The Gentleman From Hell |S1| Ep. 29

Speaker 1 Rusty Quill presents.

Speaker 2 Good evening, gentlemen and gentle ladies of hell.

Speaker 3 First and foremost, thank you for tuning in. Your support keeps the flames of the gentleman from hell burning bright.

Speaker 3 If you're enjoying your descent into the infernal depths of our world and want to dive even deeper, consider supporting us on Patreon.

Speaker 3 There, you'll unlock exclusive content, including original art from Mark Angelon, housed in the legendary Gallery of the Damned, deep lore and world-building treasures within the memorabilia of the House of Sparrows, and coming soon, the Testimonies of the Damned, a Patreon-exclusive audio series that expands the twisted mythology of the gentleman from hell.

Speaker 3 Plus, fans of the wider Meltopia universe will uncover a trove of exclusive lore, audio dramas, artwork, behind-the-scenes videos, and much more. Ready to explore the deeper circles of horror?

Speaker 3 Join us at www.patreon.com forward slash Meltopia And embrace the darkness.

Speaker 5 Coach, the energy out there felt different. What changed for the team today?

Speaker 7 It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery. Play is everything.
Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Speaker 5 Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Speaker 7 Hey, a little play makes your day, and today, it made the game. That's all for now.

Speaker 4 Coach, one more question.

Speaker 8 Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams scratchers from the California Lottery.

Speaker 4 A little play can make your day.

Speaker 8 Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.

Speaker 1 Popsicles, sprinklers, a cool breeze.

Speaker 4 Talk about refreshing.

Speaker 10 You know what else is refreshing this summer?

Speaker 11 A brand new phone with Verizon. Yep, get a new phone on any plan with Select Phone Trade-In and MyPlan.
And lock down a low price for three years on any plan with MyPlan.

Speaker 10 This is a deal for everyone, whether you're a new or existing customer.

Speaker 9 Swing by Verizon today for our best phone deals.

Speaker 9 Three-year price guarantee applies to then current base monthly rate only.

Speaker 12 Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers.

Speaker 13 Did you see the game last night? Of course you did, because you used Instacart to do your grocery restock. Plus you got snacks for the game, all without missing a single play.

Speaker 13 And that's on multitasking. So we're not saying that Instacart is a hack for game day, but it might be the ultimate play this football season.
Enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.

Speaker 13 Service fees apply. For three orders in 14 days, excludes restaurants.
Instacart, we're here.

Speaker 6 You want your master's degree.

Speaker 4 You know you can earn it, but life gets busy.

Speaker 6 The packed schedule, the late nights, and then there's the unexpected. American Public University was built for all of it.

Speaker 6 With monthly starts and no set login times, APU's 40-plus flexible online master's programs are designed to move at the speed of life.

Speaker 6 Start your master's journey today at apu.apus.edu. You want it? Come get it at APU.

Speaker 6 There's no running away, Mr. Rhodes.

Speaker 6 We'll take you and your friends

Speaker 6 straight to hell.

Speaker 6 You hear me?

Speaker 6 Straight to fucking hell.

Speaker 6 My god.

Speaker 6 I...

Speaker 1 I don't even know what to say.

Speaker 4 What should we do about it?

Speaker 14 Do you think...

Speaker 14 I don't know.

Speaker 14 Maybe go to the police?

Speaker 15 They're both on there talking about witches and crazy shit.

Speaker 15 Plus, it's Scott Mace pulling a gun, threatening the guy's reputation, pushing him around.

Speaker 16 But the man said, confessed, he'd been involved in kidnappings, drugging people, and from the sounds of it, even murder.

Speaker 15 He says as much, but we don't have any proof one way or the other.

Speaker 14 However, it goes down, I'd have to assume it'll be one hell of a media circus. Given the reputation you three have, and then with us thrown into the mix.

Speaker 4 I wouldn't involve anyone else. I did what I did on my own.
Period.

Speaker 15 Makes no difference. You know that.
If things heat up, they'll look into what we were doing. Eventually, everyone's name would get out there.

Speaker 15 But considering what was said between you two, I honestly don't know how things would go down.

Speaker 15 Legally, I think the four of us would be fine, if not our reputations, but... Mace,

Speaker 15 I honestly don't know. And that's coming from an ex-FBI agent.

