The Gentleman From Hell |S1| Ep. 11

Speaker 1 Rusty Quill presents

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Speaker 13 Hello, Ben.

Speaker 14 Always right on the dot.

Speaker 15 Punctuality is a virtue, I believe.

Speaker 14 If only my other clients thought the same thing.

Speaker 14 So how are you? Last time we spoke, you were still a bit overwhelmed by your new lot in life.

Speaker 14 Have you settled in?

Speaker 15 I believe so. It's strange how one gets used to such things so quickly.

Speaker 15 In fact, I've already sunk down into some old routines. Although they certainly aren't tinged with the same desperation, I suppose.

Speaker 14 Do you mean you're writing again?

Speaker 15 Yes, and without all the pressure, I find it an almost alien exercise. Writing just for the sake of it.

Speaker 15 That's not to say the compulsion to pursue all the same topics has lessened, only that there's a legitimate lightness to it now. My anxiety has been replaced with a sort of...

Speaker 15 Well, I suppose you could call it enthusiasm.

Speaker 14 That's wonderful to hear, Ben. I'm happy for you.
Are you still writing the book, or...

Speaker 15 I've more or less finished with the book. I've just been doing a little revision here and there.
But most recently, I've taken to writing essays.

Speaker 15 I felt compelled to write the book due to its greater marketability.

Speaker 15 But now, left to my own devices, bereft of pressure, I much prefer to pursue my subjects as they occur to me, rather than force them into some overarching narrative.

Speaker 14 It sounds like things are really going well for you. How have you been doing on other fronts?

Speaker 15 I suspect you mean socially.

Speaker 14 Well, now that you mention it, have you been able to interact with any less anxiety?

Speaker 15 I've yet to find the occasion to. Rupert keeps the house stocked with whatever I might need or want.

Speaker 15 That's not to say I haven't left the house. I've driven for hours through the countryside.
Just a beautiful location.

Speaker 14 You might try your hand at stepping out into the public eye, Ben. Having no need to socialize, combined with a tendency to self-isolate.

Speaker 14 Well,

Speaker 14 you needn't be the recluse your father was.

Speaker 14 How have you been getting on with Rupert?

Speaker 15 Splendidly. He's quite interesting once you get him talking, though.
Bit rustic.

Speaker 15 He's.

Speaker 15 well, he's told me some things about my father.

Speaker 14 I see. Anything you'd like to share?

Speaker 15 Apparently we possessed many of the same interests, obsessions. He also followed my life, or at least my work, such as it was, and quite closely.
Even secured a copy of my book, or

Speaker 15 unpublished manuscript. Had it bound into a proper hardcover.

Speaker 14 How does that make you feel?

Speaker 15 I...

Speaker 15 I don't know.

Speaker 15 But I wonder if these insights haven't caused some of my more,

Speaker 15 well,

Speaker 15 recent issues.

Speaker 14 What's been going on, Ben?

Speaker 15 It's hard to put into words. I...
I have this apprehension, a sense of

Speaker 15 otherness.

Speaker 15 I can't quite explain. But it's made it difficult to sleep.
And when I do sleep, there's nothing but nightmares.

Speaker 14 It's entirely common for moving to induce anxiety. It's one of the top triggers, in fact.
Compounded by all the other factors you mentioned, what you're experiencing is perfectly normal.

Speaker 14 However, this sense of otherness, does it feel like your previous episodes of dissociation?

Speaker 15 That's just it.

Speaker 15 It doesn't.

Speaker 15 Those experiences were more...

Speaker 15 Well, I felt like my mind was dissolving into a sort of confusion. This is quite different.
My mind feels intact.

Speaker 15 It's more like I'm not occupying the same space anymore. Like I've gone somewhere else.

Speaker 14 Different feelings can be triggered by extreme anxiety, and these feelings can shift with time. Do you feel comfortable elaborating on what makes this other place seem distinct?

Speaker 15 It's like a brief intimation with something.

Speaker 15 Something wicked.

Speaker 14 Is there a particular time or place where this feeling is stronger?

Speaker 15 Late night, early evening. Almost always after I've startled awake from a nightmare.
But I've always had nightmares, if not quite as many in a string. And I've never had that feeling.
Hmm.

Speaker 14 Why don't you tell me about these nightmares, Ben?

Speaker 6 Well, my last one.

Speaker 6 It

Speaker 6 begins with me gazing out my bedroom window into a sky so black and ominous, it feels like a vast hungry cavern.

