Lot 103 : The Thirteen Hour Clock // Charlotte’s Web

Speaker 1 This visit to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 4 Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?

Speaker 2 Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too.

Speaker 6 You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget.

Speaker 8 Try it today at Progressive.com.

Speaker 3 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Speaker 9 Price and coverage match limited by state law.

Speaker 8 Not available in all states.

Speaker 10 This holiday season, the last place you want to be is the naughty list. Rowan Campbell plays a bloodthirsty Santa in Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Director Mike P.

Speaker 10 Nelson's grisly update to the most controversial horror film ever made is only in theaters December 12th. Go to sndnmovie.com for updates.
This Christmas, Santa's gonna slay.

Speaker 11 Q equals H.

Speaker 12 Welcome!

Speaker 13 Mind the step.

Speaker 12 Oh, you've brought the weather in with you.

Speaker 16 Come warm your hands.

Speaker 17 You're just in time.

Speaker 18 For a little more time than the law allows.

Speaker 19 This is lot number 103.

Speaker 13 We call it the 13-hour clock.

Speaker 12 Keep your fingers off the hand, please.

Speaker 17 It does keep its own council.

Speaker 18 It arrived to us in a plain parcel from a catalog house.

Speaker 13 The sort that sells flat-packed dreams and little Allen keys.

Speaker 13 Our consignor said it never kept less than time.

Speaker 16 Only

Speaker 16 more.

Speaker 13 Before we begin, I want to point out some of the customers whose names have been etched in brass on this beautiful plaque I had made above the front desk.

Speaker 17 These are some of the members of the inner circle of the antiquarium. We go by the Obsidian Covenant.

Speaker 12 Recent initiates include Carrie, Jesse Ballesteros,

Speaker 18 Allison Hamby-Hirshman, Galen,

Speaker 13 Amy Jameson, Foxluck, Angela Johnson, and Chase White.

Speaker 21 We are ever appreciative of your devotion to the Order.

Speaker 20 Go to theObsidian Covenant.com to receive the sacrament.

Speaker 17 Sounds harmless enough, right?

Speaker 20 Welcome to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings

Speaker 20 and Odd Goings On.

Speaker 20 I own a magic clock that gives me two extra hours per day.

Speaker 24 When I first opened the package, I felt bamboozled.

Speaker 25 And I found something completely unlike the product I'd seen in the IKEA store.

Speaker 26 A clock with the number 13 unwillingly wedged between 12 and 1.

Speaker 11 However, as I would soon learn, it was exactly as intended.

Speaker 11 After overcoming the initial annoyance, I hung the inaccurate clock on the wall,

Speaker 11 much to the amusement of my girlfriend, Rhea.

Speaker 11 We had a good laugh about it after work.

Speaker 26 Later, we found ourselves slumped on the sofa, binge-watching episodes of the office way past midnight.

Speaker 15 Every few minutes, I'd glance at the Ikea clock and chuckle to myself.

Speaker 25 I was bemused at the thirteen numbers crammed uneasily and unevenly around the outer perimeter.

Speaker 25 Silly sardines in a tin can.

Speaker 15 There was nothing silly about what happened when the clock struck thirteen.

Speaker 15 In a moment of harrowing horror, Rhea vanished.

Speaker 31 And then the lights of my house followed suit.

Speaker 26 As did the lights of every house outside my window in rapid succession.

Speaker 28 I sprinted from room to room in a frenzy, calling for Rhea, but there was no answer.

Speaker 32 After 10 minutes of fruitless searching, I ran into the street.

Speaker 28 My neighborhood had been plunged into darkness, and it was no isolated event.

Speaker 28 Even as I headed farther into the town, I found no signs of life.

Speaker 27 Not a light, not a car on the road, not a soul.

Speaker 31 I started to scream maniacally, succumbing to the terrifying concept of being perpetually alone in an icy, lifeless version of Earth.

Speaker 27 I truly thought the world had ended.