Speaker 4 Well, at that point, I'd just come clean about the the underground tunnels, the cult, the whole shebang. Let the bureau sort that shit out.

Speaker 4 But I mean, this is all if we go to the police. Otherwise, I seriously doubt any of it's going anywhere.

Speaker 15 If Stedman has more of those pills on him, they might look deeper, but given what goes on here,

Speaker 15 I can't imagine he's their first jumper.

Speaker 4 And I doubt they'll want anyone getting suspicious about a doctor running around with a bottle full of killer pills on him.

Speaker 4 Nah, they're gonna take that body, rule the cause of death, a heart attack, or whatever, and then have some other dirty doctor sign off on it, and that'll be that.

Speaker 4 And I sure as hell don't feel compelled to rock that boat, because as far as I'm concerned, that fucker got off light.

Speaker 14 I really don't see any sense in going to the police about it. Especially not here.
We all heard what he said about how connected this cult is.

Speaker 1 So where do we go from here?

Speaker 1 The mansion and the elevator seems to be a big part of all this.

Speaker 1 But how in hell, if you part in the phrase, do we risk going back there?

Speaker 14 The resonator's there. So we at least have to go back for it.

Speaker 16 I hate to say it, but we'll get no closer to solving this by staying out of the city. But I'd recommend learning as much as we can before heading back.

Speaker 16 Maybe there's something more on that website that could help us. I saw that there were two other major books associated with Mephitica, and maybe we could look into those.

Speaker 14 Yeah, one of those books, the Cyclist Damnatorium or the Cycle of the Damned, does have some some translated pages we could check out.

Speaker 1 But the other, the nameless book, is pretty hard to come by.

Speaker 1 And most of the passages that do exist have some pretty questionable attribution.

Speaker 1 That, and no one's seen the actual book in years.

Speaker 16 I still can't help but shudder at the thought of that man, whatever he is, having been at the mansion, getting his portrait painted next to the goddamn beast of a thing. It's all just so macabre.

Speaker 1 Normally, I'd question if this gentleman from hell really exists and isn't just some sort of Mephitican legend. But with all that's happened,

Speaker 15 I wonder if there isn't some kind of hierarchy to this shit with that guy sitting at the top of the pyramid.

Speaker 15 He is supposed to be the first of these assholes to get himself out of hell, which is where the witch came from.

Speaker 15 Christ, just saying this shit out loud makes me feel like a lunatic.

Speaker 16 And it's witches, not witch.

Speaker 4 What

Speaker 16 the witch, The sparrow at the hospital wasn't the same as the one from my vision. The one I saw speaking with Edward looked and sounded different.

Speaker 4 I'd say they're all up.

Speaker 16 The entire sparrow clan.

Speaker 4 And they all came up through the elevator in the mansion. Hmph.

Speaker 4 And you thought the shit you just said sounded bonkers.

Speaker 14 They might have, but it seems to me there could be other locations where the damned come up. Take the castle from the Outer Barrens.

Speaker 14 Veronica McKay said she heard strange chanting from beneath the place, and then Edward screaming. And it's got the same sort of setup as Cold Sparrow.
Specifically, a huge cavern underneath.

Speaker 4 We're not really supposing that hell is some kind of physical location, as in underground somewhere, are we?

Speaker 15 I'm thinking caves are just great ways to hide large groups of people in whatever crazy shit they get up to.

Speaker 1 A good deal of occult rituals are best performed in darkness. And caves are essentially darkness on demand

Speaker 16 while i was in the hospital speaking with that thing she referred to her compact with the devil as being foolish it wasn't like she regretted the compact itself but rather the very notion of a compact was foolish like an adult looking back upon their childish notions of the world i guess what i'm trying to say is that wherever these things are coming from it isn't hell at least not in the classical sense but according to the lecture we just listened to it sounds an awful lot closer to this What was it called again?

Speaker 14 Diabolon.

Speaker 15 If this guy, this Professor Philip Luctrum, is so knowledgeable on the topic of Mephitica, shouldn't we drop him a line? I'm guessing he might be interested in what we might have to say.

Speaker 15 Granted, we can't let all the cats out of the bag, but maybe just enough to see if the guy could help us out.

