Havoc Town — Episode 6 | Keep Thy Heart

iHeartPodcasts | Date: September 16, 2025

Episode Overview

In this gripping installment, the boundaries between Abbesstown’s haunted past and its violent present blur. We revisit the 1817 “Vampire Panic” through the words of Damaris Abbess and witness its chilling parallel in the current day, as another wave of blood-soaked violence and inexplicable illness descends. As local scion Jury Havock proposes new prosperity for the town, Corrine Abbess and Sylvie Harris struggle with the gnawing suspicion that the town’s new “plague” is tied to dark, unresolved evil that has always lurked beneath the surface.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The 1817 Vampire Panic—Through Damaris's Diary

• Corrine reads Damaris Abbess’s entries:
  • Noah, her husband, is infected with the mysterious “blood fever.” His violence and mania escalate as he sweats blood and hallucinates.
  • The pious Reverend Josiah Abbess, convinced that demonic forces are at play, binds Noah to his bed and pursues increasingly desperate, brutal measures.
  • Damaris’s despair at the failings of faith and science:
    • She pleads Josiah to consider scientific help, but he scoffs.
      • “Science cannot save him now.” —Josiah (10:00)
      • “None of your prayers or your mutilations or madness have even slowed the progress of this vile disease.” —Damaris (10:05)
    • Damaris questions Josiah’s zeal as it morphs into wrath and cruelty, and reveals townsfolk have come to fear him more than the plague itself.

2. Noah’s Final Clarity and the Call to Escape

• During a rare lucid moment, Noah begs Damaris to flee with their sons, warning that Josiah’s fanatic crusade will destroy them all.
  • He admits he was never called to the clergy, but coerced by Josiah.
  • He reveals hidden funds meant to help Damaris escape, urges her never to return, and accepts his own doomed fate.
  • “This illness is taking me. … I have been gifted this moment of clarity, but it soon will pass and I will be lost to this world.” —Noah (13:07)

3. Madness and Exorcism by Violence

• Noah’s clarity soon fades. He becomes cruel, recounting a horrifying vision of Damaris’s mother burning in hell and fantasizes about inflicting agony on his family.
• Josiah, returning with “the tools of the Lord’s mercy”—a crucifix and ashen stake—proceeds to kill Noah in a violent, ritualized act.
  • “He raises the stake above his head...and brought it down into Noah’s heart.” —Narration (21:31)
  • “You are not my husband. My husband is dead.” —Damaris (19:57)

4. Modern Parallels and Growing Dread

• Corrine & Sylvie draw chilling parallels:
  • The blood-sweat, violent mania, and “plague” are reemerging in the present.
  • Reference to recent local violence (e.g., “axe murderer out here last week”) amplifies alarm.
  • “It’s the same look I saw in Jimbo’s eyes after the funeral when he attacked Ken. ... It was what Damaris wrote about.” —Sylvie (28:41)

5. Chaos in Contemporary Abbesstown

• The episode is violently disrupted as old Tom Stabenov’s house burns. He appears, deranged, firing on the townsfolk before dying in the flames.

  • “There stood old Tom Stabenow in the top floor window, naked and covered in soot...with an old hunting rifle, he opened fire on the crowd.” —Sylvie (26:34)

• Corrine and Sylvie sense the horror is only beginning:

  • “I think something big is coming.” —Sylvie (28:19)

6. The Last Diary Entry & Unfinished History

• Damaris’s diary ends cryptically:
  • “Josiah has gone up the hill. He has the stake. He is going after Havoc. He is mad. I will stop him.” —Read by Sylvie (29:23)
  • Josiah is later found dead, suspected to have committed suicide; pages from the diary are missing, and the true scope of the evil remains unresolved.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “None of your prayers or your mutilations or madness have even slowed the progress of this vile disease.” —Damaris to Josiah (10:05)
• “They say that you’ve gone mad. And you have, father. You have.” —Damaris (10:57)
• “This illness is taking me. … I have been gifted this moment of clarity, but it soon will pass and I will be lost to this world.” —Noah (13:07)
• “You are not my husband. My husband is dead.” —Damaris (19:57)
• “He raised it above his head...and brought it down into Noah’s heart.” —Narration (21:31)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:53] Damaris’s diary of Noah’s decline begins
• [04:00] Modern subplot: Jury Havock’s plans for the Belknap Hotel and the “Havoc Entertainment District”
• [07:12] Damaris and Josiah care for Noah; struggle for hope
• [10:05] Damaris confronts Josiah: Faith vs. science
• [13:07] Noah’s final plea to Damaris
• [17:03] Noah’s visions, cruelty, and the descent into madness
• [20:35] Josiah’s violent “exorcism” with the stake
• [26:06] Modern Abbesstown: Tom Stabenov’s self-destruction and public violence
• [29:23] The final, ominous diary entry: Josiah pursues Havoc
• [30:19] Arrival of the military; deepening sense of dread

Closing Remarks & Tone

The episode is grim, immersive, and suspenseful, deftly interweaving historical tragedy and supernatural paranoia with modern calamity. The banter between Corrine and Sylvie adds moments of dark levity yet only underscores the pervasive dread.

As the episode ends, Abbesstown seems poised on the edge of another cataclysm, hinting that the ancient darkness never truly died, only changed its mask for a new generation.