Superstition Be Hanged by Dark Fantasy

Summary

Podcast Summary:

The Horror! (Old Time Radio)
Episode: "Superstition Be Hanged" by Dark Fantasy
Date: September 13, 2025
Host: RelicRadio.com

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Episode Overview

"Superstition Be Hanged" delivers an eerie tale blending superstition, fate, and psychological horror. Set in the tense, insular world of a circus, the episode revolves around Flyer Sampson's deadly trapeze stunt and the dark omen of a blood-spotted white feather. As death strikes, suspicion and fear tighten around the remaining performers, leading to an unravelling of trust and a chilling confrontation with fate—driven by the mysterious fortune teller Harajala. Listeners are drawn into a story where disbelief in superstition proves fatal, and destiny seems inexorably lethal.

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Key Discussion Points and Narrative Highlights

1. Setting the Scene: The Fatal Circus Act (02:12-06:36)

• The episode opens with the introduction of Flyer Sampson, a trapeze artist about to attempt a dangerous new trick without a safety net.
  • Announcer: "So all eyes attentive, I give you... Flyer Samson... who refuses to use a net, the better to entertain you..." (02:12)
• A sense of foreboding is set by discussions among the circus performers about the importance of the white feather, said to ward off a terrible fate, as warned by fortune teller Harajala.
• Sampson performs, but tragedy strikes; he becomes entangled in the ropes and dies.
  • Harajala: "Now look at him hanging there, caught in the twisted trapeze rope. Hanging." (06:05)

2. Enter the Detective: Investigation and Suspicion (06:36-12:22)

• Inspector Guilfoyle questions Ruby Brooks and Barker (Jeff Kilby), the fellow performers, probing into Flyer's refusal to use the net and the mysterious feather.
  • Barker: "Strange, isn't it? That a man should die trying his new stunt for the first time?" (08:48)
• Tension mounts as Ruby and Barker deflect questions about the feather, growing defensive about their involvement and the role of superstition.
  • Ruby Brooks: "We run a pretty respectable circus, mister." (08:02)
  • Barker: "Except every now and then somebody winds up in a casket." (08:07)
• The detective presses on the relationship between the performers and the implications of jealousy, rivalry, and possible motive.

3. The Power of the Feather and Harajala's Curse (12:22-16:10)

• Ruby and Barker discuss their anxiety over the missing feather; Harajala’s warning looms over them.
  • Ruby: "It's gone. The feather isn't in Flyer's dressing room any place." (12:24)
  • Harajala: "I've seen it in yours and Ruby's... death by hanging. That fate can only be avoided by wearing a white feather of a baby swan spotted with the blood of a dove." (14:01)
• Harajala reappears mysteriously, admitting to taking back the feather from Flyer, thereby fulfilling his ominous prediction.
  • Harajala: "He laughed at me. I do not like being laughed at." (15:34)
• Driven by guilt and rage, Barker kills Harajala, believing him responsible for Sampson’s death.
  • Barker: "I always knew you were a rat." (15:49)
  • Jeff Kilby: "I've never regretted killing a snake in my life." (15:52)

4. On the Run: Guilt, Paranoia, and the Fate Pursued (16:10-20:33)

• The surviving performers, Ruby and Barker, flee the scene, fearing the relentless investigation of Inspector Guilfoyle.
  • Ruby Brooks: “We gotta beat it.” (16:26)
• Amid mounting desperation, they argue, panic, and reflect on Harajala’s prophecy; Ruby remains fearful, wanting the feather for protection.
  • Ruby Brooks: "I should have brought that feather. You know what Herald said?" (19:46)
• Ruby’s fate aligns with the prophecy—she dies by accidental hanging on a rooftop escape, echoing Sampson’s death.
  • Barker: "Those wires. Around her neck." (20:33)