Speaker 1 I think that's a fantastic idea.

Speaker 15 Hell, I'll shoot off a message right now. His email is probably given somewhere in the notes under his lecture.

Speaker 15 Yeah, there's a link to his website right here.

Speaker 15 Professor Philip Martin Locktrum, PhD. Thurston University, Vermont.
Specializes in ancient religions and cultural studies, as well as process theory.

Speaker 15 A recognized scholar of Mephitica, he is the author of several acclaimed publications. There's also a list of his press materials.

Speaker 4 Uh, hold up. What's this?

Speaker 4 What is it?

Speaker 15 An article from 2010 says, Thurston Professor comments on discovery of mysterious 16th century text in South Dakota Mineshaft.

Speaker 15 Pages believed to originate from the Cyclist Damnatorum, a rare occult manuscript dating back to the same era, have reportedly been discovered by a local couple during a weekend exploration in rural South Dakota.

Speaker 15 According to sources, the couple found the ancient pages within a small metal box resting atop a pile of rocks in one of the numerous winding tunnels of an abandoned mine.

Speaker 15 The discovery has drawn the attention of Dr. Philip Lochtrum, a professor at Thurston University specializing in historical occult literature.

Speaker 15 Thurston remarked that authentic pages from the Cyclist Damnatorum would constitute a extraordinary find, given the text's notorious mystery and dark reputation.

Speaker 15 Additionally, found alongside the pages was a

Speaker 15 get this, a wax cylinder, a historical recording medium typically played on phonographs.

Speaker 15 Preliminary examinations suggest the cylinder may hold a disturbing recording, purportedly created by now-deceased serial murderer James Binder.

Speaker 15 Law enforcement officials are currently investigating any link between Binder and the recovered materials.

Speaker 4 Huh.

Speaker 14 There was a literal crate full of those cylinders back in that underground room in Coldsparrow. Is there a link to the recording?

Speaker 15 Not seeing one.

Speaker 15 But this article is over 10 years old, so I'm betting that recording managed to find its way onto the internet somehow.

Speaker 15 Yep, plenty of hits. Let's try this one.

Speaker 15 Looks like this podcast, Lost But Not Forgotten, has a copy.

Speaker 15 Can't say I care what these bozos have to say about it, so I'm just gonna go straight to the audio file for the cylinder.

Speaker 15 Okay, here we go.

Speaker 16 Can you hear us?

Speaker 6 Is this James Binder?

Speaker 16 If you can hear me, say yes.

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 17 Who's there?

Speaker 17 There was never anything special about me.

Speaker 17 Except...

Speaker 17 Maybe...

Speaker 17 That I had some idea of how one might

Speaker 17 become a monster.

Speaker 17 See, you had to be permitted into the liminal world,

Speaker 17 a home of perpetual strangers.

Speaker 17 You had to be Jane Goodong amongst the apes.

Speaker 17 You had to be accepted.

Speaker 17 So

Speaker 17 I went amongst the strange.

Speaker 17 I slept in abandoned houses.

Speaker 17 I always kept odd things on my person.

Speaker 17 They were required to help push me out of the light.

Speaker 17 If people found me or just saw me with all those weird things,

Speaker 17 they'd wonder about me.

Speaker 17 They'd put me

Speaker 17 in their minds.

Speaker 17 File File me under the bazaar.

Speaker 17 Right where I wanted to be.

Speaker 17 And if they found me at night in out-of-the-way places, with those same strange things on me,

Speaker 17 I'd frighten them. This time I'd force myself into their minds.
And pretty soon, by the sheer weight of fear, I'd go beyond just their waking thoughts.

Speaker 17 I would enter their sleep, where I would be reborn. A nightmare.

Speaker 3 One night, I put my favorite talismans in a bag.

Speaker 17 Broken puppets, piano music, poems, drawings of burning clowns, and I walked into the woods.

Speaker 17 I walked until I found something old.

Speaker 17 Something slightly misplaced.

Speaker 17 Eventually, I found an old derelict house right next to a creek.

Speaker 17 I squeezed into its darkest corner, where all the spider webs and encrusted felt pressed from all sides.

Speaker 17 And I waited

Speaker 17 to become a monster

Speaker 17 after a while a whole big bunch of policemen showed up following the trail of body parts I'd left for them to follow they moved through the house like scared little children Their weapons gave them no comfort.