Speaker 6 Below, stretching back in ragged waves toward the heart of the city, are thousands of flickering red lights. Eyes.

Speaker 6 They're all fixed on me.

Speaker 6 I know they've come for me, to take me.

Speaker 6 I step back from the window.

Speaker 6 Only to stumble into the arms of a silent crowd that's been standing behind me all along.

Speaker 6 Though darkness cloaks them, I can see their faces, each one grinning with a palpable anticipation, like children catching their first glimpse of a birthday cake.

Speaker 6 They drag me through the hallway, my screams muffled, as if submerged underwater.

Speaker 6 As I cross the hallway, lines of people flank me on both sides, each smiling in their turn. Their attire is a chaotic blend of styles, no two outfits remotely alike.

Speaker 6 An overpowering, nauseating heat radiates from them, as if I'm walking past open flames.

Speaker 6 They murmur words that dissolve before reaching my ears. At the corridor's end, the elevator doors slide open with a gentle chime.

Speaker 6 The sound is innocent, almost whimsical. A lone butterfly fluttering amidst a swarm of wasps.

Speaker 6 As I'm thrust into the confined space, the force slams me against the opposite wall.

Speaker 6 The doors snap shut instantly.

Speaker 6 Time stretches, and a suffocating terror grips me. What if I'm trapped here forever?

Speaker 6 Then, faintly at first, I hear gears and pulleys stirring to life. The carriage begins to descend, its sides grating harshly against the surrounding walls.

Speaker 6 The relentless screech of metal on metal fills the air. But then I realize, it's not machinery I hear.
It's the streams of a vast crowd echoing from somewhere far below.

Speaker 6 This chilling revelation sends the car plunging into a freefall.

Speaker 6 I'm weightless, suspended between terror and disbelief, frantic about the impending impact.

Speaker 6 When the car finally halts, There's no crash, just an abrupt stillness.

Speaker 6 The air grows so heavy that I can't lift myself from where I've collapsed upon the floor. Then the elevator door opens, the chime sounding even more misplaced.

Speaker 6 I'm met with an expansive silence, an abyss of impossibly deep subterranean space that churns with emptiness.

Speaker 6 Then, from somewhere far below, footsteps begin to ascend, spiraling upward.

Speaker 6 The sound grows louder and then softer again, echoing as they wind around and around.

Speaker 6 As I lie helpless on the cold, unforgiving floor, the elevator's lights flicker and extinguish as someone walks past me, oblivious to my presence.

Speaker 6 I hear the footsteps shift from muted taps to metallic echoes as they step into the metal box.

Speaker 6 The doors slide shut with a final hiss.

Speaker 6 And the elevator ascends, its mechanical hum fading into the distance.

Speaker 15 Left alone in this dark, abandoned place, the crushing reality settles over me.

Speaker 15 I will never escape.

Speaker 15 And then

Speaker 15 I scream.

Speaker 1 It took me a while to line these tapes up, but I'm pretty sure they were recorded around the same time.

Speaker 17 If this occurred after the last tape, it's interesting that he chose not to include the incident at Hopper's balcony, or even his experience at the farm.

Speaker 18 I'm thinking that's why he's talking about his dreams. He ain't sure if what's happening is inside or outside his head.

Speaker 7 Ugh, poor man.

Speaker 1 Ben's no slouch intellectually. I'd say he knows full well the implications of what he says and is being super careful about what he admits to.
Raglan mentioned his prior disassociative episodes.

Speaker 1 Which means he might have more kicking around in his head than just OCD. Might be worried about some kind of of recurrence and wants to take things slowly, so he's cherry-picking what he tells Raglan.

Speaker 17 He mentioned the lift in a journal entry I read earlier. Another nightmare.

Speaker 18 If we tore that elevator apart, would it stop this thing from using it? Or, to put it another way, can we make something harder for paranormal Mojo to overcome by making it do more work?

Speaker 18 Like, if we just yank the elevator out entirely, would the thing have to work harder to use it to mess with us?

Speaker 17 Hmm, I can't say that I know. We could very well be dealing with the intersection of two worlds.
How easy is it for one of them to accomplish feats in the other is anyone's guess?

Speaker 1 I'd say it's likely to have little to no effect, just like our bullets with the hyena. But it does bring up a good question.
Are there physical anchor points for the supernatural?

Speaker 1 And if you messed with them, could you somehow affect the paranormal activity they're associated with?

