The Marble Knights by Beyond Midnight

Summary

The Horror! – "The Marble Knights" by Beyond Midnight

Podcast: The Horror! (Old Time Radio)
Episode Date: August 8, 2026
Presented by: RelicRadio.com
Original Air Date: November 1968 (Beyond Midnight, Springbok Radio)

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Episode Overview

In this chilling episode, "The Marble Knights," listeners are transported into the heart of gothic English countryside legend. The story follows newlyweds Harry and Laura Innes as they move into a rural cottage shrouded by a sinister local tale—every All Saints' Eve, two marble effigies of knights in the village church are said to rise and return to their former home. As the line between superstition and terrifying reality blurs, the episode explores dread, marital tenderness, and the consequences of ignoring ancient warnings.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. Setting the Scene

• The narrator insists on the truth of the story but acknowledges listeners' skepticism:

  "Although every word of this story is as true as despair, I do not expect people to believe it." (01:39)

• Introduces Harry and Laura Innes, artists struggling financially, searching for a peaceful country cottage.

2. The Cottage and the Legend

• After moving in, they hire a housekeeper, Mrs. Dorman, whose sudden and odd resignation alarms Laura.

  Laura: "She says she's got to go before the end of the month... She was acting so queerly." (04:37)

• The married couple explores the village church and see the marble effigies of knights—local lore claims these were marauders so evil their house (now the cottage site) was destroyed by lightning.
• Mrs. Dorman reluctantly recounts the legend:

  Mrs. Dorman: "Them two bodies sit up on their slabs and gets off them and then walks down the aisle in their marble. And as the church clock strikes 11, they walks out... And if it's a wet night, there's the marks of their feet in the morning. They come back here to their home, sir. And if anyone meets them..." (09:03)

3. Ominous Foreshadowing

• Laura feels a sense of looming dread, recounts a premonition from her youth:

  Laura: "Do you ever have presentiments of evil?" (12:44)

• Despite domestic tenderness—discussing painting, future pets, and their simple happiness—a shadow lingers.

4. The Night of Terror: All Saints' Eve

• Harry, feeling uneasy, goes to the church at midnight. He discovers the marble knights’ statues missing from their slabs, sending him into panic and horror.

  Harry: "The bodies were gone. The marble slabs lay wide and bare in the moonlight..." (20:56)

• The village doctor tries to reason with Harry, but upon returning, the figures are back in place—except now one has a broken finger.

  Village Doctor: "Hello. Something has been a foot here. His hand is broken." (24:10)

5. The Final Horror

• Harry and the doctor return home to find the cottage ablaze with candles, Laura missing from her chair.
• She is found dead, a look of terror on her face, tightly holding something in her hand.

  Harry: "In one of them she held something fast...[They open her hand:] It was a grey marble finger." (26:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Belief and Storytelling:

  Narrator: "Nowadays a rational explanation is required before belief is possible..." (01:39)

• Mrs. Dorman’s Warning:

  Mrs. Dorman: "Whatever you do, sir, lock the door early on All Saints Eve and make the cross sign over the doorstep and on the windows." (10:05)

• On Fear and Dread:

  Harry: "A horror seized me. A horror indefinable and indescribable. An overwhelming certainty of supreme and accomplished calamity." (21:15)

• Death’s Token:

  Narrator: "It was a grey marble finger." (26:19)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:20 – Story introduction, the lure of tales from the macabre
• 01:39 – Start of "The Marble Knights" story: assertion of "truth"
• 04:37 – Laura upset after Mrs. Dorman’s resignation
• 09:03 – Mrs. Dorman tells the legend of the marble knights
• 12:44 – Laura’s unease and talk of premonitions
• 20:56 – Harry discovers the marble knights have left their tomb
• 23:12 – Doctor and Harry return to the church; statues seemingly returned but damaged
• 25:46 – Discovery of Laura’s body and the grisly marble finger
• 26:19 – Closing statement revealing Laura’s final horror

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Summary & Impact

The episode masterfully weaves psychological suspense, rural folklore, and emotional intimacy, culminating in a haunting realization that sometimes, legends can kill. Through the couple’s love, the growing menace, and the fateful artifact—a marble finger—the story lingers with listeners as a classic work of atmospheric Old Time Radio horror.

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For more classic supernatural radio tales, visit RelicRadio.com.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Oh, stories. Real stories. And murder too. Turn out your legs. Turn them out. Good evening.

[Harry Innes]

Come in, won't you?

[Narrator]

What's the matter? Surely you're not nervous. For example, I tell you a story

[Harry Innes]

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.

