The Gentleman From Hell |S1| Ep. 28

Rusty Quill presents

Good evening, gentlemen and gentle ladies of hell.

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Now,

if you tell me what I want to know, there's no reason we ever have to see each other ever again.

But I swear to God, if you try and bullshit me again.

No.

No,

I won't.

Let's start with you, Doc.

How are you involved in all this shit?

I'm not.

Not...

not really.

My my parents,

they brought me to the woods when I was a kid to take part in their masses or whatever the hell they were.

I didn't want any part of it.

It fucking terrified me.

The things I saw.

But so many people were in on it.

Some of the teachers at school, neighbors.

Here in Porta Foy.

If only it was just here.

You really have no idea, do you?

We aren't here to talk about what I know.

So, what's it all about?

The cult and all these rituals?

Like I said, I never wanted any part of it.

So I don't know.

I don't know all that much, but they...

They...

They commune with hell.

The damned.

To bring them up.

Is that where the Sparrow kids come from?

Hell?

I have no idea.

Sure, why not?

So, if you hate this shit so much,

why are you still here?

Why not just get the fuck out?

Because no one gets out.

No one.

I was born into it.

My parents, their parents.

They sent me to med school, paid my bills.

Why?

What does some go to the damn need with a doctor in a small town?

They need my skills from time to time.

I have to help them when they call.

I've got no choice.

Spit it out.

What the fuck they got you doing here?

Sometimes they

bring people to me.

Injured.

Sometimes very

injured.

I patch them up as best I can.

Off the books, of course.

I've been told to lie about causes of death.

Other times I get called into um

into Cold Sparrow.

They bring people up there sometimes and

And what, Doc?

They have me

administer shots, drugs.

The people they fucking kidnapped, right?

I have no idea where they come from.

But

when I see them...

They're

nearly completely mad.

Sometimes I have to keep them from going into cardiac arrest.

Other times

I have to treat them for infections, self-inflicted injuries.

Where are these people when you take care of them?

Different places, all around the city.

What the fuck is driving these people crazy?

I've been around a lot of nuts in my day, and most of them love to run their mouths.

What are these poor fuckers saying, Doc, while you're shooting them up with God knows what?

You think I really want to do this shit do you really i didn't ask you how you fucking felt did i

now answer the goddamn question oh i fucking swear to god demons hell the most horrible shit you can fucking imagine

anyone can imagine what are they doing to those people huh Why are they driving your patience nuts, Doc?

You must have learned something after all this time.

How in those woods when you were a kid?

Tell me.

I don't know.

They don't say.

They don't say anything to me.

You're lying to me.

And I warned you not to do that.

Okay, okay, okay.

I think.

I think they bring them to the elevator in the mansion.

That's where I've been the most, where the most cases have been people just out of their fucking minds with fear.

And what the fuck happens when they go down that elevator?

I.

I don't.

I don't know.

I.

Bullshit!

Say it.

Tell me what fucking happens.

Where are you sending your patients, you fucking spineless son of a bitch?

Please let go of me.

I can't.

Tell me, you motherfucker!

Or I swear I'll drag your ass to Cold Sparrow right now and send you down that fucking elevator myself.

Do you hear me?

Do you hear me?

They go to hell, okay?

That's where they go.

Where they all go.

Okay.

Okay.

I want a name.

You hear me?

I want to know who's in charge.

What do you really think you're going to do?

Arrest the fucking devil?

Just give me a fucking name.

The priest.

Father Gaffney.

Here in town.

He oversees a lot of the stuff I get called in to do.

Of course it's the priest.

He was the one who told me to expect

her last night.

And what exactly did happen last night, huh?

How the fuck was any of it even possible?

And I know it all wasn't some goddamn dream.

There was Cobbin scoring under the cross Leon was hanging from, just like I fucking remember.

Something real happened last night.

How the hell should I know?

I told you, I try to stay as far away from it as I can.

I just do what they tell me to do.

Go where they send me.

I've never even seen her before.