Speaker 27 And then,

Speaker 27 just as suddenly it stopped, everything sprang back to life.

Speaker 28 I'd returned home at that point and I was sitting on the sofa, head in my hands.

Speaker 31 The light suddenly returned. So did the office.

Speaker 31 And so,

Speaker 33 most reassuringly of all, did Raya.

Speaker 26 The horrifying hour in an apocalyptic world suddenly made sense.

Speaker 15 Time had frozen.

Speaker 34 What's up with you?

Speaker 34 Is Michael Scott making you cry?

Speaker 35 Oh.

Speaker 25 I frantically searched for an explanation, overwhelmed with relief at my girlfriend's sudden reappearance.

Speaker 27 I just have a headache.

Speaker 27 I went ahead to bed.

Speaker 29 I prayed for it to be an isolated incident, but no such luck.

Speaker 29 At work, the horror repeated itself.

Speaker 16 I gained an hour of time in an empty world.

Speaker 24 The analog office clock froze on the number one.

Speaker 24 Back home, my IKEA clock would be ticking past 13.

Speaker 15 The only thing other than me with motion in that dimension.

Speaker 35 Trapped with my thoughts in that husk of an office, I hide the deserted city from a high-rise window.

Speaker 27 And that was when I recalled my conversation with Raya the day before.

Speaker 34 I love the clock, but on a serious note, you asked for a replacement, right?

Speaker 24 Why?

Speaker 30 I've always wanted extra hours in the day.

Speaker 27 Extra hours in the day.

Speaker 24 that sparked something in my mind.

Speaker 11 I remembered the employee I'd met in Nike on my lunch break a few weeks prior.

Speaker 25 Jacob, how does your delivery service work?

Speaker 22 Uh, no room in the car for everything you want, sir.

Speaker 27 It's not that

Speaker 24 no time.

Speaker 36 You know what?

Speaker 26 I used to be like you,

Speaker 26 but I found a way

Speaker 26 to make time.

Speaker 37 I always hated that phrase.

Speaker 16 Making time.

Speaker 24 What an impossibility.

Speaker 26 A suggestion often spouted by people with fewer responsibilities.

Speaker 37 As I stared at an inexplicably lifeless city from my office window and caged in that pause moment for an hour, everything came together.

Speaker 26 The mysterious man had done this to me.

Speaker 26 He'd deliberately given me the clock.

Speaker 26 That had to be it.

Speaker 33 That's always the case, right?

Speaker 25 It's always the unnerving shopkeeper.

Speaker 25 And yet,

Speaker 11 I still decided to use the clock to my advantage. I'm greedy.

Speaker 11 I'm human.

Speaker 25 The soundless, motionless world I entered during those two extra daily hours never ceased to horrify me, but I saw that fear as the price for such an amazing gift.

Speaker 33 A gift that afforded me time to finish work, exercise, read, and so on.

Speaker 25 The true price became terribly clear after two years of enjoying the fruits of my labors.

Speaker 26 The list of life improvements seemed endless.

Speaker 11 I'd been promoted to vice president of the company at which I worked. I was in the best physical health of my life.

Speaker 33 I was always well rested.

Speaker 33 We'd married.

Speaker 27 And speaking of which, I had so much more time for my wife, Rhea.

Speaker 26 But something was very wrong.

Speaker 24 Something foggy in my mind.

Speaker 31 A terrifying truth that incessantly eluded me.

Speaker 31 Rhea had just given birth to our baby, Bobby.

Speaker 26 Even with an additional two hours per day, the strain of parenthood was immense.

Speaker 26 I would get as much work done as possible at 13 o'clock so as to carry more of the parenting burden, but it didn't seem to be enough.

Speaker 31 Rhea was tired.

Speaker 15 More than that, she was graying.

Speaker 34 I'm only 32.

Speaker 26 She groaned, cradling a silver strand of hair in her hands.