[Narrator]

Story of the supernatural. The supernova dramatized by fantasy. The mystery of the unknown. We tell you this Franklin. So if you wish to avoid the excitement tension of these magnet play, we urge you our latest theory to turn off your belief down.

[Podcast Host]

Welcome back to the horror Old fashioned fear since [e-mail] like to help support this podcast? Visit donate.Relicradio.com or click on the support link in the show notes. Thank you as always to those who have you keep this show coming every week we're gonna hear from Beyond Midnight this time series that aired over South Africa's Springbok radio stations from November of 1968 to April of 1970. We're gonna hear the first episode today from Novemb 1968. Here's the marble Knights.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Although every word of this story is as true as despair, I do not expect people to believe it. Nowadays a rational explanation is required before belief is possible. Let me at once then offer the rational explanation. It is held that Harry and Laura Innes were under a delusion on that 31st of October, and that this supposition places the whole matter on a satisfactory and believable basis. But there were three who took part in the events of the 31st. The other man still lives and can speak to the truth of the least credible part of Harry's story. October 31st. It began like any other last day of the month and progressed into terror as it moved beyond midnight.

[Harry Innes]

I never in my life knew what it was like to have enough money to satisfy the most ordinary needs. I used to paint in those days and Laura used to write, and we felt sure we could keep the pot at least simmering. Living in town was out of the question, so we went to look for a cottage in the country. We wanted something that was both sanitary and picturesque. So rarely do these two qualities meet in one cottage that for a long time our search was fruitless. We were lucky in the end, though. Two days before our honeymoon started, we discovered the ideal thing. On the outskirts of the village of Brenzett, near the marshes. We got a tall old village woman called Mrs. Dorman to do for us, and as the cottage slowly became habitable, we began to devote more of our time to earning a living. Laura began to sell her stories and. And I really felt the atmosphere was helping my painting. We had three months of married happiness. One October evening, I'd been down to smoke a pipe with a village doctor. Laura had stayed at home to finish a comic sketch for a woman's magazine. I'd left her laughing over her own jokes. I came back to find her crying on the window seat in the light of the dying day. What's the matter, darling? What is it? Please, darling.

[Laura Innes]

Mrs. Dorman.

[Harry Innes]

What? What's she done?

[Laura Innes]

She says she's got to go before the end of the month. She says her niece is ill. She's gone down to see her knob. I don't believe that's the reason. Her niece is always ill. I think someone's been saying something against us. She was acting so queerly.

[Harry Innes]

Come on, darling. Never mind. It's all right. Don't cry.

[Laura Innes]

Don't you see it's serious? We'll have to work all day. We'll only be able to rest while we're waiting for the kettle to boil. We won't have time. Time to earn any money.

[Harry Innes]

Listen. Listen. Plenty of time. Even if we do have to. Laura, listen to me. I'll speak to Mrs. Dorman when she comes back and see if I can't make her change her mind. She probably wants more money or something. It'll be all right. You see? Come on, love. It's a beautiful evening. Not dark yet. Let's take a walk. Up to the chat. Come on, darling. Fetch a coat.

[Laura Innes]

I don't need a coat.

It's not cold out, Harry.

I will learn to cook soon.

[Harry Innes]

Don't bargain. We walked under the yew trees up to the little old church. The path was called the Beer Walk because years before it had been the way by which the corpses had been carried to burial. I didn't tell Laura this, though she was impressionable. The church was Norman and was only used on Sundays. On either side of the altar lay a gray marble figure of a knight in full plate armor lying upon a low slab with hands held up in everlasting prayer. Their names were lost, but the villagers said they'd been murderers. Marauders by land and sea. They'd been guilty of deeds so foul. But the house they had lived in, the big house, by the way that had stood on the site of our cottage, had been stricken by lightning and the vengeance of heaven. I didn't tell Laura this either. She wasn't so engrossed in folklore. As I was. We walked to the chancel, looked for a while at the sleeping warriors, and then slowly made our way home. Misses Dorman had come back from the village, and so as soon as Laura had gone to our bedroom, I went into the kitchen to square things up with our servant. Well, can't you. Can't you stay for another month?

[Mrs. Dorman]

No, sir. I'm bound to go by Thursday.

[Harry Innes]

But it's Monday today. I mean, I think you might have let us know before. There's no time now to get anybody else. My wife's not up to too much heavy work. Can't you stay till next week?

[Mrs. Dorman]

I might be able to come back next week.

[Harry Innes]

Good. But. But why do you have to go this week? Come on. Out with it.

[Mrs. Dorman]

It's cold. Sir. They say, sir, that this was a big house in Catholic times, and there was many deeds done here.