5. Full Circle: Barker Meets Destiny (21:11-24:06)

• Barker, now fully paranoid and alone, jumps a freight train to escape Guilfoyle.
• In the darkness, Harajala appears, supernatural or as a figment of guilt, demanding the final feather.
  • Harajala: "Do you have the white feather, Barker?" (22:57)
  • Harajala: "Then perhaps I can... convent." (23:09)
• Terrified, Barker flees, only to die by hanging on a train mail hook—sealing the curse and ending the deadly sequence.
  • Harajala: "And how pretty you look hanging back there on that mail hook." (24:06)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the inevitability of fate and the power of belief:
  • Harajala: "Arajala's predictions always happen.” (12:54)
• On the superstition of the feather:
  • Harajala: "Wear the white feather of a baby swan spotted with the blood of a dove, lest a horrible fate overtake you." (14:01)
• On the aftermath of disbelief:
  • Barker: "Just because Flyer Sampson got his neck caught in that trapeze is no sign we're gonna end up the same way." (20:13)
• Guilty Paranoia:
  • Ruby Brooks: "I should have brought that feather. You know what Herald said?" (19:46)
• Climactic fulfillment of the curse:
  • Harajala: "You did jump. Poor Barker. And how pretty you look hanging back there on that mail hook." (24:06)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:12] – Introduction of Flyer Sampson and the deadly circus stunt
• [06:05] – Death of Flyer Sampson, the superstition prophecy
• [08:07 – 11:01] – Inspector's investigation, suspicions around the feather
• [12:22] – Aftermath and disappearance of the feather
• [14:01] – Harajala explains the curse and the significance of the feather
• [15:49 – 16:10] – Barker kills Harajala
• [17:02] – Ruby and Barker flee, hunted by guilt and the law
• [20:33] – Ruby's accidental death, curse tightening its grip
• [21:11] – Barker's final desperate escape, haunted by Harajala
• [24:06] – Barker's demise by hanging, prophecy complete

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Tone & Atmosphere

The tone throughout is shadowy, tense, and fatalistic, filled with atmospheric dialog that keeps suspicion and dread front and center. The interplay between skepticism and superstition, guilt and retribution, creates a grim tapestry typical of golden-age radio horror:

• Characters oscillate between rational explanations and primal fear.
• Harajala’s mystical pronouncements heighten the sense of inescapable doom.
• The conclusion is chillingly circular—those who scoff at fate ultimately fulfill it.

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Final Thoughts

"Superstition Be Hanged" is a tightly-plotted, macabre exploration of fate and fear. The supernatural—or at least the power of belief and suggestion—claims every character who disregards Harajala’s warning, making this tale a classic example of old-time radio’s psychological horror. The episode lingers with listeners as a cautionary reminder: sometimes, superstition is a script that writes itself.

Transcript

[Barker]

Oh, stories. Real stories. And murders too.

[Ruby Brooks]

Turn out your legs.

[Barker]

Turn them out. Good evening. Come in, won't you? What's the matter? Surely you're not nervous for that to.

[Harajala]

Be calm, I think.

[Announcer]

Restored, we are meant to call from.

[Barker]

Out of the past. Stories, strange and weird tales of mystery.

[Jeff Kilby]

And terror by radio's masters of the.

[Harajala]

MAA Stories of the supernatural, the supernormal.

[Jeff Kilby]

Dramatized the mystery of the unknown.

[Barker]

We tell you this. Frank.

[Harajala]

Frank.

[Jeff Kilby]

So if you wish to avoid the.

[Harajala]

Excitement of these magnets, play our latest.

[Jeff Kilby]

Series to turn off your.

[Barker]

Sa.

[Harajala]

Superstition be hanged.

[Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, as the final startling and breathtaking performance on this afternoon's program, and just before the grand and glorious finale, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the one, the only, the incomparable world's most daring trapeze performer, Flyer Sampson. Today, for the first time in history, Flyer Samson introducing his own original and sensational super trapeze stunt. The gigantic, colossal giant swing Flyaway. In addition to which, Flying Samson will perform 2 1/2 somersaults onto that lofty swinging trapeze. The most difficult, the most spectacular, the most daredevil performance of all times, ladies and gentlemen, and you are about to witness it for the first time. So all eyes attentive, I give you, high in the tent top, that supreme artist who refuses to use a net, the better to entertain you, Flyer Samson.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker. Oh, Barker.

[Barker]

Yeah, Ruby.

[Ruby Brooks]

Do you think he'll make it?

[Jeff Kilby]

Flyer, you can't miss.

[Ruby Brooks]

Missed twice yesterday.

[Jeff Kilby]

Yeah, that was before he found his trouble. It ate in a row after he got the hang of it.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker, don't say that.