Speaker 26 I hugged my wife from behind.

Speaker 29 It makes you look distinguished.

Speaker 29 You are still so beautiful.

Speaker 34 Being a mother is killing me.

Speaker 30 I didn't think much of it at the time.

Speaker 26 I gained my first gray hairs in my late 20s, so I thought Rhea would be lucky in that she'd only just noticed her first one.

Speaker 27 Obviously, I didn't voice that thought aloud.

Speaker 27 But still, as the weeks went by, there was a growing fogginess in my mind, an ever-thickening cloud.

Speaker 27 It was more than tiredness from the pressures of fatherhood.

Speaker 16 I was blind to something, and that scared me.

Speaker 26 I think the clock itself was disjointing my mind.

Speaker 15 Everything became all too clear after a hospital appointment about our baby.

Speaker 36 Bobby is three months old, right?

Speaker 26 Raya nodded, rubbing the bags beneath her eyes.

Speaker 23 Yep.

Speaker 27 Bobby. Rhea.

Speaker 24 They were both aging far too quickly.

Speaker 27 Terror consumed me all at once in a roaring, relentless wave of emotion.

Speaker 26 I finally noticed my wife's wrinkles, her numerous strands of gray hair.

Speaker 25 She'd aged about 20 years.

Speaker 25 And Bobby?

Speaker 27 Three-month-old Bobby?

Speaker 27 He looked like a full-grown toddler. Was the clock stealing time from them?

Speaker 36 Well, we initially thought it could be progeria, but the test came back negative. So truthfully, we have absolutely no idea why Bobby is aging so rapidly.

Speaker 36 In your case, Rhea, I'd say stress has affected your body.

Speaker 35 Ray and I decided it was time to move away from the city, so I bought a beautiful cottage in the country.

Speaker 24 I planned to work remotely, as did she.

Speaker 30 Most importantly, on the day we left, I destroyed the Ikea clock. No more playing with time.

Speaker 15 And yet, on the drive to our new home in the country, time still froze at what would have been 13 o'clock.

Speaker 17 Ah, listen.

Speaker 13 Do you hear that extra beat?

Speaker 18 I'd wager the clock is about to make room for one more hour than promised.

Speaker 13 We'll wind it just once and see what comes loose.

Speaker 1 This visit to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 4 Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?

Speaker 2 Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too.

Speaker 6 You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget.

Speaker 8 Try it today at Progressive.com.

Speaker 1 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Speaker 9 Price and coverage match limited by state law.

Speaker 8 Not available in all states.

Speaker 10 This holiday season, the last place you want to be is the Naughty List. Rowan Campbell plays a bloodthirsty Santa in Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Director Mike P.

Speaker 10 Nelson's grisly update to the most controversial horror film ever made is only in theaters December 12th. Go to sndnmovie.com for updates.
This Christmas, Santa's gonna slay.

Speaker 10 Why, hello there. You've reached the antiquarium.

Speaker 16 If you wish to leave a message, please do so with the town and have a great day.

Speaker 38 Hi, I don't know if you're awake or open things soon, but the item that you sold me to ward off evil spirits or something to ward off

Speaker 38 not working.

Speaker 38 The eyes in the woods

Speaker 38 they're still there.

Speaker 38 And they're watching me still.

Speaker 38 And

Speaker 38 yesterday,

Speaker 38 the eyes,

Speaker 38 there's more of them out there. Please call me back.
I really need some help.

Speaker 38 End of messages.

Speaker 19 Good. You're still with me.

Speaker 18 Now, our tale resumes the moment the hand touched 13.

Speaker 20 The room went dim. The street fell silent.

Speaker 17 And the world made a space where nothing should be.

Speaker 20 Shall we?

Speaker 26 And yet, on the drive to our new home in the country, time still froze at what would have been 13 o'clock.

Speaker 25 My wife and baby vanished from the car and the vehicle immediately altered.

