Ancient Sorceries by Escape

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Horror! (Old Time Radio)
Episode: Ancient Sorceries by Escape
Release Date: February 22, 2025

Introduction

In the chilling episode titled "Ancient Sorceries," hosted by RelicRadio.com on The Horror! (Old Time Radio) series, listeners are transported to a remote Welsh village steeped in mystery and dark folklore. Originally aired on February 15, 1948, as part of the Escape series on CBS, this episode delves into themes of ancestral curses, supernatural encounters, and the thin veil between reality and the occult.

Plot Overview

The story follows Arthur Llewellyn, a man returning from a vacation in Wales, who finds himself disoriented and stranded in the enigmatic village of Malton. Despite warnings from a cryptic villager to avoid spending the night, Arthur disembarks from his train, seeking respite at the local Inn of the Golden Bough. Unbeknownst to him, Malton harbors ancient sorceries that awaken long-buried memories and ancestral ties.

Key Events and Developments

1. Arrival in Malton ([01:47] - [06:36])
   Arthur Llewellyn's journey begins as he arrives at Malton, a village seemingly untouched by time. The innkeeper, Madam, hints at unsettling secrets when she advises Arthur against staying the night:

   "You may not even have the chance to regret it. Don't leave this train. I know what I'm talking about." ([04:23])

   Ignoring the ominous advice, Arthur settles in, only to discover that the villagers are dressed in archaic attire and move silently, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

2. Supernatural Encounters ([06:36] - [20:30])
   As Arthur explores the village, he experiences unsettling phenomena:

   • Silent Observation: Villagers watch him intently, behaving unnaturally quiet and stealthy.

   • Haunting Music and Visions: Arthur hears otherworldly music emanating from a valley below, leading to a terrifying vision of human-sized cats emerging from the shadows:

     "From every window of the inn and those of the houses about the court were leaping great, monstrous beasts with soft, dark fur and eyes that gleamed with eerie phosphorescence. Cats. Cats of human size." ([21:57])

   • Encounter with Ilse: Arthur meets Ilse, a mesmerizing and ominously beautiful woman who reveals a connection to his ancestral past:

     "Ilse, you can know everything tonight if you want to." ([20:04])

3. Climactic Transformation ([20:30] - [24:38])
   The narrative reaches its peak as Arthur grapples with his dual identity and the compelling pull of ancient sorceries:

   • Invitation to Transformation: Ilse urges Arthur to embrace his true heritage and join the supernatural beings:

     "You belonged to us once, long ago, and you still belong." ([20:24])

   • Struggle and Rebellion: Despite his growing attraction, Arthur resists the transformation, culminating in a desperate act to retain his humanity:

     "I can't do it. Not again. ... I knew, knew what I could do." ([23:59] - [24:13])

4. Psychiatric Revelation ([25:19] - [28:53])
   The story transitions to a clinical setting where Arthur recounts his experiences to a psychiatrist. The doctor reveals that historical records from Malton suggest a lineage of sorcery linked to Arthur's ancestry, implying that his ordeal may stem from deep-seated family memories rather than mere hallucinations:

   "It seems that during the 14th century, the village of Malton became a kind of headquarters in that part of the country for the practice of witchcraft." ([26:13])

Characters

• Arthur Llewellyn (Paul Freeze): The protagonist whose journey into Malton uncovers hidden ancestral ties and supernatural challenges.

• Madam (Ann Morrison): The innkeeper who warns Arthur of the village's dark secrets.

• Ilse (K. Brinker): A hauntingly beautiful woman embodying the supernatural allure of Malton, representing Arthur's ancestral connection.

• The Villager: A mysterious figure who attempts to deter Arthur from staying in Malton.

• The Doctor (William Conrad): A psychiatrist who provides a rational explanation for Arthur's experiences, linking them to ancestral memories.

Themes and Insights

1. Ancestral Curses and Heritage: The episode explores the notion that one's lineage can carry latent memories and curses, influencing present actions and perceptions.

2. Duality of Reality: The thin boundary between reality and the supernatural is a central theme, questioning whether Arthur's experiences are genuine or manifestations of his subconscious.

3. Isolation and Entrapment: Malton serves as a microcosm where Arthur is isolated from the modern world, trapped in a cycle of ancient sorcery.

4. Conflict Between Free Will and Destiny: Arthur's struggle to resist his predetermined fate versus his desire to maintain autonomy underscores the tension between free will and destiny.