[Jeff Kilby]

What, Ruby?

[Ruby Brooks]

The. The hang of it. Oh, you remember what Harajala said?

[Barker]

Yeah.

[Ruby Brooks]

Is Flyer wearing the white feather?

[Jeff Kilby]

I can't see.

[Ruby Brooks]

Well, he pins it at the belt on the left side.

[Jeff Kilby]

His left side's away from us. Anyway, his suit's so white, we couldn't tell.

[Ruby Brooks]

Where's yours?

[Barker]

Huh?

[Ruby Brooks]

Where's your feather?

[Jeff Kilby]

Yes. Inside.

[Barker]

In.

[Jeff Kilby]

Inside.

[Barker]

My ring jacket here. See?

[Ruby Brooks]

Yeah.

[Jeff Kilby]

That was a clever stunt, keeping your feather in your hair.

[Ruby Brooks]

Yeah, it adds to my costume.

[Jeff Kilby]

Oh, he's getting ready.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, I hope he makes it.

[Barker]

He will.

[Ruby Brooks]

He missed twice yesterday.

[Jeff Kilby]

Yeah, but he hadn't gotten the hang. Hadn't gotten the idea yet.

[Ruby Brooks]

And he used a net yesterday. We should use a net till he's sure.

[Jeff Kilby]

Are he's sure sure?

[Barker]

Now.

[Jeff Kilby]

Ready?

[Barker]

Now watch.

[Jeff Kilby]

You do the giant swing on that stationary bar. Let loose, fly through the air in a 2 1/2 somersault. Catch that swinging Trapeze bar at the other end of the tent.

[Ruby Brooks]

I know why. And I was getting practiced for weeks.

[Jeff Kilby]

Yeah, the trick is to catch that swinging trapeze at the other end of a tent.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, I hope he's wearing that feather.

[Jeff Kilby]

Here he goes. There's the giant sw. Twice.

[Barker]

Three, four.

[Harajala]

Five.

[Jeff Kilby]

He's in the air.

[Ruby Brooks]

Grab that bar. Oh, Flyer.

[Jeff Kilby]

Good Lord, what's happened?

[Ruby Brooks]

Look at him. Look at him.

[Harajala]

I told him to wear the white feather with the spot of blood. He is wearing the pedal and I told him to. Now look at him hanging there, caught in the twisted trapeze rope. Hanging.

[Jeff Kilby]

Excuse me.

[Barker]

Oh, Ruby Barker.

[Ruby Brooks]

The feather, I couldn't find it in Flyer's dressing room.

[Jeff Kilby]

Ruby.

[Barker]

Oh, come in, Miss Ruby. I take it you're talking about the dead man's dressing room.

[Ruby Brooks]

Why yes.

[Barker]

Uh huh. Thought so. Excuse me, please. Murphy, cover Sampson's dressing room. Nobody in or out. Right. Now, Miss Ruby, suppose you tell me about the white fella. Ruby.

[Jeff Kilby]

Police Inspector Guilfoyle. Inspector, this is Ruby Brooks.

[Barker]

Well, Ruby Brooks, I must say you don't look a bit like your pictures on the billboards.

[Ruby Brooks]

All right, wise guy. I don't have to stick around here and be insulted. I know my right insulted.

[Barker]

My dear girl, what I meant was you're so much more attractive than those horrible posters they have up all over town.

[Ruby Brooks]

Honestly, Barker, what's a copper doing in here?

[Jeff Kilby]

Just asking questions, Ruby. Routine stuff, you know. Be nice to him.

[Barker]

Sure, Ruby, that's not a bad idea.

[Ruby Brooks]

What do you want?

[Barker]

Just checking up. We run a pretty respectable town here.

[Ruby Brooks]

And we run a pretty respectable circus, mister.

[Barker]

I'm sure you do. Except every now and then somebody winds up in a casket.

[Ruby Brooks]

Meaning what?

[Barker]

Oh, nothing.

[Ruby Brooks]

You're trying to make something out of Flyer Sampson's death.

[Barker]

Nothing more than it really is.

[Ruby Brooks]

Well, he died by accident. And if you want some witnesses, brother, just advertise for any one of those 1100 people who saw him die.