Speaker 27 Every other car on the road froze too, littering the tarmac with ghostly hulks of metal.

Speaker 26 I found myself sitting there, hands white-knuckling the steering wheel in disbelief and fear as I surveyed the empty world which had been haunting me for over two years.

Speaker 28 Except, it wasn't empty.

Speaker 11 At the edge of the tree line, beside the road,

Speaker 29 a shape moved.

Speaker 31 It looked like a stick insect on hind legs.

Speaker 37 Frightfully thin, blending in with the oak trees which partially shrouded it from view.

Speaker 26 Then the creature scuttled into the road, spindling towards our car at a rapid pace. I screamed, opening the door and fleeing from the impossibly fast creature.

Speaker 30 Leaving between abandoned cars, I took a risky glance over my shoulder, screeching at the nightmarish creature with wobbly limbs.

Speaker 16 I had no hope of escaping.

Speaker 11 I thought about circling back to the car and taking my chances by hiding out in there.

Speaker 21 But then I felt a sharp blade pierce my upper back.

Speaker 11 I tumbled to the gravel and spun around to hide the faceless monstrosity which hovered above me.

Speaker 11 I'd never been so frightened. Not of death, but whatever torturous punishment the thing had in store for me.

Speaker 16 I understood everything when I gazed upon the creature.

Speaker 37 I knew that it was time itself.

Speaker 16 And there is nothing more frightening than reckoning with a force far greater than you could ever hope to be.

Speaker 16 A horrifying force that views you as a bug.

Speaker 16 A meddling bug in my case.

Speaker 37 But it hadn't come to scold me for spending two years escaping time.

Speaker 29 Rather, to scold me for escaping my fate.

Speaker 27 There were no words from the being to convey this fact,

Speaker 15 and yet I knew it had come for me because I had destroyed that clock.

Speaker 15 I also understood that its stick-like form was an illusion.

Speaker 29 A physical image conjured to prevent my mind from imploding.

Speaker 29 Nobody can look upon time.

Speaker 16 It's not an impossibility, but a horror beyond horrors.

Speaker 29 The being left a gift-wrapped circular parcel on my chest, and I gulped in terror, knowing exactly what I would find inside.

Speaker 26 Then I watched the omnipotent insect disappear down the road.

Speaker 15 I prepared to lumber back to the car, but something horrifyingly unexpected happened.

Speaker 25 A punishment for shirking time's gift to me, perhaps.

Speaker 27 I I didn't get the whole hour.

Speaker 26 In an instant, every car on the road surged into motion.

Speaker 26 I ducked and threw my hands over my head as two vehicles swerved to avoid me.

Speaker 26 I swiveled my head to see a hundred yards up the road, a red Toyota Yars veering towards the trees.

Speaker 25 Memories of that day are hazing.

Speaker 16 I try so hard to forget it.

Speaker 26 My beautiful wife, gray-haired and aged beyond comprehension, lay lifeless on a stretcher.

Speaker 25 The paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Speaker 25 A horror that, years later, never leaves me.

Speaker 25 A deep,

Speaker 25 unyielding grief.

Speaker 24 Bobby made it to the hospital and survived, thankfully.

Speaker 28 A six-month-old boy, roughly six years of age in the eyes of the staff.

Speaker 26 For the years that followed, out of spite, I stopped utilizing the two extra hours.

Speaker 27 I watched my son grow at a horribly phenomenal rate.

Speaker 29 Any moments of joy were overshadowed by the terror of watching a child age more rapidly than their parent.

Speaker 26 I was haunted by what was to come.

Speaker 25 He swiftly overtook me, and five years later, my worst nightmare came to fruition.

Speaker 20 Bobby was an old man.

Speaker 31 Dying on his bed in the cottage that I'd bought only several years prior when he'd been just a baby boy. Dad,

Speaker 31 destroy it.

Speaker 31 I know you tried once.

Speaker 31 Trying.

Speaker 31 Destroy it.