Speaker 18 Like tearing that portrait of the hyena to shreds.

Speaker 17 There are so-called cursed objects objects and such, and hauntings often have physical epicenters. But I've no idea what would happen if you sought to alter or even destroy them.

Speaker 17 Generally speaking, when one encounters a place of spiritual turmoil, a ritual, which would vary from culture to culture, is performed to heal the space.

Speaker 17 And if one meets a lost soul, there's a ritualized attempt to cross them over into the light. But this phenomenon is different from any of that.
It's more widespread, but at the same time...

Speaker 17 concentrated. And as I've said before, I don't think this is the work of human spirits.

Speaker 18 Well, if some kind of cult start all this up, maybe we can figure out how they did it. At least enough to satisfy you and maybe even stop what's happening here.

Speaker 18 I suppose that's what my plan's starting to look like. Figure out what, if anything, it's physically associated with all this shit and work back to a cause, just like we would with any other case.

Speaker 1 Then maybe we should start with us. It's like I was saying the other night.
This thing's only now decided to put on a show when we showed up. We gotta face facts.
It wants us here.

Speaker 17 I wish you hadn't freezed it like that.

Speaker 17 Not that I disagree, mind you.

Speaker 18 All we can do is keep working the clues, like heading to the graveyard and seeing if there's anything to see.

Speaker 1 I'm not sure an encyclopedia entry for hyenas hyenas and the supernatural is exactly a clue.

Speaker 17 Perhaps not directly, but I think Mesa's right to make something of the imagery. It's not unheard of for spirits to take on symbolic forms to signify some underlying meaning.

Speaker 17 The hyenas' proximity to a place of the dead could very well be some kind of clue.

Speaker 18 Thank you, Phyllis.

Speaker 1 It's gonna be morning soon. We should head out at first light.
Nothing like working a case to screw up your sleep cycle.

Speaker 18 Haven't had one yet that hasn't.

Speaker 1 Better make sure our phones are fully charged, too. We should take plenty of pictures while we're out there.

Speaker 1 The disc had some canvassing shots of a graveyard the Bureau took back in 99, but nothing with any detail.

Speaker 17 I'm not going anywhere without the day's first cuppa.

Speaker 18 I'm right behind you. Somebody's got to make breakfast.

Speaker 17 Certainly seems like a right and proper day for visiting a graveyard.

Speaker 5 Or to avoid one.

Speaker 3 There's that too.

Speaker 18 Keep your eyes peeled for any sign of that car from the other night.

Speaker 18 I'd love to find out who that guy is.

Speaker 1 He didn't find his brother, so he might be back to take another look.

Speaker 17 Unfortunately, I don't think his brother will ever be found.

Speaker 16 You're getting anything from all these abandoned buildings?

Speaker 17 A little, but they're like the fading memories of a nightmare. You've got all these horrible impressions, but just rapidly vanishing images for what caused them.

Speaker 1 Anything at all stand out? Even the smallest detail?

Speaker 17 Do you recall what I said before? That I had a sort of ambient menace.

Speaker 17 Something that rolls in from the distance? But now, early in the day, it feels like it's waiting.

Speaker 7 Somewhere below.

Speaker 17 I felt it most when we were chasing that thing through the cellar. It's like the tides.

Speaker 19 A cycle.

Speaker 17 It comes out in the dead of night and recedes with the sun.

Speaker 1 Do you mean below metaphorically or literally?

Speaker 17 I don't know.

Speaker 17 Maybe both.

Speaker 16 So, hell, right?

Speaker 17 Hell can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. From what little I know about Satanism, I'd say we're seeing something other than the typical brand.

Speaker 17 Although the history of the area is certainly consistent with colonial notions for devilry and witchcraft.

Speaker 16 How so?

Speaker 17 It's all there in that book you found for me, The Witching of Isabel. It describes the witch trials that happen nearby, just the other side of the Pitchpot Woods.

Speaker 17 It's written by the actual town elder of Isabel, Samuel Whitlock. Ugh, despicable man.

Speaker 18 Wait a minute. What did you say in the name?

Speaker 1 Slow down, or you'll miss the entrance. That's the cemetery right there.

Speaker 18 Uh, yeah, I see it.

Speaker 9 Well, it's a graveyard, all right.

Speaker 17 It may not be very remarkable, but considering the town's size, that's to be expected.

Speaker 1 It's small enough for us to fan out a bit, just don't get out of eyeshot of each other.

Speaker 18 All right, let's get to it.