Notable Quotes

• Madam's Warning:

  "Because of the sleep and because of the cats. That's all I can tell you." ([04:13])

• Ilse's Persuasion:

  "You belonged to us once, long ago, and you still belong." ([20:24])

• Arthur's Desperation:

  "I can't do it. Not again." ([23:59])

• Doctor's Explanation:

  "It's a clear case of hallucination. You knew that story before you went there, not consciously, but somewhere deep in your latent memory." ([26:49])

Conclusion

"Ancient Sorceries" masterfully blends elements of horror, mystery, and psychological thriller to create an immersive Old Time Radio experience. Through Arthur Llewellyn's harrowing journey, the episode delves into the depths of ancestral legacy and the haunting persistence of historical curses. The interplay between supernatural occurrences and rational explanations invites listeners to ponder the extent to which our past shapes our present reality. This episode stands as a quintessential example of the Escape series' ability to craft compelling narratives that both entertain and provoke thought.

Further Listening

For enthusiasts of classic horror and supernatural tales, The Horror! (Old Time Radio) series by RelicRadio.com offers a treasure trove of stories that continue to send shivers down the spine. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes featuring more enigmatic adventures and unexplained phenomena.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Oh, stories, real stories and murders do turn out your legs. Turn them out. Good evening. Come in, won't you? What's the matter? Surely you're not nervous? Perhaps you. Can't I tell you a story?

We are meant to call from out of the past. Stories strange, weird tales of mystery and.

Terror by radio's masters of the macabre. Stories of the supernatural, the supernormal, dramatized by fantasy. The mystery, the unknown. We tell you this Frank, frankly. So if you wish to avoid the excitement tension of these magnet play, refer to our.

On this episode of the horror. We go back to February 15, 1948 for an episode from Escape titled Ancient Sorceries. Series aired over CBS stations from 1947 to 1954. Produced over 200 original episodes. Here it is. Ancient Sorceries.

Fed up with shoveling snow? Can't shake that cold of yours. Wonder what the world's coming to.

We offer you escape.

You are alone in a remote village on the Welsh border. Surrounded by silent townspeople who are watching and waiting for you to decide to lose your soul.

Escape, produced and directed by William N. Robeson and carefully contrived to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure.

Tonight we escape to a remote section of Wales and a strange village between two worlds. As Algernon Blackwood described it in his eerie story Ancient Sorce.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I had spent a week's vacation in Wales and was returning to London by train when it all began. It was late afternoon. We'd left the Welsh mountains and crossed the border into western England, passing through a countryside which appeared singularly empty, deserted of life over the soft hills and the valleys. Between hung a faintly perceptible haze given to the whole landscape a feeling of enchantment and unreality. The train at length slowed down to a stop at a tiny wayside station. As it did so, a sudden thought occurred to me. Why not leave the crowded train with its irritating noises and spend the night in this peaceful spot? Then take a slower and emptier train in the morning? On the impulse, I rose from my seat and the man sitting opposite to me said, why?

[Villager]

Say, sir, we only stop here for a minute or two. If you're thinking of walking about a bit.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No, as a matter of fact, I'm getting off here.

[Villager]

I thought you were going to London.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I'll go on in the morning.

[Narrator]

I'm going to stay here for the night.

[Villager]

I strongly advise you not to.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I beg your pardon.

[Villager]

This is the village of Malton.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Malton? I've never Heard of it?

[Villager]

Few people have. Outside. But if you place any value on your soul, you will not spend the night here.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

My dear sir, what are you talking about? Why not?

[Villager]

Because of the sleep and because of the cats. That's all I can tell you.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

You're insane. I'll take my bag, if you don't mind.

[Villager]

You're making a terrible mistake. You may not even have the chance to regret it. Don't leave this train. I know what I'm talking about.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No, but. Utter nonsense. Don't.

[Narrator]

Don't.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I tell you.

[Narrator]

Goodbye.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I stood there on the embankment as the train pulled away.

[Narrator]

What in the world was the matter.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

With the man anyway?

[Narrator]

Cats, sleep. His words made no sense.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I picked up my bag and started walking up the long hill toward the village. And suddenly, for no reason at all, I shall. Hello? Hello.

[Narrator]

Is anybody here?

[Ilse]

Yes?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh. Oh, I. I didn't see you at first.

