on now.

[Jack]

Okay. Good night, mister, and thank you.

[Mister]

Oh, say, if you need me during the night. Just call the operator. Her name is Mamie. She'll call me. I'm the county undertaker, too.

[Jill]

Oh.

[Mister]

Good night.

[Jill]

Good night.

[Jack]

Well, well, here we are. Gosh, it's everything he said it was, isn't it? Only more so. I don't feel well.

[Jill]

Ring the bell, dear.

[Jack]

Do you think I'd better?

[Jill]

Hold your knees still.

[Jack]

I can't. I can't. Where is the bell?

[Jill]

It's right there. Here, give me your hand. Now then, push.

[Jack]

I'm pushing. I am pushing, but it doesn't work. Listen, honey, you better lean on me and I'll lean on the. There it goes. There it goes. Now, we should have gone to Crosby, I'm telling you.

[Jill]

Stand up, Jack. Look, here he comes now. He's a terrible looking man.

[Jack]

We should have gone on.

[Mister]

Another bride and groom. The last bride that.

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. Out the window, into the river.

[Jill]

We're looking for shelter for the night, mister.

[Jack]

Yeah, your place was recommended to us.

[Mister]

That's what the other bride said.

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. Jumped out the river, into the window. I mean, jumped out.

[Mister]

Come in, come in. You can have the same room she had.

[Jack]

Go on in, dear. You wanted to come. What's that?

[Mister]

Here's the room right here. It seems like yesterday she stood right there on that rug and.

[Jack]

Oh, Jill, get off that rug. I am off.

[Mister]

She shook hands with me right here. And the next minute she was shaking hands with St. Peter.

[Jack]

I don't like that laugh. Say, mister, will you call us early in the morning?

[Mister]

Sure, I'll call you, but you won't hear me. I have called everybody that slept in that room for 20 years, but they never answered. Gabriel called them long before I got here. But you'll like the place.

[Jack]

Say, mister, if you'll leave that lamp, please. We'll say good night if you're finished with your bedtime stories.

[Mister]

If I think of anything else, I'll come back. Good night.

[Jack]

Here, you come back and try to get in. Say, what did he bolt that door for?

[Jill]

The lamp's going out. Close the window.

[Jack]

No, sir. No, sir. That's the way to the river. Leave it open.

[Jill]

Oh, what's the matter with this lamp, Jack? There it goes again.

[Jack]

Do you know any hymns, Jill? Oh, Lord, now we're in for it. I haven't got a match.

[Jill]

The rain's stopping. Maybe there'll be some moonlight and that'll help.

[Jack]

Shall we gather after it?

[Jill]

Now, now, now. We mustn't be nervous, dear. You see, we must Just relax and keep saying to ourselves, nothing is going to hurt us. And if we keep saying that, nothing will hurt us.

[Jack]

Yeah, that's well. And nothing's going to hurt us. Nothing's going to hurt us.

[Jill]

I'm not afraid. Are you?

[Jack]

No. No. It must be after 12. The ghost is late tonight, isn't he?

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Mister]

Uh.

[Jack]

Oh. There's somebody on my back. There's somebody on my back.

[Mister]

There's somebody.

[Jack]

Jill, now quit the. Cut it out. Now.

[Jill]

I haven't touched you. I'm way over here.

[Jack]

You haven't touched me. No, you didn't come. Nothing's going to hurt us. Nothing's.

[Jill]

Jack, this is just like a play, isn't it?

[Jack]

What is?

[Jill]

Well, our being locked up in a haunted house in the dark, crazy men outside. I saw a play once where a girl was locked in a room just like this and a dead body fell out of a closet right at her feet.

[Jack]

Baby. Try to relax, dear.

[Jill]

Then a hand came through the wall and took her necklace off her neck and strangled her.

[Jack]

You better let me put your beads in my pocket.

[Jill]

And listen. He had a gorilla's arm and they called him the Bat because he did all his killing at nighttime.

[Jack]

Well, nothing's going to hurt us. Nothing's going to hurt us. What is it? What is it? Don't tell me that noise. Somebody's got a horse upstairs.

[Jill]

Jack, you go up and see if you can find it.

[Jack]

No, sir. No, sir. I didn't lose any horse. I'm not going to any horse show. 12:00 at night in a rain, in a haunted house. Upstairs in an attic.