[Harry Innes]

Tell me about it, Mrs. Dorman. We needn't mind about telling me. I won't make fun or anything. Would you like to sit down?

[Mrs. Dorman]

No, sir. Thank you.

[Harry Innes]

Well.

[Mrs. Dorman]

Well, sir. You may have seen in the church, beside the altar, two shapes.

[Harry Innes]

The knights in armour.

[Mrs. Dorman]

Effigies, I mean. Them two bodies drawed out. MAN SIGHS in marble

[Harry Innes]

MAN SIGHS IN MARBLE I thought then that her description was a thousand times more graphic than mine.

[Mrs. Dorman]

You do? So, as on All Saints Eve, them two bodies sit up on their slabs and gets off them and then walks down the aisle in their marble. And as the church clock strikes 11, they walks out of the church door and over the graves and along the bier Walk. And if it's a wet night, there's the marks of their feet in the morning.

[Harry Innes]

And where do they go?

[Mrs. Dorman]

They come back here to their home, sir. And if anyone meets him,

[Harry Innes]

well, what then?

[Mrs. Dorman]

I'm sorry, I've got to go, sir. But my niece, she's sick. I've got to go.

[Harry Innes]

It's all right, Mrs. Dorman. If you promise to come back afterwards. Again. We don't want to lose you.

[Mrs. Dorman]

What?

[Harry Innes]

The knights. The legend. I mean, after they've arrived here. What are they supposed to do then?

[Mrs. Dorman]

I mean, whatever you do, sir, lock the door early on All Saints Eve and make the cross sign over the doorstep and on the windows.

[Harry Innes]

But has anyone ever seen these things?

[Mrs. Dorman]

That's not for me to say. I know what I know, sir.

[Harry Innes]

Well, who was here last year at the cottage?

[Mrs. Dorman]

No one, sir. The lady has owned the house. Only stayed here in summer, and she always went to London a full month afore the night. All Saints. I'm sorry to Inconvenience you and your lady. But my niece is ill and I must go on Thursday.

[Harry Innes]

I didn't tell Laura of the shapes that walked in their marble, partly because a legend concerning our house might trouble her, and partly, I think, from some more occult reason. I soon forgot about it myself. Anyway, I was painting a portrait of Laura against the lattice window, and I couldn't think of much else.

[Laura Innes]

There. Steak, potatoes. Tell me I'm learning fast.

Say it's as good as Mrs. Dorman.

[Harry Innes]

Even if it isn't, it looks beautiful.

[Laura Innes]

Ah, the painting is coming along marvellously. Darling, there's only one thing.

[Harry Innes]

Oh, this is better than Mrs. Dorman. What's that?

[Laura Innes]

I don't believe you. Harry, it's a lovely painting. But you've made me really beautiful.

[Harry Innes]

Well, you are beautiful.

[Laura Innes]

I love you.

[Harry Innes]

Well, if you love me, get your elbow out of my dinner. Thursday passed off pretty well, actually. The steak was like boots and the potatoes were hardly cooked at all. But I loved her. I loved my darling. Friday came and. It's about what happened that Friday that I'm telling you now. I'll tell my story of it as quickly as I can. Everything that happened that day is burnt into my brain. I shall not forget anything, not leave anything out. You look sad, my darling.

[Laura Innes]

Yes, I think I am all uneasy. I don't think I'm very well. It's not cold, is it?

[Harry Innes]

What's the matter? No, not cold.

[Laura Innes]

I've shivered lots of times this morning. Do you ever have presentiments of evil?

[Harry Innes]

No. I shouldn't believe in them if I had.

[Laura Innes]

I do. The night my father died I knew was right away in the north of Scotland. But I knew. Harry, we haven't played the gramophone since we've been here. Oh, let's play it now. What shall we have?

[Harry Innes]

She sorted through our record collection and she looked like a small child. I loved her then that morning more dearly than I've ever loved anyone in the whole of my life. It was the happiest time I've ever known or hoped to know. A bird sang in the garden of our own home. The autumn was proving to be a mild one, and my Laura seemed gayer than ever she had been, despite her admittance to me that she thought she was not well. The music was beautiful. Laura was chatting away, and as I looked out through the windows at the mass of autumn coloring, the deep scarlet clouds slowly paled into leaden grey against a pale green sky. It was Friday, and Mrs. Dorman had gone off to look after A niece she swore was sick the day before Thursday. I listen to the music and watched the graceful curve of my Laura's cheek. And it saddens me now in retrospect to remember that that day was the last time our now dusty gramophone records ever saw the light.

[Laura Innes]

Must be millions of them in those marshes. Frogs, Harry. Shall we get a little dog?