[Barker]

They tell me Flyer Sampson was a first rate acrobat.

[Jeff Kilby]

He's the best in the business. I mean, he was.

[Barker]

They also tell me he was trying out a new trick today and they want the public.

[Jeff Kilby]

He's been working on it for two years.

[Barker]

And I also understand today is the first time he's tried it without a net. So what if it is strange, isn't it? That a man should die trying his new stunt for the first time?

[Ruby Brooks]

I don't see anything so strange about it.

[Barker]

No, you use a net for your trapeze act, don't you?

[Ruby Brooks]

What's that got to do with it?

[Barker]

Well, I was just thinking. Flyer Sampson not using a net and perfecting a stunt nobody had ever done before was liable to put out your spotlight, huh?

[Ruby Brooks]

Now look here, wise guy. If you're insinuating.

[Barker]

Ruby.

[Jeff Kilby]

Now, take it easy, baby. Take it easy.

[Barker]

I wasn't insinuating anything, Ruby. I was merely telling you what I was thinking. Barker. Yeah? What's your real name?

[Jeff Kilby]

Jeff Kilby. People in the business call me Barker Kilby.

[Barker]

And the young lady? She's my wife. I see. I presume you performed as usual today, Mrs. Kilby.

[Ruby Brooks]

Naturally, I have the high spot of the program.

[Barker]

I'm afraid I rather disagree with you. The high spot seems to have gone today to Flyer Sampson. Now, about the white feather.

[Ruby Brooks]

Well, Barker, do we have to put up with this? After all, Flyer wasn't murdered.

[Barker]

Are you positive he wasn't murdered?

[Ruby Brooks]

Of course I am. It was an accident. Ask anybody who saw it.

[Barker]

Then what's the white feather got to do with it?

[Ruby Brooks]

Nothing. Nothing at all.

[Barker]

Suppose you let me decide.

[Ruby Brooks]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Barker]

Yes, you do, Ruby. Remember the first thing you said when you come in here was you couldn't find the white feather in Flyer's dressing room.

[Ruby Brooks]

I don't remember.

[Barker]

A very bad memory. And why, Ruby, if you're Barker's wife, did you knock before coming in here? Just a habit.

[Jeff Kilby]

We've only been married two days.

[Barker]

I understand, Mr. Kilby. You've been married two years. You see, before I investigate a case, I always do the preliminary work beforehand.

[Jeff Kilby]

Well, we didn't announce our marriage until a couple of days ago.

[Harajala]

I see.

[Barker]

Now, about the feather.

[Jeff Kilby]

There's no feather.

[Barker]

I rather think there is. Isn't there, Ruby?

[Ruby Brooks]

You're blame right. There is wise guy in your hat, and you're talking through that.

[Barker]

In other words, you won't talk.

[Ruby Brooks]

We've got nothing to say now or ever. Flyer Sampson died by accident. And if you happen to find out he was murdered, we didn't have anything to do with it.

[Barker]

That the way you feel, too, Barker?

[Ruby Brooks]

Sure he does, Barker.

[Barker]

Yeah.

[Jeff Kilby]

That'S the way I feel about it.

[Barker]

Very well. I realize I can't force you to tell me about the feather yet, but I'll be around. Sure, I'll be around for long.

[Jeff Kilby]

Backer, maybe you shouldn't have talked to him like that.

[Ruby Brooks]

It's gone. The feather isn't in Flyer's dressing room any place.

[Jeff Kilby]

Are you sure?

[Ruby Brooks]

I searched the whole place. It isn't in there. And it wasn't on Flyer when. When it happened.

[Jeff Kilby]

He couldn't have destroyed it.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, we both begged him not to. But he might have.

[Barker]

Yeah.

[Ruby Brooks]

He laughed at us when we told him what Harald Jala said. Told us we were a couple of superstitious fools.

[Jeff Kilby]

Yeah, I remember.

[Ruby Brooks]

Nobody finally promised to wear the feather just to please us. Well, he didn't.

[Jeff Kilby]

And now that what Harajala predicted has happened.

[Harajala]

Arajala's predictions always happen.

[Jeff Kilby]

How did you get in here?

[Harajala]

You've always taken me for a fraud. There's but one entrance to this room.