[Madam]

Is there something I can do for you, sir?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Why, yes. I. I saw your sign outside the Inn of the Golden Bough. I should like to get a room, please.

[Madam]

You're planning to stay here?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Why, why, yes.

[Madam]

Very well. You may sign the register.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yeah. Thank you. I'm going to catch another train and go on in the morning.

[Madam]

Oh, yes, of course.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

There. Well.

[Madam]

Arthur Llewellyn. Llewellyn?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, from London.

[Madam]

Arthur Llewellyn. You've been a long time coming back.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What?

[Madam]

But now that you're here, you'll find there are some things that never change.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Madam, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.

[Narrator]

You rang, madam?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Where did you come from?

[Madam]

Don, really. The gentleman would like a room for the night. His name is Arthur Llewellyn.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Ay, so it is.

[Narrator]

Welcome back to Malton, sir.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Huh? Why, I. I knew. I knew I'd never been here before.

[Narrator]

What was it all about?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

First the man on the train and now these people.

[Narrator]

Were they crazy?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Or was I? I left the inn and walked along narrow cobbled streets beneath quaint gables leaning out from the silent shuttered houses through dappled pools of light and shadow. It gradually dawned upon me that the village of Malton was centuries old, older than any town in England ought to be.

[Narrator]

And the people.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

The people I passed now and then were. Were dressed in the fashion of another day. They paid no attention to me. They went silently about their own business. Yes, that was it. That's what I'd been noticing. Silently they came and went with only soft padding sounds to mark their passing, as though they walked in shoes with soles of velvet. When I stopped, there was no sound. The silence was unbroken. I hurried on through the streets and came at last to the far side of the village, to a place where the hill broke away sharply from a low, flat wall of stone, perhaps a rampart. Once I sat down upon it, and the dreamy, lazy somnolence of the place stole over me. Presently, I don't know how much later, I became aware of the sound of weird music rising out of the veil below me. I looked down from the rampart.

[Narrator]

The sunken plain at the bottom melted.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Away into a sea of gathering shadow, blurred in a swirl of thickening mist.

[Narrator]

I thought of dead trees swept by.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

The night wind, of animals with half.

[Narrator]

Human voices singing to a white moon.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Of the wailings of cats on the.

[Narrator]

Roof tiles at night, of unearthly creatures far off in the sky, calling to one another in chorus. I felt my heart beat faster and faster, felt the vague stirrings of some urge inside of me trying to answer the awful call of that music. I fought against the feeling, fought against myself. And even as I did, I found I was staring down into that valley, peering desperately into the darkness, trying to see, I don't know what. And then suddenly.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

The music ended. I stood on the rampart alone. Dusk fallen around me and the early night wind moaned with a chill, chill breath. Quick terror rose up in me. I turned and ran through the darkened streets, ran with my heart pounding, dodging its shadows through one dim alley after another, and arrived at last, panting and.

[Narrator]

Almost breathless, at the door of the.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Golden Bar.

[Madam]

A long time returning. Mr. Llewellyn? It's past 7.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh, yes. Yes. I I I guess I walked farther than I meant to. I didn't realize it was so late.

[Madam]

You heard the music, didn't you?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Strangest music I've ever heard. But how did you know who plays it anyway?

[Madam]

Then you didn't remember it?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No. Why should I?

[Narrator]

The thing was becoming irritating, this quiet.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Insistence that I was someone else. I went into my lonely dinner and ate as quickly as possible. Then, taking the candle Dundreary gave me.

[Narrator]

I crossed the lobby, climbed the stairs behind the desk and walked past silent.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Doors down the long, empty hall that led to my room. At the end, I was halfway to my door when suddenly the flame of my candle went out. I stood stock still in the pitch blackness, fumbling from edge. At that moment, I knew that someone or something was there with me in the darkness. I held my breath and listened. There was no sound, no movement. I reached out and felt the wall and Moved along it, feeling my way in the inky blackness. It was then I touched it near my face. Another soft, warm, yielding and alive. Who. What is.

[Ilse]

Is I, Ilsa.

[Narrator]

Who?

[Ilse]

Ilse. Don't you remember me, Arthur? But wouldn't you like to remember me? Don't you want to see me again? To look at me? No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I. I don't know.