But you already seem to have

pretty well informed.

Why are you having such a hard time accepting what she can do?

Don't tell me you're still looking for the glass bottom, the gimmick.

No, but there's got to be something.

What?

A way to stop her?

Really?

Do you actually believe you can stop any of this?

You don't think I tried to get away from it this bullshit you don't think I tried to run

they fucking found me every single fucking time and why

because the laws of reality don't work on them because

because who fucking knows maybe there is no reality

not not how we think about it Nah, you you and your friends are fucked just like me just like everyone else they set their sights on.

Bullshit!

That's bullshit!

There's gotta be a way.

There's gotta be.

What the fuck is so funny now?

There's no reason.

There's no reason to think.

To think what?

That she...

That she won't know about any of this.

But you're right.

You're right.

There is a way out of it.

I always keep it on just in case.

What the fuck did you just put in your mouth?

What did you swallow?

My way out.

Yours too, if you're smart.

See

if you're not too heavy with sin you uh you won't sink.

You'll float and it can't get you up there.

I'm not heavy enough.

Not yet.

I'm not I'm gonna be okay.

I'm gonna be okay.

You better hope

You better hope you're not too heavy or you'll end up down there too

You're gonna take that fucking elevator right

Jesus Christ

There's no running away, mr.

Rhodes

We'll take you and your friends

straight to hell

You hear me Straight to fucking hell!

Here is the lecture.

From the thumbnail, it looks pretty low quality.

Drinks are served.

So, have you two heard of this guy before, the lecturer?

Dr.

Philip Lachtrom, yes.

He was involved in the translation of the original text.

I've read a few of his articles over the years,

but I have to confess that I didn't give the topic all that much thought.

While we find stuff like Mephitica interesting, we're more interested in how what people believe about the paranormal activity shapes it.

So, you do or don't believe in the paranormal?

Oh, we believe in it, all right.

We have to.

Especially now.

We're just ant charts caused by a legitimate spirit world.

If what we've seen isn't proof of a spirit world, I don't know what is.

Well, the resonator wouldn't even work if human thought weren't in some way involved with paranormal manifestations.

Maybe it's not human thoughts, but the human spirit.

As far as my own experiences are concerned, the mind and the spirit are connected, indivisible.

It's the body that's transient.

That's an interesting possibility.

It seems that ever since we got here, our beliefs have been under review.

Everyone ready for this?

Well, Mephitika 101, here we come.

Hello, everyone.

I thank you very much for taking the time to hear my little spiel.

Could someone lock those back doors, please?

Why are you locking the door, Professor?

Let's just say I have my reasons.

Okay, now that that's taken care of, let's discuss the business at hand, shall we?

Well, for those of you who are new to the subject, Mephitiga is a system of beliefs that originated at the ancient city of the same name, located in southern Mesopotamia, where modern-day southern Iraq is located.

Radiocarbon dating of the clay tablets suggests they were inscribed around 2600 BCE, firmly placing them several centuries before the earliest biblical texts.

The discovered work, dubbed the Mephitican Codex, is a collection of clay tablets written in cuneiform.

Unlike the typical Sumerian view of the underworld as a gloomy, indifferent realm where all souls simply resided, this Codex introduces a transformative concept, a moral afterlife where the souls of the wicked face eternal containment and punishment.

At the heart of Mephitica lies a fundamental claim.

Souls, once created, are indestructible.

This idea suggests that obliteration is not a possible endpoint for any soul, regardless of its moral quality.

As such, rather than facing annihilation, evil souls must be managed.

The concept leads to a sort of cosmic quarantine, a system of isolation of malevolent entities to protect the sanctity of ongoing cycles of life and rebirth.

According to this text, these malevolent souls are confined within a hellish realm known as Dibasul,

or more commonly, Dibalon.

The latter name gained prominence due to its frequent appearance in subsequent texts.

Rather than more conventional notions of damnation, however, Mephitic in hell, Daibalon, is referred to as a refined machine, a divine apparatus meticulously engineered to sift out wickedness.