[Harry Innes]

Would you like?

[Laura Innes]

Maybe not such a little one either. Let's have a great dame.

[Harry Innes]

Great dame.

[Laura Innes]

So that everyone will be frightened and keep away.

[Harry Innes]

Who do you want to keep away, for pity's sake?

[Laura Innes]

People who shouldn't be here. Oh, I don't know. Burglars and things.

[Harry Innes]

Well, I think any self respecting burglar looking around this place would go away in disgust. We might have something worth stealing one day. But not at the moment, my lovely. Anyway, Great Danes are awful cards.

[Laura Innes]

Oh, they're not.

[Harry Innes]

They're huge. Sure they are. All feet and great lolloping head. All bluff. Though Pekingese would be more likely to create a din and scare away unwanted visitors.

[Laura Innes]

Anyway, shall we get a dog? Not a Dane then? A little mongrel or something with one eye black and one eye brown. Call it Wag or Patch.

[Harry Innes]

A dog called Wag or Patch shall be delivered here by the end of the week. Oh, promise?

[Laura Innes]

Wonderful. I'd love a canary too.

[Harry Innes]

Well then, a canary you have. My darling, I'll give you anything in the world within my power. You know that.

[Laura Innes]

I used to have a tortoise when I was a girl.

[Harry Innes]

Are you trying to turn the place into a zoo? Oh, isn't my pipe bothering you?

[Laura Innes]

No, of course not. What's the time?

[Harry Innes]

Almost in. All the same, I think I'll take the last of it outside for a bit.

[Laura Innes]

Last of what?

[Harry Innes]

My pipe. Brutal to sit in here filling the place with strong Cavendish.

[Laura Innes]

Oh, I don't mind. I'll come with you.

[Harry Innes]

No, sweetheart, not tonight. You're much too tired. Trouble on. You were shivering this morning.

[Laura Innes]

I'm all right now, honestly.

[Harry Innes]

Get to bed. I'll have an invalid to nurse tomorrow as well as the boots to clean.

[Laura Innes]

Kiss me then.

[Harry Innes]

Come on, pussy, you're tired. Housework's been too much for you.

[Laura Innes]

Oh, Harry.

[Harry Innes]

Oh, Laura, my sweet love. I'll not be long out there.

[Laura Innes]

Just taste of strong Cavendish. I am a bit tired. We've been very happy today, haven't we, darling? Don't stay out too long.

[Harry Innes]

I won't. What a night it was. The jagged masses of heavy dark cloud were rolling at intervals from horizon to horizon and thin white wreaths Cover the stars. Through all the rush of the cloud river the moon swam, breasting the waves and disappearing again in darkness. I could see the church tower standing out black and gray against the sky. 11 o'.

[Laura Innes]

Clock.

[Harry Innes]

Already my pipe was out. I looked in at the bedroom window and saw Laura half lying on her chair in front of her dressing table. My heart went out to her. I decided to take a walk up to the church. So with a last look at my dearest wife, I left our cottage and began my walk. There must be a God, I thought to myself, and a God who was good. How otherwise could anything as sweet as Laura ever have been? Imag. When I reached the church, I noticed the door was open. I blamed myself for leaving it unlatched the other night. We were the only people who ever cared to come to the church, except on Sundays. I went inside. It seems strange, perhaps, that I should have gone halfway up the aisle before. I remembered with a sudden chill, followed by as sudden a rush of self contempt, that this was the very day and hour when, according to tradition, the shapes drawed out man size in marble began to walk. Having remembered the legend, I decided to go and have a look at the marble kn. I thought how pleasant it would be to tell Mrs. Dorman how ridiculous her fancies were and how peacefully the marble figures slept on through the ghastly hour. With my hands in my pockets, I passed up the aisle. In the grey dim light, the eastern end of the church looked larger than usual. And the arches above the two tombs looked larger too. And then the moon came out and showed me the reason. I stopped short and my heart gave a leap that nearly choked me. The bodies were gone. The marble slabs lay wide and bare in the moonlight that slanted through the east window. Was I mad? I passed my hand over the smooth slabs.

[Village Doctor]

Some joke.

[Harry Innes]

The figures were gone and I was alone in the church. Or was I? And then a horror seized me. A horror indefinable and indescribable. An overwhelming certainty of supreme and accomplished calamity. Laura.

[Laura Innes]

Laura.

[Harry Innes]

Laura. Get out of my way.

[Laura Innes]

Hey.

[Mrs. Dorman]

Hey, hey. But what.

[Village Doctor]

Here.

[Harry Innes]

Hurry.