Speaker 31 Destroy it.

Speaker 24 After my boy passed, I grieved for months before I thought of that infernal clock again.

Speaker 31 The hellish thing that had butchered my wife and son in the blink of an eye.

Speaker 31 More time?

Speaker 16 What a twisted, evil lie.

Speaker 30 I'd been robbed of a life with my family.

Speaker 26 There is no greater horror than that.

Speaker 24 I suppose all that added time had to come from somewhere.

Speaker 15 It was an unthinkable price.

Speaker 26 Fueled by hatred, I rang the IKEA branch, fully intending to exact some form of retributive justice on the man responsible for my years of torment.

Speaker 25 But

Speaker 26 I received some ghastly news.

Speaker 26 Jacob went missing several years before I even stepped into the store.

Speaker 11 He wasn't even an employee at that time.

Speaker 31 Apparently, his family members...

Speaker 31 Well,

Speaker 31 their teeth and ashes were found in the man's living room.

Speaker 11 It's clear that Jacob suffered the same punishment as me, but what happened to him?

Speaker 26 Why did he return to the store to pass this horrifying curse onto an unsuspecting soul?

Speaker 26 So many awful unknowns.

Speaker 37 I pray the clock doesn't corrupt me in the same way.

Speaker 27 It still haunts me.

Speaker 26 But at least I have no loved ones left for it to take.

Speaker 11 And I intend to keep it that way until my dying day.

Speaker 11 I wish I had a happy ending for you.

Speaker 26 But life is seldom full of anything other than suffering.

Speaker 27 I'm not an old man, but the beauty of having extra time is

Speaker 30 that I've gained wisdom.

Speaker 30 Excruciating wisdom.

Speaker 16 Time is a horror that comes for us all.

Speaker 16 One way

Speaker 16 or another.

Speaker 34 There's a legend that drifts through ghost forums and late-night threads. It's passed around between strangers like a dare.

Speaker 34 The kind of thing you hear about it too in the morning, and the lights are low and curiosity starts to outweigh caution.

Speaker 34 They call it Charlotte's Web.

Speaker 34 Not the storybook one with talking animals and happy endings.

Speaker 34 This one is older,

Speaker 16 darker,

Speaker 34 and said to be tied to the spirit of a young girl who died calling out for help.

Speaker 34 But no one answered.

Speaker 34 Over time, people started saying she could still be reached. That if you performed a certain ritual, you could speak with her.

Speaker 34 Ask her questions.

Speaker 14 Even

Speaker 34 get answers.

Speaker 34 But there's a catch.

Speaker 34 Once you invite her in,

Speaker 34 she remembers you.

Speaker 34 Here's how it's supposed to work. You'll need a mirror, a single candle, matches or a lighter, and a piece of paper.

Speaker 34 It has to be done alone.

Speaker 34 And it has to be done at midnight.

Speaker 34 Make sure every light in your house is off.

Speaker 34 No electronics.

Speaker 34 No background noise.

Speaker 34 Only silence and your reflection staring back at you.

Speaker 34 Write your name on the paper, neat and clear. Set the candle in front of the mirror and light it.

Speaker 34 Watch the flame flicker.

Speaker 34 The glow should be just enough to see your eyes in the glass.

Speaker 34 Nothing more.

Speaker 34 Then lift the paper toward the mirror and whisper three times,

Speaker 34 Charlotte,

Speaker 34 I need your help.

Speaker 34 Blow out the candle.

Speaker 34 Wait.

Speaker 34 If the air grows heavy or cold, It means she's near.

Speaker 34 You might hear scratching, faint at first, like fingernails tracing the edge of the mirror.

Speaker 34 That's your sign.

Speaker 34 She's listening.

Speaker 34 If the candle relights itself, Charlotte has accepted your invitation.

Speaker 34 You may now ask one question.

Speaker 34 Only one.

Speaker 34 Write it on the same piece of paper and hold it up to the glass.