In this view, Divalon functions much like a quarantining system in modern science, where pathogens are isolated to prevent the spread of disease.

Here, the disease is the evil present within a wayward soul, and its containment ensures that it can no longer be spread throughout the continuing cycles of creation and reincarnation.

There's a lot to take in here at the jump, so I'd like to pause a moment for questions just to make sure we're all on the same page.

Anyone?

Yes, the lady with the long red coat?

If hell, or Diabolon, is a sort of prison or isolation chamber for the quarantining of evil from the rest of the world, what happens if one of these imprisoned souls gets out?

How does the escaped evil manifest?

An excellent question.

According to the Mephitic narrative, should an evil soul somehow reintegrate into the cycle of rebirth, its corruption could warp or otherwise damage the existing natural order.

It can be seen as a consequence of uncontrolled moral toxicity, much like how unchecked cell growth leads to cancer.

This idea of escape evil tainting the universe might have been a way for ancient peoples to make sense of famine, disease, violence, and other forms of human suffering and misfortune.

Yes, you, sir, in the hat.

Are there any examples of souls actually escaping this containment mechanism?

Not in the original writings, no.

However, there are several other texts that myself and other scholars have identified as part of, or largely derived from, the Mephitekan system of belief.

Within those writings, there are, in fact, several instances of souls escaping containment.

A well-known example of Mephita's influence on others' belief systems is the tale of Jesus and the mother from Nabada.

Once a fixture of early Christian traditions, but later omitted from the biblical canon, this tale tells of a grieving mother who pleaded with Jesus to save her son, falsely condemned for blasphemy.

Moved by her sorrow, Jesus restored the son to life, freeing him from hell.

This soul's name, Diolis, suddenly alludes to Dibellon, reinforcing the the connection between the Vinica and early Christianity.

Now, are there any other questions before we go on?

Come outside to the car.

What the fuck?

Uh, you all keep listening.

I gotta run out to the car real quick.

What are you doing out here?

I thought you were taking a nap.

I fuck up.

I really fucked up.

What the hell happened?

Did you sneak out somewhere?

Yeah, I slept out the bedroom window and...

then

Then I went to sweat that doctor Steadman Why the fuck would you want to do that?

And why didn't you tell me what you were up to?

Because the fucker was lying to us.

He knew about the shit we went through last night and I found proof it wasn't some kind of dream.

Okay, so why go it alone?

Jesus, how many fucking times have we all agreed to stick together on this shit?

Look, I don't know anything about those doing that.

How the hell am I gonna do what needs doing if I'm worried about how they're gonna react?

And I had no idea how things were gonna shake out.

I didn't want to get anyone into a mess they didn't ask for.

This way, it was all on me.

Stupid.

Just a fucking stupid move.

Look,

I know.

I shouldn't have done it,

but I didn't think I could bring anyone in on it.

Okay,

so what happened?

How did you fuck up?

I I sweat him, and uh

he

killed himself.

He killed himself?

What the fuck did you do to him, Mace?

I told you.

I just pressed them.

No different than what I do in an interrogation room.

Did anyone see this happen?

No,

just us.

We were in the far back of a parking lot.

Look, I'm not worried about getting nailed for it.

And why is that?

Because they could have busted us at any time if that's what they wanted.

He said the fuckers, this cult, are all over the place.

Not just here in Cold Sparrow, all over the world.

Okay, okay.

Well, did you get anything we can actually work with?

I got a name.

Some father Gaffney, supposed to be in charge of all this shady shit that goes on around here.

And in Cold Sparrow.

You know we could have surveilled the doctor.

There was no need to charge right out there.

Look, I know, I know.

It was just.

I realized he was lying about all that shit.

Didn't seem Phil like that.

Well, look, I get it.

I still think it was fucking stupid, but.

I get it.

How should we deal with where I got the lead?

I mean, I know we could tell Phil.

She's gonna read me a new one, too, but she'll understand.

But what about the sisters?

We're just gonna have to tell them.