[Village Doctor]

Let go.

[Harry Innes]

Let go. The marble figures have gone from the church. They've gone.

[Village Doctor]

I'll have to give you a draft tomorrow. I see you've been listening to old wives tales.

[Harry Innes]

I've seen the bear slabs.

[Mrs. Dorman]

Man.

[Harry Innes]

Let go now. Harry.

[Mrs. Dorman]

Harry, man, listen to me, will you?

[Village Doctor]

Now listen.

[Harry Innes]

You get me scared, Doctor.

[Village Doctor]

I'm going to old Palmer's place. His daughter's sick. I'll go by way of the church. Show me the bare slabs.

[Harry Innes]

Yeah, well, you go if you like. I'm going home to my wife. Look, will you let go my arm? Oh, rubbish, man.

[Village Doctor]

Do you think I'll permit that? Are you to go saying all your life that you've seen marble endowed with vitality? And me to go all me life saying you were a coward? No, sir, you shan't do it.

[Harry Innes]

Now, come on. Come on.

[Village Doctor]

Now I'll prove to you you were dreaming.

[Harry Innes]

We went back to that terrible church and walked up the aisle. Walked to the marble slabs. The doctor produced matches. I admit I closed my eyes. I knew the figures would not be there.

[Village Doctor]

Here they are, you see. Right enough.

[Harry Innes]

You've been dreaming.

[Village Doctor]

Or drinking. Asking your partner for the imputation, eh?

[Harry Innes]

I opened my eyes and looked. And by the dying match light I saw the two shapes in marble hands in prayer.

[Village Doctor]

Blast. I rub my fingers. Blasphemy in the church. Still it wasn't meant so satisfied, Harry?

[Harry Innes]

Must have been some trick of the light or something. Do you know, I. I was quite convinced they were gone.

[Village Doctor]

I'm aware of that. You'll have to be careful of that brain of yours, my friend. Now I'm warning you. Hello. Something has been a foot here. His hand is broken.

[Harry Innes]

What?

[Village Doctor]

You might have and see. It's broken. Maybe somebody tried to remove him. They.

[Harry Innes]

They were both alright last time Laura and I came here.

[Village Doctor]

Someone might have tried to praise them up.

[Harry Innes]

That wouldn't account for my impression.

[Village Doctor]

Too much painting and tobacco. And maybe indulgence in some of the hard stuff too.

[Harry Innes]

Perhaps never. Oh, look. Come on, man, or my wife will be getting anxious. Oh, you come in and have a drop of whiskey with me and drink. Confusion the ghosts and better sense to me, won't you?

[Village Doctor]

I ought to go to Palmer's.

[Narrator]

But.

[Village Doctor]

Ah well, it's late. I'll leave it till tomorrow. She's not all that sick.

[Harry Innes]

Oh, let's go back then.

[Village Doctor]

Hey, you getting along fine in the cottages then, Harry?

[Harry Innes]

Oh, we're making do. Had a bit of a servant problem.

[Village Doctor]

Who doesn't have servant troubles?

[Harry Innes]

You're not alone there, Harry.

[Village Doctor]

Ever since the day I came to the place, servants have driven me mad.

[Harry Innes]

We walk to our cottage. We saw as we walked up the path the bright light streaming out of the front door. Presently I noticed the parlour door was open too. Had she gone out? I wondered. We passed into the parlour. It was all ablaze with candles. Her chair was empty and her handkerchief and book lay on the floor. I turned to the window and there in the recess of the window, I saw her. Laura. Good grief. My noble Laura. Laura.

[Narrator]

My baby.

[Harry Innes]

Laura. It's all right, my darling. I'm here. I'm here.

[Village Doctor]

Out of the way.

[Harry Innes]

Laura. It's all right.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Pussy.

[Harry Innes]

Please, baby. I'm here. She fell into my arms in a heap. I kissed her and held her. But I think I knew all the time that she was dead. Her hands were tightly clenched. I'm sorry.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Sorry.

[Harry Innes]

In one of them she held something fast. When I was quite sure that she was dead and that nothing mattered at all anymore, I let the doctor open her hand to see what it was she held. It was a grey marble finger. Beyond Midnight is presented every Friday night at half past nine by Biotechs the New Soak and Pre Wash Powder.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The program is adapted for broadcasting and

[Harry Innes]

Produced by Michael McCabe.

[Podcast Host]

There's more from the Horror Beyond Midnight and all the other podcasts at the website relicradio.com our shout cast stream is there as well with even more old time radio. Thanks again to those who listen. Thanks to those who support. I will be back tomorrow with Strange Tales and next Saturday with our next episode of the Horror.