The Black Mass xx-xx-xx (x) Haunted House

Summary

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Summary of "Haunted House" – The Black Mass (Harold's Old Time Radio, 09/29/2025)

Episode Overview

This episode of Harold's Old Time Radio delves into the atmospheric world of Golden Age radio drama, featuring adaptations of classic literature. The main focus is on “Haunted House,” a radio play based on Virginia Woolf’s short story. The story captures the ethereal tale of a ghostly couple moving through their former home, searching for a hidden treasure—the “light in the heart.” The production embraces a poetic, dreamlike quality, evoking both the comfort and melancholy of memory, loss, and love.

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Key Discussion & Story Points

1. Setting the Scene (00:01–01:04)

• Host Introduction: The episode is introduced as the second story about a house—this one being “Haunted House” by Virginia Woolf.
• Atmosphere: Calm, measured tones set a mysterious mood, preparing listeners for an evocative, lyrical journey.

2. A Ghostly Search (01:04–04:24)

• The Ghostly Couple (B):
  • They move “hand in hand, lifting here, opening there,” searching for something left behind.
  • The couple’s presence is sensed by subtle signs—opening doors, a sense of something just glimpsed and then gone.
• Notable Quote (B, 01:57):

  “The house all empty, the doors standing open. Only the wood pigeons bubbling with content. And the hum of the threshing machine sounding from the farm... What did I want to find? My hands were empty.”

• Poetic Details:
  • The beauty and stillness of the house and garden are highlighted, with references to apples, roses, and green leaves reflected in glass.
  • Repeated questioning and searching underscore the sense of longing and mystery.

3. Buried Treasure and Separation (04:24–06:03)

• Symbolism:
  • The “pulse of the house” and the “buried treasure” are repeated motifs, intertwined with the couple's memories and yearning.
  • The treasure symbolizes not gold, but something intangible—love, warmth, or perhaps the life once lived in the home.
• Memorable Line (B, 04:34):

  “Death was the glass. Death was between us. Coming to the woman first hundreds of years ago. Leaving, leaving the house, sealing all the windows.”

• Separation: The story implies a tragic history—one left behind, one searching, the house darkened and empty after their parting.

4. Joy, Reminiscence, and the Pulse of the Home (06:03–09:19)

• Ghosts’ Happiness:
  • The couple experiences fleeting joy as they remember “kisses without number,” and the cycles of summer and winter.
• Atmospheric Imagery:
  • Visuals like moonbeams and wild rain contrast with the stillness of the candle and the silence of the sleeping house.
• Quote (B, 08:19):

  “Long they look, how deeply long they pause… the faces that search the sleepers and seek their hidden joy.”

5. Return and Discovery (09:19–10:14)

• Reunion: The ghosts “find each other again” over the years, laughing in the loft and recalling their “treasure.”
• Climax:
  • The speaker exclaims, “Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart. Here we left it. Here we left it.” (B, 09:54)
• Resolution:
  • The treasure is not gold but the enduring light and love shared in life, which echoes in the very heart of the house.

6. Credits and Acknowledgments (10:14–End)

• Cast and Crew Named:
  • Narrator: Pat Franklin
  • Music: Peter Winkler
  • Technical Production: John Whiting
  • Other contributors for the first story of the episode are also mentioned.
• Final Farewell: The host gently bids the audience good night.

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• “The house all empty, the doors standing open. Only the wood pigeons bubbling with content...” (B, 01:57)
• “Death was the glass. Death was between us. Coming to the woman first hundreds of years ago...” (B, 04:34)
• “The heart of the house beats proudly.” (B, 09:10)
• “Is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart. Here we left it.” (B, 09:54)
• “Safe. Safe.” (A, 10:14)—final refrain, echoing the story’s conclusion.

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Story Structure & Tone

• Language and Style: True to Woolf’s modernist style, the dialogue is poetic, layered, and sparse, encouraging listeners to infer meaning and emotion.
• Tone: Melancholic yet filled with warmth, focusing on longing, memory, and the traces that love leaves behind in familiar places.