As simple as that.

Are you sure that, sir?

I'm positive.

We can't afford any more secrets, Mace.

Besides, they've seen enough to know why you'd be desperate enough to make a move like that.

Yeah,

I guess.

We should also let them in on the other stuff, too.

You mean the shit at the pinnacle?

How the fuck would we...

Because it's one less screw this thing can turn.

You heard what it was trying to pull down there under the school?

Anything this thing can do to hurt us, it's gonna do.

Every secret is just another bullet in the chamber.

All right.

Whatever you say.

I just hope you're right, because if you aim.

I am.

Now,

let's get back in there.

Yes, you'll sir, in the corner.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I was curious if there's any mention of who made this Diabolon containment device.

I was wondering when I get that question.

A question that brings us to another fascinating aspect of Mephitican cosmology, which is that it does not include an origin story.

As it admits of no beginning, which is to say, the Diabolon was never built.

It exists eternally.

Seems like a good place to take a break.

Anyone want anything more to drink?

And I think there's more pizza from that takeout if anyone's hungry.

Not me.

I think I'll just have another cup of coffee.

I can barely keep my eyes open.

If you wouldn't mind making an old lady a first spot of tea, I'd certainly appreciate it.

You got it.

Could you go back to the image gallery while

Anything specific you're looking for?

Uh, not really.

I just want to see if anything stands out to me.

There's been so much I've seen and heard.

It would be nice to connect it to something that makes sense.

Oh, it all makes sense, all right.

Just not good sense.

Just like it's hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago we were trapped in a hospital, running for our lives.

And here we are, drinking wine and eating pizza.

I thought you were taking a nap.

What were you two doing out there?

Yeah, about that.

I think we...

Everyone, come here!

Look at this!

What did you find?

Look at this painting in the image gallery.

Who does this man look like?

Holy shit, that's the same guy from the painting back in the mansion.

The one where he's sitting with the hyena?

What's the caption say?

This enigmatic work, often associated with Mephitican themes, is attributed to Giovanni Di Martellino, a Renaissance painter who famously recounted a midnight visit from an unknown man with an extraordinary tale.

The visitor claimed to be the first to have escaped the depths of hell itself, a story that reportedly inspired the composition of this piece.

Highly sought after by collectors of occult art, the painting once sold for over $4 million and remains in private ownership.

What's the name of the painting?

It's called The Gentleman from Hell.

The Gentleman from Hell is a Maltopia production.

Today's episode was written by Mark Anzalone and performed by Stephen Zivik, Sam Stark, Aubrey Akers, Jesse Van Hove, Kelly Baer, and Matt Van Hove.

Sound editing was completed by Stephen Anselone and script editing was conducted by Walker Kornfeld.

Be sure to rate and review us on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

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.

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.

And we're back live during a flex alert.

Dialed in on the thermostat.

Oh, we're pre-cooling before 4 p.m., folks.

And that's the end of the third.

Time to set it back to 78 from 4 to 9 p.m.

Clutch move by the home team.

What's the game plan from here on out?

Laundry?

Not today.

Dishwasher?

Sidelined.

What a performance by Team California.

The power truly is ours.

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Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratches from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

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

Hey, a little play makes your day, and and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

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

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly.

Must be 18 years or older to purchase, play, or claim.

It's official.

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The time for thinking about going solar is over.

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Make the switch to solar today.

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CSLB number 978-152.

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Here's the show that we recommend.

Look, love it or hate it, the advertising and marketing industry is the ultimate broker of power and influence in the world today.

And now you can look behind the curtain.

I'm Ryan Joe, editor-in-chief of AdWeek and host of our new weekly podcast, AdSpeak.

AdSpeak brings stories from our top reporters reporters to life and delves into the people and companies that shape the products we buy, the entertainment we enjoy, and how we view the world.

We're bringing the drama of the newsroom directly to you and revealing the untold stories behind the headline.

AdSpeak by AdWeek is your new essential weekly podcast.

Subscribe and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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