[Ilse]

But not tonight either. Perhaps tomorrow. Tomorrow.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I stumbled blindly through the door of my room and shut it behind me. I lit the candle and flung myself across the bed. The room was small, with one shuttered window, and the light of the flame flickered on the walls and ceiling. I stared at the hand that had touched her out there in the dark hall. I lifted it up to my face and smelled of the barbaric scent that still clung to my fingers. It was evil, maddening. The candle sputtered and burned, and the melted minutes dripped away. Who I. Who were these people? Who was Ilse? I fell asleep finally and dreamed of soft, moving creatures and the silence of life in a dim, muffled world devoid of all feeling but ecstasy. And I dreamed, too. The first cats.

[Narrator]

You slept quite late this morning, Mr. Llewellyn.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Huh? Oh. Morning, Dundrilly. I. I felt as if I'd been drugged.

[Narrator]

The night air here in Morton is.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Very conducive to sleep. I. I'd meant to catch the morning train for London. Now it's too late.

[Narrator]

What a terrible shame.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh, by the way, Dundrillie.

[Narrator]

Yes, Mr. Ruanna.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Do you. I mean. Well, I. I was wondering if. If you'd know anyone by the name of Ilsa.

[Madam]

Ilsa happens to be my daughter, Mr. Llewellyn.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

All right. I didn't hear you come in.

[Madam]

I hope you were able to sleep well without any unpleasant dreams.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I guess so.

[Madam]

I'm so happy to hear it. Perhaps then you may decide to stay with us for a long time.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

That's. That's very kind of you.

[Madam]

No, it isn't kindness, Mr. Llewellyn. But all of us are hoping that you may decide soon.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Decide? Decide what? It was no use. None of them would answer my questions. They seemed to think I should know already.

[Narrator]

I left the inn as soon as.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I'd eaten, walked around the streets of the village, and I began to notice that I was never completely alone. If I turned down an empty street, someone always stepped from a doorway or entered from the opposite end. Wherever I went, within five minutes, a dozen people were strolling near me. And I realized these people were watching me tensely as a cat watches a mouse or another cat.

[Narrator]

It's quite fortunate you came back early, Mr. Llewellyn. Your dinner this evening is a rather special one.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Special? What do you mean by that? You are to have a guest. Huh? Who?

[Narrator]

An old friend. She's coming now.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

The girl who came toward. Toward us across the room was lithe and slim, and she moved with the sinuous grace of a young panther. She was lovely, exotic and terrifyingly beautiful.

[Narrator]

I present Ms. Darth Llewellyn Mesutza. He's been with us for two days.

[Ilse]

Yes, I know. My mother told me. May I Sit down, Mr. Llewellyn?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh. Oh, yes, please do. Here. Permit me.

[Ilse]

Thank you, my sir. Andre.

[Narrator]

Thank you, Miss Ilsa.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Then you're Ilse.

[Ilse]

Yes. Don't you remember me?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Papa, from last night. It was you last night, wasn't it?

[Ilse]

Yes. And other nights. Can't you remember all the other nights?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No. No.

[Ilse]

Then we shall have to try that much harder. It's been such a very long time.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Please, Ilse. What is it all of you talk about? I. I don't understand any of it.

[Ilse]

You will, Arthur. Unless you leave, of course. Weren't you planning to take a train to London in the morning?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, it. No. No, I changed my mind.

[Ilse]

I'm glad you did. We'll try to make you happy here, my mother and I. And then perhaps you'll stay a long, long time.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No, I must leave for sure, in a day or two.

[Ilse]

Suppose we wait and see. And meanwhile, if there's anything you want, all you have to do is ask me.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

All right. Why don't you tell me about.

[Ilse]

Yes, Arthur. About what?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No. No, I don't want to know. I. I don't want you to tell me. Suddenly I realized I was afraid to know, afraid I should leave now. But I couldn't leave. It was Ilse. She attracted, repelled, fascinated and horrified me, all in single flashes of blasting emotion. I felt the presence of a great gray curtain ready to roll back at any moment and leave me on the brink of an awful adventure. I knew the village held its breath, watched and waited. And then, on the evening of the fifth day, the whole ghastly secret exploded into hideous life. After dinner, Ilse had asked me to walk with her. It was the first time I'd been outside the inn. After dark, we walked through the village in the moonlight, saying little, and came finally to the stone rampart above the sunken plain. We were quite alone.

[Ilse]

Look, Arthur, it's a full moon tonight. Do you know what that means?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. It means I can see more clearly how Beautiful you are.

[Ilse]

Do you really believe that? Do you think I'm beautiful?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Like a soft, sleek leopard in a warm jungle of shadows. But wait, I'll. I'll see you even better in a moment.