[Ruby Brooks]

But you didn't come in that way.

[Harajala]

No, I didn't, did I? How observing you are, Ruby.

[Jeff Kilby]

What do you want?

[Harajala]

Why, I. I just thought I should speak to you as a friendly gesture.

[Jeff Kilby]

Speak to us about what?

[Harajala]

About the white feather. The spots of blood. Well, the pity that Flyer Sampson ignored my warning.

[Jeff Kilby]

The copper's right.

[Barker]

Flyer was murdered.

[Harajala]

To the contrary, you saw him misjudge his distance, brush the trapeze rope with his shoulder and become twisted in its coils.

[Ruby Brooks]

Because he wasn't wearing a feather.

[Harajala]

Yes, exactly. Because he refused to take my warning. I told the three of you, wear the white feather of a baby swan spotted with the blood of a dove, lest a horrible fate overtake you.

[Ruby Brooks]

He did say that, Barker.

[Harajala]

Flyer Samson only laughed. Even when I gave him the feather for his own protection, he laughed. But he took it because I compelled him to.

[Ruby Brooks]

But the feather is Minnie's dressing room. Oh, where is it?

[Harajala]

I have it.

[Ruby Brooks]

You?

[Harajala]

Yes, here. You see?

[Jeff Kilby]

Where did you get it?

[Harajala]

Fly? From Flyer Samson, naturally. He gave it back to you. Oh, no. I gave the matter much thought. I disliked his laughing at me. I told him what I saw in his future. I told him that he and you, Barker and Ruby all have the same fate. Death by hanging. And that fate can only be avoided by wearing a white feather of a baby swan spotted with the blood of a dove.

[Jeff Kilby]

How did you get the feather back?

[Harajala]

I took it back. Took it back?

[Barker]

Yes.

[Harajala]

Clia. Samson was a fool. He wouldn't believe me. Called me a fraud. He said he wasn't superstitious.

[Jeff Kilby]

You stole the feather from Flyer. You knew he'd die if he didn't wear that feather.

[Harajala]

Certainly. I saw it in his future, just as I've seen it in yours and Ruby's.

[Jeff Kilby]

You killed him.

[Harajala]

He killed himself.

[Barker]

No. You did.

[Jeff Kilby]

You knew he'd die if you took the feather.

[Ruby Brooks]

Parker.

[Harajala]

He laughed at me. I do not like being laughed at. Dirty rat.

[Ruby Brooks]

There, Barker.

[Jeff Kilby]

You killed him just as sure as if you strung him up yourself.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker. That kn.

[Harajala]

Don't come any closer with your knife.

[Barker]

Barker.

[Ruby Brooks]

No, Barker.

[Barker]

No.

[Ruby Brooks]

No.

[Barker]

I always knew you were a rat.

[Harajala]

Regret it if you kill me.

[Jeff Kilby]

I've never regretted killing a snake in my life.

[Ruby Brooks]

Keep. Fuck.

[Barker]

Yeah.

[Jeff Kilby]

So Flyer wasn't wearing his feather because he stole it from him to revenge himself. Because Flyer wasn't superstitious, Barker.

[Ruby Brooks]

He did?

[Harajala]

Yeah.

[Barker]

No loss.

[Ruby Brooks]

Why did you do it?

[Jeff Kilby]

He had it coming. Flyer Sampson was the best man in the business.

[Ruby Brooks]

But that cop, he's still hanging around someplace.

[Jeff Kilby]

We gotta beat it.

[Ruby Brooks]

Where to?

[Jeff Kilby]

I don't know. Anywhere. But we gotta beat it.

[Ruby Brooks]

I'll go with you.

[Jeff Kilby]

Go pack your things.

[Ruby Brooks]

No time for that, Barker. That cop may be back any minute now.

[Jeff Kilby]

I guess I lost my head seeing him standing there holding flyers. Feather.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, come on. Got any dough?

[Jeff Kilby]

A couple of hundred.

[Ruby Brooks]

I've got fifty. Thank heavens I've got it with me. Come on. We've got to get ahead of that cop. Oh, Barker, we shouldn't have taken this plane.

[Jeff Kilby]

It's the fastest way to cover a long distance.

[Ruby Brooks]

I know, but so much money.