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Suggested Listening Guide

• 00:01–01:04: Introduction and setup
• 01:04–04:24: The ghostly couple’s search and the ambiance of the haunted house
• 04:24–06:03: Poignant moments of loss, death, and separation
• 06:03–09:19: Reminiscence, imagery of joy and the steady beat of home
• 09:19–10:14: Reunion, climax, and the true meaning of “buried treasure”
• 10:14–end: Credits and closing remarks

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“Haunted House” on The Black Mass presents a haunting, lyrical meditation on memory and love, a perfect example of the evocative storytelling that defined the Golden Age of Radio.

Transcript

[A]

And now our second story about a house is about a haunted house. Written by Virginia Woolf SA.

[B]

There was a door shutting from room to room they went hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure a ghostly couple. Here we left it. Oh, but here too. It's upstairs in the garden. Quietly.

[A]

Yes, quietly.

[B]

We shall wake them. But it wasn't that you woke us. Oh, no. They're looking for it. They're drawing the curtain, one might say. And so read on a page or two.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now they found it, one would be certain. Stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of reading, one might rise and see for oneself. The house all empty, the doors standing open. Only the wood pigeons bubbling with content. And the hum of the threshing machine sounding from the farm. What did I come in here for? What did I want to find? My hands were empty. Perhaps it's upstairs. Then the apples were in the loft. And so down again the garden still as ever. Only the book had slipped into the grass. Here we left it. And here, here. But they had found. Found it in the drawing room. Not that one could ever see them. The window panes reflected apples, reflected roses. All the leaves were green in the glass. If they moved in the drawing room, the apple only turned its yellow side. Yet the moment after, if the door was opened, spread upon the floor, hung upon the walls. Pendant from the ceiling.

[A]

What?

[B]

My hands were empty. The shadow of a thrush crossed the carpet. From the deepest wells of silence the wood pigeon drew its bubble of sound.

[A]

Save, save, save.

[B]

The pulse of the house beat softly the buried treasure.

[A]

The room.

[B]

The bow stopped short. Oh, was that that the buried treasure. A moment later the night had faded out in the garden then. But the trees spun darkness for a wandering beam of sun, so fine, so rare, coolly sunk beneath the surface. The beam I sought always burnt behind the glass. Death was the glass. Death was between us. Coming to the woman first hundreds of years ago. Leaving, leaving the house, sealing all the windows. The rooms were darkened. He left it, left her, Went north, went east. Saw the stars turned in the southern sky. Sought the house again, found it dropped beneath the down.

[A]

Same, same, same.

[B]

The pulse of a house beat gladly the treasure yours. The wind roars up the avenue. Trees, trees stoop and bend this way and that. Moonbeams splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight from the window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the house, opening the windows, whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy. Here we slept, kisses without number. Waking in the morning Silver between the trees up dead in the garden when summer came in winter snowdyne the doors go shutting far in the distance Gently knocking like the pulse of a heart Nearer they come, Cease at the doorway the wind falls the rain slides silver down the glass Our eyes darken we hear no steps beside us we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak his hands shield the lantern.

[A]

Sound asleep Love upon their lips.

[B]

Drooping, holding their silver lamp above us Long they look how deeply long they pause the wind drives straightly the flame stoops slightly Wild beams of moonlight cross both floor and wall and meeting stain the faces bent, the faces pondering the faces that search the sleepers and seek their hidden joy.

[A]

Same, same, same.

[B]

The heart of the house beats proudly.

[A]

Years then again you found me. Yeah.

[B]

In the God waiting, laughing, rolling apples in the loft.

[A]

Here we left our treasure.

[B]

Here we left it. Here we left it. Stooping their light lifts the lids upon.

[A]

My eyes Save, save, save.

[B]

The pulse of the house beats wildly waking, I cry. Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart Here we left it. Here we left it.

[A]

Safe. Safe. SA that was a Haunted House by Virginia Woolf. The story was performed by Pat Franklin with music specially composed by Peter Winkler and technical production by John Whiting. In the Boarded Window, the first story you heard this evening by Ambrose Bias. You heard Ben Jacopetti as the narrator, Amanda Folger as Janice. Eric Bowersfeld played Murloc. The music was performed by Carl Schrager and the technical production was by John Whiting. And now, good night. It.