[Ilse]

Arthur, what are you doing?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

These dry leaves by the wall will make an excellent bonfire. There. There, you see?

[Ilse]

No. No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What's wrong?

[Ilse]

The fire. No, Arthur. Put it out.

[Narrator]

All right, Ilse, don't worry.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

It's all right. Hardy had a chance to get started. There, you see? It's all art.

[Ilse]

Yes, I see.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Ilse. Why did it bother you so much?

[Ilse]

Don't you remember? Don't you remember the fire?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No. What fire?

[Ilse]

No, don't talk of it. Look at me instead. Look at me. Arthur.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, Ilsa.

[Ilse]

Arthur, do you love me?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Yes, Ilse. I love you. I love you and I want you.

[Ilse]

I'm glad. That means you'll come back to us, then.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I don't know what you mean.

[Ilse]

Ilse, you can know everything tonight if you want to.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, I do. I do.

[Ilse]

You must know a part of it already. Down inside. You must remain the son of it, don't you?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. It's like something buried for centuries inside of me. And now it's beginning to come alive.

[Ilse]

Let it come alive. Don't fight against it. You belonged to us once, long ago, and you still belong.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, I seem to know that.

[Ilse]

That's why you came back. You heard them calling. You heard me calling and you came seeking the old life again.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Villager]

But.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Ilse. Ilse, I'm afraid.

[Ilse]

Are you afraid of me? Look at me also. Kiss me.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Sir.

[Ilse]

Will you live the old life again with me tonight?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Ilse]

Yes, I've known that you would. Because I own you, Arthur. You belong to me and I want you. And I shall never let you escape from me again.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Narrator]

Yes.

[Ilse]

Go back to the inn, then. Wait for me, Arthur. I shall come for you tonight.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Back at the inn, I paced the floor of my room, a tense, uncontrollable excitement driving me along in a nervous frenzy.

[Narrator]

The dry crypt of memory broke open and all the things I'd hidden away.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

For centuries poured into my contest. I knew now why I'd come here. I knew what I was going to do. And I knew that I was lost. I sensed the rising stir of movement throughout the inn and outside in the courtyard below my window. I knew what to expect when I threw open the shutter. From every window of the inn and.

[Narrator]

From those of the houses about the court were leaping great, monstrous beasts with soft, dark fur and eyes that gleamed with eerie phosphorescence. Cats. Cats of human size. This, then, was the secret of molten lycanthropy. The witchcraft of centuries long dead and buried. The half human cries floated up to me and the moon cast their dark shadows on the ground as they padded across the courtyard and vanished through the narrow streets of the village, heading for a hideous rendezvous. This is what I'd been. This is what I wanted to be. Now.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I scarcely heard the door of my room open behind me.

[Ilse]

Are you ready, my lord? Shall we join them, Elsa? Here, Arthur. The sacred bomb made of a vein and mistletoe and blind things out of the sea. Remember?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Yes, I remember.

[Ilse]

Take it. Use it. We'll change now. Transform. Leap from the window and join them. Lead us again, Arthur.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, but not here, Elsa. Not yet. Wait until we get there, then we'll change.

[Ilse]

If you wish. Come then, Arthur, to the stone wall above the grove. That's where we'll change. On the stone rampart.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

In the grove.

[Narrator]

On the sunken plain beneath the wall, insane shadows writhed in the moonlight and postured in the luminous mist, a thousand of the devil's own were dancing in the unearthly music born from the harmony of the black sacrifice, crying out in delirious abandon, calling to the thing that now lived inside of me and struggled, screaming in my skull, trying to answer them back. I fought against them. Portugal. Ilse, pleading and clinging with her soft arms about my neck.

[Ilse]

Now, now, Arthur. Come with me now. If you love me.

[Narrator]

I love you. But I can't do it. I can't do it. Not again.

[Ilse]

Yes, my love. Only an instant, a change, and then we'll live forever.

[Narrator]

Is it living without a soul?

[Ilse]

Does it matter when I'm here?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No.

[Narrator]

Once before I escaped, but I can never escape again. This time there'd be no turning back.

[Ilse]

Am I not worth it? Look at me. Look at me, my love.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I clung to the very edge of my sanity, thought that I would not.

[Narrator]

Be lost and damned forever.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

And at this moment, at this moment, I knew, knew what I could do.