[Jeff Kilby]

You want to get away, don't you?

[Ruby Brooks]

Of course. What are we going to do when the cash runs out?

[Barker]

Now we get a job walking tight.

[Ruby Brooks]

Wires and swinging from tent tops.

[Jeff Kilby]

I suppose now we'll go to Europe.

[Ruby Brooks]

Sure, on 300 bucks.

[Jeff Kilby]

Stop worrying, will you? You give me the willies.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, you just use your head.

[Jeff Kilby]

I'll start that I told you so business. And so help me, I'll make you wish you'd kept your trap shut.

[Ruby Brooks]

How?

[Barker]

Right?

[Ruby Brooks]

Right. What are your plans when we get to Frisco?

[Jeff Kilby]

We'll hide out in the cheap room in the house. Keep indoors most of the time.

[Ruby Brooks]

I'm going to enjoy this.

[Jeff Kilby]

Well, you didn't have to come along.

[Ruby Brooks]

Maybe I'd be better off if I hadn't.

[Harajala]

Oh, now, baby, take it easy.

[Barker]

I didn't mean it.

[Jeff Kilby]

I just never been on the lam before.

[Ruby Brooks]

Well, I have, and I don't like it.

[Jeff Kilby]

There's the Air Force. Yeah, we're on the grounds.

[Ruby Brooks]

Better hop a cab as soon as we can.

[Barker]

Right now.

[Jeff Kilby]

Here we are.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker.

[Barker]

What, baby?

[Ruby Brooks]

Look out this window. Careful, he'll see you.

[Jeff Kilby]

Who'll see me?

[Ruby Brooks]

Look for yourself.

[Jeff Kilby]

That cop, Guilfoyle.

[Ruby Brooks]

How did he get here ahead of us?

[Barker]

Yeah, how?

[Ruby Brooks]

He's watching for us to get off the plane. Oh, what are we gonna do?

[Jeff Kilby]

You'll never get me.

[Ruby Brooks]

Parker, think of something.

[Jeff Kilby]

Easy, baby. Pilot just stepped out of the cabin.

[Ruby Brooks]

What are you gonna do?

[Jeff Kilby]

You just wait and see. All right, brother, this is a gun in your ribs. Now get back there at those controls and see how fast you can get this plane into the air again. Ruby. Ruby. Ruby, wake up.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, Barker, you frightened me.

[Jeff Kilby]

Quick, the fire escape.

[Ruby Brooks]

What?

[Jeff Kilby]

I saw him.

[Barker]

Who?

[Jeff Kilby]

Hill Foil, the cop.

[Ruby Brooks]

He see you?

[Jeff Kilby]

Yeah, I think so.

[Barker]

Come on.

[Jeff Kilby]

Leave everything. You got the dough, what's left and come on now. The fire escape.

[Ruby Brooks]

Get this window open.

[Barker]

Hurry.

[Jeff Kilby]

Now. Out the window.

[Ruby Brooks]

Parker. Look down below.

[Jeff Kilby]

Go up. Ruby. They haven't spotted us yet.

[Ruby Brooks]

Half a dozen cops down there.

[Barker]

Yeah.

[Ruby Brooks]

How did that smart cop get on our trail?

[Jeff Kilby]

I don't know. Six weeks on the run and he's still right behind us. Come on, baby. Here's the rooftop.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker.

[Barker]

Come on.

[Jeff Kilby]

Come on.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker, I forgot the feather.

[Jeff Kilby]

Oh, come on, come on, there's no time for that.

[Ruby Brooks]

I've got to go back and get it.

[Barker]

No, no, no.

[Jeff Kilby]

I haven't got time. Besides, Harajal is dead. Nothing can happen to us now.

[Ruby Brooks]

Oh, Barker.

[Jeff Kilby]

Come on, baby. Hurry along these roofs until we can find a place to get down.

[Ruby Brooks]

Barker, I'm hunting.

[Jeff Kilby]

Take it easy. They won't get us hunted like this.

[Ruby Brooks]

Always hiding.

[Jeff Kilby]

This way. Ruby, over here.

[Ruby Brooks]

I should have brought that feather. You know what Herald said?

[Barker]

Ah, he's dead.