Speaker 1 Find something?

Speaker 19 Maybe.

Speaker 18 I've been going over my pics, and when I changed them to monochrome, I saw this.

Speaker 18 See that? Looks like a small path running from the edge of the cemetery over to this mausoleum right here.

Speaker 18 And then there's this.

Speaker 17 Looks like a cigarette butt.

Speaker 1 I didn't know hyenas smoked.

Speaker 18 Learning more about them every day.

Speaker 1 I'm guessing the graveyard is a popular spot for thrill seekers. There must have been loads of people coming and going.

Speaker 19 I mean, I ain't betting the the farm or anything, but it's all I managed to tighten.

Speaker 17 This mausoleum is so old, there's barely anything left to identify it. However, this area right here looks like there could be something.
Good thing I'm an old-handed grave rubbing.

Speaker 18 Come again, grave robbing?

Speaker 18 Sounds kinda.

Speaker 17 That'll be quite enough, young man. I'll have none of your potty mouth.
I just need to run to the van and back. I think I may have all I need in my bag.

Speaker 17 There, I think that's done it.

Speaker 7 Oh my.

Speaker 18 It's the same symbol you drew that night at the seance when you told us where to find Ben's stash.

Speaker 7 It was uh, it was on the false door.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I never really made much out of it. What with all the iconography and what not covering the mansion?

Speaker 1 I just thought it was some random decoration. Maybe something that would help us identify the location of the stash.

Speaker 17 I think it may be far more than that.

Speaker 18 I'm gonna grab my crowbar and pry this sucker open.

Speaker 1 Phil, what you doing?

Speaker 17 I'm going to try and read the symbol and perhaps save us a bit of legwork.

Speaker 7 All right.

Speaker 17 Let's see what this symbol has to say for itself.

Speaker 20 Thou art hereby declared a friend unto the devil, an apostate. Neither we nor the good Lord shall look upon thee with mercy.

Speaker 20 For thou hast ventured beyond where hope and redemption may follow, down that crooked and forsaken path that leadeth only unto hell.

Speaker 20 And now, mayst thou find thy final abode in those undying fires, where thou shalt burn and wail for all eternity.

Speaker 19 There be no justice in this world.

Speaker 19 Well, the Lord may damn the innocent.

Speaker 19 Gather ye round, ye unclean spirits of earth and air, and rend us under this place we claim in the name of him who hath fallen and shall rise yet again.

Speaker 19 Severate from the grasp of him who made us, but who hath forsaken us. He who consigneth to the flames those whom he fashioned and loved.

Speaker 19 And vouchsafe unto us a sign that the deed is accomplished.

Speaker 6 The Gentleman from Hell is a Maltopia production.

Speaker 2 Today's episode was written by Mark Anzalone and performed by Stephen Zivik, Sam Stark, Aubrey Akers, Jesse Van Hove, and Matt Van Hove.

Speaker 2 Sound editing was completed by Stephen Anzalone, 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 11 Dashing through the store, Dave's looking for a gift. One you can't ignore, but not the socks he picks.
I know, I'm putting them back. Hey, Dave, here's a tip.
Put scratchers on your list.

Speaker 5 Oh, scratchers, good idea.

Speaker 11 It's an easy shopping trip. We're glad we could assist.
Thanks, random singing people. So be like Dave this holiday and give the gift of play.
Scratchers from the California lottery.

Speaker 11 A little play can make your day.

Speaker 2 Please play responsibly. Must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.
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Speaker 9 Hi folks, it's Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman.

Speaker 9 You know, whether you are doing traditional Thanksgiving, a friend's giving, or something in between, Whole Foods Market has great everyday prices on all the things you need for for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 9 No way antibiotics ever birds bring quality to your table at a great price. You can enjoy so many ways to save on your Thanksgiving spread at Whole Foods Market.

Speaker 9 And remember, Prime gives you shop online and delivery or pickup as you like.

Speaker 2 Why choose a sleep number smart bed?

Speaker 12 Can I make my site softer?

Speaker 10 Can I make my site firmer?

Speaker 11 Can we sleep cooler?

Speaker 2 Sleep number does that. Cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side.
Your Sleep Number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night.

Speaker 2 It's the final days of our Black Friday sale. Recharged this season with a bundle of cozy, soothing comfort.
Now only $17.99 for our C2 mattress and base plus free premium delivery.

Speaker 2 Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Check it out at a SleepNumber store or sleepnumber.com today.

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