[Ilse]

Arthur, wait. What are you doing?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I found a match in my pocket, struck and dropped it into the dry.

[Narrator]

Leaves that lay banked across the whole length of the stone wall.

No.

[Ilse]

No, Arthur, don't.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Ilse]

I can't come to you through the fire.

[Narrator]

You're driving me away.

Yes. Go. Go, Elsa. Go into the valley. Goodbye, Ilse. Goodbye. I turned from the wall of flame that for a few minutes would shut me off from the valley, ran through the moonlight streets, not back toward the inn of the Golden Bower. But down the long road that led away from that cursed village of Malton.

Well, Mr. Llewellyn, I find this one of the most interesting cases of hallucination I've encountered since I began the practice of psychiatry.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I tell you, it really happened, Doctor.

[Narrator]

And having investigated your story a bit during the past week, I'm in a position now to answer most of the questions that have been worrying you since you came back to London.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What do you mean, investigated?

[Narrator]

I went up to Hereford and looked over some of the old records there. Then I motored over to Malton for a couple of hours.

Well, then you know it's all true. You saw it.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

You know I was there.

[Narrator]

Oh, there's no question but what? You were there, Mr. Llewellyn. The lady who runs the inn showed me your name in the register. Said you left suddenly without taking your luggage or paying your bill. She was really quite put out.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I. I see. Well. Well, what of the records, Doctor, the ones you spoke of?

[Narrator]

I think they really explain the whole thing, Mr. Llewellyn. It seems that during the 14th century, the village of Malton became a kind of headquarters in that part of the country for the practice of witchcraft.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, go on.

[Narrator]

Numerous trials were held there in the late 1300s, and a great many men and women were convicted of sorcery and burned to death.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Narrator]

In the records of a trial in 1372, I found the name of an Arthur Llewellyn and of Ilse and her mother.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

That proves it, then.

[Narrator]

It proves a clear case of hallucination. You knew that story before you went there, not consciously, but somewhere deep in your latent memory.

I knew nothing about it before.

That man was an ancestor of yours. The story must be known in your family. When you arrived in Malton accidentally, the association of the name just pulled the trigger, and your imagination did the rest.

Yes, but, Doctor, my parents died when I was four. I. I've never been around any of my family ever.

No matter. You see, a childhood memory is amazingly persistent at times.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Yes, I suppose it is. I knew then what I had to do.

[Narrator]

The only thing I could do. There'd be no use in talking further with the doctor.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

He'd find some phrase of science to cover everything.

[Narrator]

He'd even try to explain away the.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Mark I still carried across my shoulder.

[Narrator]

Where Ilse had thrown her arm about.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Me in those last mad minutes on the rampart. A mark that was covered with soft gray fur, like the fur of a cat. I knew now what had to be done and what must be done while I still retain my sanity. One last act, final and irrevocable. An act that begins by walking into the railway station and cheering. Cross. Good evening, sir.

[Villager]

May I help you?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, yes, I. I'd like a ticket to Malton, please.

[Villager]

Malton?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I don't believe I.

[Narrator]

It's a little village on the Swansea.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Line near the border of Wales. Oh, yes, yes. Here it is.

[Villager]

I don't believe I've ever sold a ticket to Malton before.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I don't doubt it.

[Villager]

Let's see. 4 and 6, single fare, first class. Did you wish a return trip, sir, or one way? What did you say?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

H. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Make it one way.

[Narrator]

Foreign.

Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson and tonight brought you Ancient Sorceries by Algernon Blackwood. Adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield. With Paul Freeze as Arthur Llewellyn, K. Brinker as Elsa, Ann Morrison as Madam and William Conrad as the Doctor. Music is conceived and conducted by Cy Fuhrer.

Next week after you've had a hard day at the office or bending over a hot stove. Next week at this time, when your problems seem too much for you, we offer you escape.

Next week we bring you another exciting story of high adventure. Good night then, until the same time next week when once again we offer you escape. This is cbs, the Columbia broadcasting System.

There's more from Escape the Horror and all of the Relic radio podcasts@ Relicradio.com. you'll find our shoutcast stream there as well, with even more old time radio lots to listen to there, all made possible by your support. If you'd like to help out, visit donate relicradio.com or click on one of the links on the website. My thanks to those who have. Thanks for joining me this week. I'll be back tomorrow with Strange Tales and next Saturday with something from lights out on our next episode of the Horror.