[Jeff Kilby]

The spell's broken.

[Ruby Brooks]

It wasn't a spell. It was something he read in our futures. He said that because you and I and Flyer Sampson were born on the.

[Jeff Kilby]

Same day that I have to jump here. One building to the other. Just a couple of feet here. I'll go first.

[Barker]

There.

[Jeff Kilby]

Come on, Ruby. Just a couple of feet.

[Ruby Brooks]

All right. But it's so dark.

[Jeff Kilby]

Can you see me all right?

[Ruby Brooks]

Yes. Well, Barker, maybe there's still time to get the feather.

[Barker]

Nuts.

[Jeff Kilby]

Just because Flyer Sampson got his neck caught in that trapeze is no sign we're gonna end up the same way. Come on, now. All right, now just give a good jump. Yeah, that's it. Ruby.

[Barker]

Good Lord.

[Jeff Kilby]

Those wires.

[Barker]

Around her neck.

[Jeff Kilby]

Ruby, what's this? Someone been in my room. Someone searched it.

[Harajala]

That cop.

[Jeff Kilby]

Yeah, that filthy copper. He's tailing me. I gotta get out. Gotta get out of here. Hop a freight. Yeah, that's it. I gotta get out before it's too late. Yeah, Luck was with me. Only one box car open door and made it just in time. Better close the door and safe now. No one followed me. I'm sure that tired. And then from that copper. Better find a place I can lie down, rest. Yeah, that's what I need Lucky to find an open box car with no one in it.

[Harajala]

But there is someone. Barker.

[Jeff Kilby]

Who's that?

[Harajala]

Don't you recognize my voice?

[Jeff Kilby]

It's so dark in here.

[Harajala]

You remember, Barker.

[Barker]

Who are you?

[Jeff Kilby]

Who are you, I say? I've got a gun.

[Harajala]

Then why don't you use it?

[Announcer]

Yeah, I will.

[Harajala]

You couldn't mess in this small place. Place, could you, Barker?

[Barker]

Who are you?

[Jeff Kilby]

What kept me from hitting you?

[Harajala]

Your knife was more effective, remember?

[Jeff Kilby]

Harajala.

[Harajala]

Do you have the white feather, Barker?

[Barker]

No. No.

[Harajala]

Give me the feather.

[Barker]

No.

[Jeff Kilby]

Know anything but that?

[Harajala]

I gave it to you once. I want it back again.

[Barker]

No.

[Harajala]

Then perhaps I can. Convent.

[Barker]

No. Oh.

[Jeff Kilby]

Keep away from me. Don't touch me.

[Harajala]

You can't see me, can you, Barker?

[Barker]

No.

[Ruby Brooks]

No.

[Jeff Kilby]

Keep away.

[Harajala]

There. You feel me? Now hand me the feather. Thank you, Barker. Now I have all three of them.

[Jeff Kilby]

Let go of me. I'm getting out of here.

[Harajala]

Are you going to jump, Barker?

[Jeff Kilby]

Keep away. Keep away from me.

[Harajala]

We're picking up speed.

[Announcer]

Keep away. Don't touch me again.

[Harajala]

We'll soon be moving too fast for you to jump. You better do it now.

[Barker]

Yeah.

[Announcer]

Yeah, I will.

[Harajala]

You don't want to stay here with me, do you, Bar?

[Barker]

No.

[Announcer]

Oh, you got the others.

[Jeff Kilby]

You'll never get me.

[Harajala]

You did jump. Poor Barker. And how pretty you look hanging back there on that mail hook.

[Barker]

SA you have heard superstition be hanged. The 17th tale of dark fantasy by Scott Bishop, originating in the studios of wky. Ben Morris, was heard tonight as Barker.

[Jeff Kilby]

Herme Ray played Ruby.

[Barker]

Garland Moss was the fortune teller, and Murillo Schofield was Detective Kurt Guilfoyle. Next Friday at the same time, listen to Scott Bishop's 18th story in this dark fantasy series. Pennsylvania Turnpike. The weird and exciting tale of an aged hitchhiker who, strangely enough, refused to accept a ride in any car which did not have a person with red hair as an occupant. Tom Paxton speaking. Dark fantasy comes to you from Oklahoma City. This is the National Broadcasting Company.