Speaker 34 When you lower it, you'll find a response written there.

Speaker 34 Some say the letters are carved into the page.

Speaker 34 Others say the words appear in the fog of your breath on the mirror.

Speaker 34 When you have your answer,

Speaker 14 thank her.

Speaker 34 Say her name once more.

Speaker 34 Then blow out the candle.

Speaker 34 Do not light it again.

Speaker 34 And whatever happens,

Speaker 34 whatever you hear,

Speaker 34 do not look into the mirror until morning.

Speaker 34 No one really knows who Charlotte was.

Speaker 34 Some say she died in the 1940s, trapped in a burning house, trying to reach her parents through a locked door.

Speaker 34 Others claim she never existed.

Speaker 34 That the name is a lure.

Speaker 34 A mask used by something else entirely.

Speaker 34 People online say if you break the rules, she crawls through the mirror.

Speaker 34 And when she's through,

Speaker 34 she leaves her mark.

Speaker 34 A handprint. A whisper.

Speaker 23 Sometimes

Speaker 18 a smile.

Speaker 34 Maybe it's all superstition.

Speaker 34 Maybe it's just another internet story meant to keep you up at night.

Speaker 34 But if you ever find yourself alone at midnight with a candle and a mirror nearby

Speaker 34 and the urge to call her name,

Speaker 34 remember this:

Speaker 34 Charlotte always answers,

Speaker 34 and she never forgets a royal

Speaker 34 C Q N X A M N A M X N B W X C B N A E N C R V N R C L X W B D V N B R C

Speaker 13 Thank you for your patronage.

Speaker 17 Hope you enjoyed your new relic as much as I've enjoyed passing along its sordid history.

Speaker 18 It does come with our usual warning, however.

Speaker 17 Absolutely no refunds, no exchanges, and we won't be held liable for anything that may or may not occur while the object is in your possession.

Speaker 21 If you've got an artifact with mysterious properties, perhaps it's accompanied by a history of bizarre and disturbing disturbing circumstances.

Speaker 21 Maybe you'd be interested in dropping it and its story by the shop to share with other customers.

Speaker 20 Please reach out to antiquariumshop at gmail.com.

Speaker 15 A member of our team will be in touch.

Speaker 14 Till next time, we'll be waiting for you whenever you close your eyes

Speaker 21 in the space between sleep and dream.

Speaker 20 During regular business hours, of course, or by appointment.

Speaker 14 Only for you,

Speaker 15 our

Speaker 15 best customer.

Speaker 15 You have a good night now.

Speaker 22 The Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings. Lot 103.
I own a magic clock that gives me two extra hours a day.

Speaker 22 Consigned by Dominic Eagle, starring Mike Toms, April Consolo, Trevor Shand, and Mark Lapointe. Charlotte's Web, narrated by Gwyneth Glover, featuring Stephen Knowles as the antique dealer.

Speaker 22 Engineering production and sound design by Trevor Shand and Lauren Shand.

Speaker 12 Theme music by the Newton Brothers.

Speaker 22 Additional music by Coag, Vivek Abishek, Clement Panchout, Nicholas Redding, and Conan Freeman. The Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is created and curated by Trevor Trevor and Lauren Shand.

Speaker 22 Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at AntiquariumPod. Call the Antiquarium at 646-481-7197.

Speaker 1 This visit to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 4 Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?

Speaker 2 Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too.

Speaker 6 You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget.

Speaker 8 Try it today at Progressive.com.

Speaker 3 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Speaker 9 Price and coverage match limited by state law.

Speaker 8 Not available in all states.

Speaker 10 This holiday season, the last place you want to be is the naughty list. Rowan Campbell plays a bloodthirsty Santa in Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Director Mike P.

Speaker 10 Nelson's grisly update to the most controversial horror film ever made is only in theaters December 12th. Go to SNDNMovie.com for updates.
This Christmas, Santa's gonna slay.