[Jill]

Someone's trying the door. Jack, someone's trying the door.

[Jack]

Yes, I know. I heard him. I heard him.

[Jill]

Jack, have you got your gun? Did you bring it in?

[Jack]

I got it here. If I could just find my pocket. Here it is. Here it is.

[Jill]

Somebody's got a hold of my foot. Somebody's got hold of my foot.

[Mister]

It's me. It's me.

[Jack]

Now, don't step on my fingers.

[Mister]

Look out.

[Jack]

I just dropped my gun and I was looking for it. Dear, I'm gonna tell you something. If anybody comes in that door, I'm going out that one.

[Jill]

There's no door there. That's a wall.

[Jack]

I'll make a door in the wall when I go through.

[Jill]

Oh, dear. Isn't it quiet?

[Jack]

Yeah, it's so quiet you can hear your hair grow. What's that? What's that?

[Jill]

Somebody behind that wall. There's somebody behind that wall.

[Jack]

You know, there's more mystery in this place than in a bowl of chop suey.

[Jill]

I tell you, there's someone in this room besides us, Jack. I can feel them.

[Jack]

Nothing is going to hurt us. Nothing is going to.

[Jill]

It's upstairs again.

[Jack]

The Four Horsemen have come back. They're playing polo up there. Gosh, if we only had some light.

[Jill]

Jack, maybe your lighter would work just this one time. Try it.

[Jack]

Well, a little son of a gun. It worked. It worked. It worked. Here, get the lamp.

[Jill]

Get. That's better. Look.

[Jack]

What is it?

[Jill]

There is a closet, just like the one in the play.

[Jack]

I know, I know. The dead man fell out and the bat flew in. And the gorilla. I don't know. I don't know. Just try. Try to relax.

[Jill]

Now, look, dad, the doorknob's turning. The doorknob is turning.

[Jack]

Go over and open the door. You go open the door and I'll stand here with a gun I can.

[Jill]

Somebody's holding it from the other side.

[Jack]

Now, wait a minute. I'll fix that. Now, you listen. Now, you listen in there. I don't know who you are or what you want, but I'm gonna count three, then I'm gonna shoot right through that door. Come on out now with your hands up. Come out with your hands up or I'll splatter you all over the walls. You ready, Jill? One.

[Jill]

He's dead, just like in the plane.

[Jack]

No, he's not dead. He's not dead. Here, you hold this gun, and I'll look him over. Look out, now.

[Mister]

Look out.

[Jack]

Don't point that thing at me. Point it at him. Him down there on the floor. And if he moves, you pull that little hook on the bottom of it. That's a trigger. And every time you pull that hook, it'll go bluey, blue, blue. Now then, mister, maybe you'd like to tell me. What? Who you are. And what's the big idea?

[Mister]

I went through the secret passage. I play ghost because I like to see the cowards run.

[Jack]

Give me that sheet.

[Mister]

Give me that sheet.

[Jack]

I'll put you out of the ghost business right now.

[Mister]

They all say I'm crazy, but I'm not. My wife ran away with a saxophone.

[Jack]

Player, and I don't blame her. Anything in preference to you. Even a saxophone player. Jill. Jill, don't you know who this is?

[Jill]

Who?

[Jack]

Go over there and pull those whiskers off of him. Go on, pull those whiskers off of him.

[Mister]

They're false.

[Jack]

Go on, pull them off. They're tied on with a string. Good Lord.

[Jill]

Good Lord. The town conjured the town conjure.

[Mister]

Yes, it's me. I see you found the place. Now listen to me, both of you. Don't open that door. It's life or death. Don't open it.

[Jack]

Go on. Open that door.

[Mister]

Jill, wait. Wait.

[Jack]

What?

[Mister]

I tell you. Wait.

[Jack]

Come on, open that door.

[Mister]

You're going to hear the wildest, strangest story ever told by the lips of man. Open that door. 20 years ago, in this very room at 12 o'clock. Open this door.

[Jack]

Come on, open the door.

[Mister]

Open this door.

[Jack]

Who is it knocking at the door? What is the constable's story? Are our friends Jack and Jill getting into more peril? We'll follow them from this point. At this same time tomorrow.

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[Jack]

Every home.