Speaker 17 By the time they found me, it was already too late. I'd already become

Speaker 17 what I was always intended to become.

Speaker 17 For the first time, I heard the screams of people through the ears of a monster, where they echo like the taste of sugar tolling upon the tongue.

Speaker 17 In the process of killing the first few cops, I'd been shot mortally. I was coming to the end of my human cycle.

Speaker 17 I had just enough strength to leap out a window

Speaker 17 and look at the moon one last

Speaker 17 time.

Speaker 17 To my surprise, just before I hit the ground, the earth yawned opened.

Speaker 17 And I plunged down a long metal chute.

Speaker 17 I fell for what might have been weeks along with the corpses of everyone I'd killed.

Speaker 17 There was no light,

Speaker 17 but I could still

Speaker 17 see them.

Speaker 17 Dead eyes in freight fall, soulless.

Speaker 17 Just the bodies I'd taken from them.

Speaker 17 They apparently belong to me now.

Speaker 17 I landed in a mountain of debris.

Speaker 17 talismans.

Speaker 17 There were broken toys, old garbing huts, vintage cameras, all piled into the darkness that didn't blind me.

Speaker 17 I thought I'd finally made a home for myselves in the minds of men, where I was to live forever.

Speaker 17 A monster of the inside

Speaker 17 But instead

Speaker 17 I ended up in that place

Speaker 17 Just silence

Speaker 17 at first

Speaker 17 But then I was lifted in the darkness that wasn't quite darkness

Speaker 17 and put here

Speaker 15 And roll the credits.

Speaker 4 Sounds a lot like that tape we lifted from the farmhouse. At least the beginning does.
Can't say much about anything else, though. Guess sounds like a complete whack job.

Speaker 16 Nothing really clicked until that last part.

Speaker 4 The fall.

Speaker 16 The witch, she said, showed me practically the same thing. She She spoke of the everlasting silence, tumbling and tumbling into darkness.

Speaker 1 So that would mean that this

Speaker 1 James Binder, a serial killer, is the same as the witch. Someone who came back after death,

Speaker 1 came back from hell.

Speaker 4 But what are these recordings for?

Speaker 16 Like I suspected with the voice on the tape from the farmhouse, they sound like a recording of a seance or something approximating one.

Speaker 14 Except you don't generally hear the spirit's voice anywhere near that clearly. Or, at the very least, not for such a long period of time.

Speaker 1 It's almost like whoever's speaking at the beginning is recording a phone call between themself and

Speaker 1 the damned.

Speaker 15 Well, we're paid up for another day,

Speaker 14 and we've got plenty of groceries to get us through.

Speaker 16 Please tell me they had my brand of tea.

Speaker 15 One box of Lady Whitmore's Lavender Delight. Black tea with lavender and chamomile.

Speaker 16 Oh, there's still some good left in the world after all.

Speaker 1 I'll put the water on for you. And if you don't mind, I think I'll join you in a cup.

Speaker 16 I'll make a tea drink out of you yet, young lady.

Speaker 15 We also drove by Charlie Prist's place just out of curiosity.

Speaker 4 And?

Speaker 15 And it's up for sale, and his car is gone.

Speaker 4 Ah, shit. I hope he managed to leave on his own.
The poor man.

Speaker 15 If it's for sale, that means we might be able to get a guided tour free of charge.

Speaker 4 That'll be worth a shot.

Speaker 4 What about the church? You find it?

Speaker 14 Like the hotel, it was the only one in town. Fellowship of the Resurrected.
And I didn't see a soul outside.

Speaker 15 How about you you guys? Find anything encouraging?

Speaker 1 Nothing so far. But the good professor did email us back.
He said he'd be delighted to video chat with us at our earliest convenience.

Speaker 16 I thought tonight would be fine.

Speaker 14 The sooner the better.

Speaker 4 I was also thinking we might relocate for a while.

Speaker 4 Anyone remember how far the next town is from here?

Speaker 15 Uh, Casey Creek. It's a little over a half hour, so we're looking at almost a three-hour commute to and from Cold Sparrow each day.
That is, if we're still planning on working there.

