Summary of "The Dark House" by A.C. Wise — It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton

Main Theme and Purpose

In this Halloween-themed episode of It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton (October 29, 2025), Wil narrates A.C. Wise’s unsettling short story, “The Dark House.” The episode is a blend of atmospheric horror, obsession, and the cyclical, inescapable nature of trauma and tragedy. Through haunting prose and a chilling narrative structure, Wise explores how certain places—and the events tied to them—trap both memories and people in endless repetition beyond the reach of time or reason.

Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

[01:59] Introduction & Content Warning

• Wil introduces “The Dark House” as a “spooky, atmospheric, deeply creepy story” appropriate for Halloween.
• He shares the author's summary:

  “A photographer's obsession with an unsettled object exposes two friends to a darkness that won't be contained by frames.”

• Content warning: Mentions of fictional suicide and child harm.

[03:00] Encountering “The Dark House” (Gallery Scene)

• The protagonist visits a gallery featuring Roger Benson’s haunting photographs of a nondescript house:

  “There was nothing remarkable about the photograph. No reason it should be the first to catch my eye.” (03:10)

• The house is recurrent across the artist's work—an object of fixation and an omnipresent, unsettling force.
• Historical images contextualize the house: old, worn, with shadows “gathered in the windows… [that] didn’t reflect light so much as hold it at bay.” (04:45)

[08:00] Protagonist's Curiosity and Research Discussion

• The protagonist’s friend Russ does additional research into Benson and the house, revealing:

  • Benson bought the house cheaply; it was already infamous for “bad vibes.”
  • Weirdness #1: Benson displayed photographs at the house but never sold a single piece.
  • Weirdness #2: As a child, Benson and friends had a chilling experience—mysterious fear and a girl’s voice pleading, “Don’t leave me.” (12:00)
  • Weirdness #3: Benson’s suicide in the house in 1989.

• Jared, Russ’s roommate, inserts a theory:

  “There are places where bad things always happen, and they keep happening no matter what you do. Ergo, haunted.” (14:50)

  • Houses as loci of trauma: events become cyclical, not linear (“time is circular, there’s no beginning or end”).

  “A bad thing happened before Benson got to the house, or after, or during. It’s still happening. He brushed up against one edge of the wheel, and boom.” (15:45)

[19:00] The Road Trip: Visiting the Real Dark House

• Russ and the protagonist decide to visit the house in Providence, Rhode Island.

• Arrival intensifies the protagonist’s unease—shadows, the “memory” of non-existent photographs, the space simultaneously empty and crowded with invisible moments.

  “The whole house felt crowded, the walls packed with time, frozen and layered like insulation, other worlds whispering and rustling together.” (23:10)

• In the house, the protagonist discovers a child’s animal mask and—via a photograph—receives a terrifying vision of Russ dead, foreshadowing an inescapable fate.

  “[I saw] Russ, splayed out and bloody, his body twisted as if he'd been thrown clear of a wrecked car or fallen from a great height.” (26:50)

[29:30] Flashbacks: Benson’s Obsession and Despair

• Scenes cut back to Benson’s time, revealing:
  • The house “inserts” a mysterious female figure—sometimes a girl, sometimes a woman, masked or unmasked—into every photograph.
  • Benson is tormented; he shreds and buries photos, but the presence remains.

  “She is there in every single one… Even in the pictures where he can’t see her in, he knows she’s there.” (30:10)

  • “I’m here waiting for you. I’ll always be here. Right here where you left me.” (32:00)

[34:00] Archival Investigation: The Tragedy’s Origins

• The protagonist researches at the historical society:
  • Six children disappeared in 1909; their bodies were found the next year with animal masks fused to their skin.
  • Suspected cult activity; the story and journalist vanish from records.
  • A map reveals the last child's grave coincides with the location of the dark house itself.

[38:23] Time as a Haunting Circle

• The narrative highlights the destructive, cyclical nature of trauma:
  • Flashbacks layer 1939, 1967, 1989; Benson and the protagonist each relive the same regrets and encounters.
  • The distinction between past, present, and future blurs—tragedy is always happening, and both Benson and the protagonist become passive witnesses.

[42:10] The Final Unveiling

• The protagonist tears up the floorboards, discovering hundreds of photographs depicting the mysterious woman/girl, always present in the house’s history.
• The most disturbing photo is of Benson’s suicide, with the woman’s bloody, masked presence behind him.
• Another photo—the protagonist's vision of Russ’ death, never physically taken—emerges from the darkness, confirming the house’s grip on time and fate.

[46:00] Reflection: The Inescapability of Fate

• The protagonist concludes that, just as Benson could not save the girl or himself, she cannot save Russ or undo the past.
• The house’s curse is not limited to one time or victim—it ensnares all who come near, locked in an endless, tragic cycle.

  “If you could go back and change it, would it matter? Because this point doesn’t exist on a straight line.” (48:10)

• Echoing Jared’s theory:

  “There are certain places where bad things happen and keep happening no matter what you do. It was too late when we walked into the house. It was too late when Roger Benson entered the dark house. It’s always been too late.” (49:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the nature of haunting:

  “What else is a haunting, after all? A moment that escapes the bounds of a single point in time, a subject obsessively photographed, a sight once visited that won’t leave the mind, a house you must possess because it already possessed you long ago.” (38:45)

• Jared’s definition of place-curse:

  “Time is circular, there’s no beginning or end. Events just happen, like the turn of a wheel. Something bad happens, then it happens again, then something else bad happens. But it’s all part of the same thing.” (15:10)

• Realization at the story’s end:

  “It wouldn’t change anything if I told Russ what I’d seen. The photograph had been deleted from my phone and found again sealed away under the dark house’s floor... There are some things human minds shouldn’t have to know, certain weights they can’t bear without cracking.” (48:59)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment | |----------|--------------------------------------------------| | 01:59 | Introduction & Content Warning | | 03:00 | Gallery Scene: The Dark House’s First Encounter | | 08:00 | Research & Benson’s Biography | | 12:00 | Childhood Haunting Origin Story | | 14:50 | Jared’s “Haunted Places” Theory | | 19:00 | Arrival at the Real Dark House | | 26:50 | Vision of Russ’ Fate | | 29:30 | Roger Benson’s Perspective & Despair | | 34:00 | Historical Society / Masked Children Murders | | 38:23 | Time as a Haunting Circle | | 42:10 | Photographic Evidence Unveiled | | 46:00 | Final Reflection on Fate’s Inescapability |

Tone, Atmosphere, and Narrative Impact

The episode maintains Wil Wheaton’s calm, immersive narrative tone, amplifying the dread and tension embedded in Wise’s writing. The gradual layering of timelines, voices, and supernatural hints crafts an oppressive, chill-inducing tale. Listeners are left unnerved, pondering the meaning of place, memory, and predestination, all entwined within the darkness of a single, haunted house.

Final Thoughts

“The Dark House” stands as a modern ghost story grounded in psychological horror and fatalism, asking whether some wounds—in people and places—may never be healed, and whether some cycles of pain are unbreakable. Wise’s deft storytelling, paired with Wheaton’s empathetic narration, invites listeners to witness, but not save, those lost in the house’s shadow.

For more from A.C. Wise: acwise.net

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