Speaker 16 I see the sense in not staying in Cold Sparrow proper, especially in the mansion at night. But apart from that, I mean me don't think moving one city over is going to do us much good.

Speaker 4 I guess we can hang around if that's what everybody wants, but I don't know how we're gonna stake out the priest if everyone here knows our business.

Speaker 15 Whatever we do, we don't do it alone.

Speaker 4 Message received.

Speaker 16 I imagine we could do the same thing we did with Charlie Priest, just visit with him while I try to sort things out, and he should be considerably more accessible given that he's a priest.

Speaker 4 Leave it to Phil.

Speaker 16 And don't you forget it.

Speaker 1 Incidentally, there was no mention whatsoever of Dr. Stedman in the local news.

Speaker 4 That figures. By still trying to figure out how they want to spin it.

Speaker 15 It might be easier to disappear him than to lie about the cause of death. What with all that poison in his system?

Speaker 4 I got a feeling folks around here are pretty good at hiding bodies. Anyway, as far as working at the mansion goes, I agree with Phil.

Speaker 4 We gotta go back if we plan on getting intruders, but not until we can protect ourselves somehow.

Speaker 14 Well, here's hoping the good professor can give us some pointers in that department.

Speaker 14 Because the engineering department is still scratching her head over how to do it.

Speaker 1 I've got a few ideas, bro.

Speaker 1 But we'll need time with the primary resonator to experiment with them.

Speaker 15 For right now, I recommend we get out for a bit, clear our heads. There's a little lake not far from town, and I read there's even a little pavilion for the public.
Be a good place to take a breather.

Speaker 16 I'm all for it.

Speaker 1 That's a big yes.

Speaker 14 Well, since the coffee maker died, we should stop at the diner up the street and grab some before we drive out to the lake.

Speaker 4 All right, then. Let's hit the run.

Speaker 18 Why, hello again, sir.

Speaker 4 How can I help you?

Speaker 15 Hey there, uh, the coffee maker in our room seems to have died.

Speaker 2 Oh dear,

Speaker 4 my apologies.

Speaker 6 I'll just have to send maintenance right away.

Speaker 4 ASAP, in fact.

Speaker 15 Actually, you've got some time. We're about to head out.

Speaker 18 Of course, sir.

Speaker 4 We'll get it replaced before you return, I promise.

Speaker 15 Thanks. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 4 Hello. They're leaving right now.

Speaker 2 The Gentleman from Hell is a Maltopia production. Today's episode was written by Mark Anselone and performed by Stephen Zivik, Sam Stark, Aubrey Akers, Jesse Van Hove, Kelly Baer, and Matt Van Hove.

Speaker 2 Sound editing was completed by Stephen Ansloan, and script editing was conducted by Walker Kornfeld. Be sure to rate and review us on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

Speaker 2 And follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Meltopia. If you want unique art and animations of Meltopia's stories, visit our YouTube page or click on the link in the show notes.

Speaker 2 And for more exclusive content, such as additional lore, stories, and art, be sure to check out our Patreon at www.patreon.com forward slash Meltopia.

Speaker 9 Popsicles, sprinklers, a cool breeze.

Speaker 4 Talk about refreshing.

Speaker 10 You know what else is refreshing this summer?

Speaker 11 A brand new phone with Verizon. Yep, get a new phone on any plan with Select Phone Trade In MyPlan.
And lock down a low price for three years on any plan with MyPlan.

Speaker 10 This is a deal for everyone, whether you're a new or existing customer.

Speaker 9 Swing by Verizon today for our best phone deals.

Speaker 9 Three-year price guarantee applies to then current base monthly rate only.

Speaker 12 Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers.

Speaker 5 Coach, the energy out there felt different. What changed for the team today?

Speaker 7 It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery. Play is everything.
Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Speaker 5 Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Speaker 7 Hey, a little play makes your day, and today, it made the game. That's all for now.

Speaker 4 Coach, one more question.

Speaker 8 Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

Speaker 4 A little play can make your day.

Speaker 8 Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase, play, or claim.

Speaker 17 If you thought goldenly breaded McDonald's chicken couldn't get more golden, think golder!

Speaker 20 Because new, sweet, and smoky special edition gold sauce is here.

Speaker 19 Made for your chicken favorites. I participated in McDonald's for a limited time.