Nov. 8, 2023

Ep.226 – Horror at the Hexagon House Inn - A Return to Black Springs!

Ep.226 –  Horror at the Hexagon House Inn - A Return to Black Springs!

It's the early 1900s and a friend sends letters back home after moving to the small town of Black Springs, TX. But the correspondence becomes more and more worrying as time goes on...

Horror at the Hexagon House Inn by William Spears

Contact...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Spreaker podcast player badge
Audible podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

It's the early 1900s and a friend sends letters back home after moving to the small town of Black Springs, TX. But the correspondence becomes more and more worrying as time goes on...

Horror at the Hexagon House Inn by William Spears

Contact Us/Submit a Story
twitter.com/WeeklySpooky
facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

Music by Ray Mattis http://raymattispresents.bandcamp.com

Executive Producer
Rob Fields

Produced by Daniel Wilder

This episode sponsored by
HenFlix.com

For everything else visit
WeeklySpooky.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:04.639
A family man in the early nineteen
hundreds moves himself and his wife to a

2
00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:09.359
small town in Texas in order to
get away from the humidity which may be

3
00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:16.519
causing her persistent cough. But that
town in Texas was Black Springs, a

4
00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:21.440
town unlike any other in the United
States, and few get out alive.

5
00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:36.119
What's that you want to be scared
to? Come with me? He will

6
00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:43.960
experience tales over opera, ghosts,
and death. It is not recommended at

7
00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:51.000
the foot of we get hard to
listen as in the dark. It's more

8
00:00:51.200 --> 00:01:03.000
fun at that way way. This
is Weekly Speaking. Hello, my spookys,

9
00:01:03.599 --> 00:01:08.480
It's Wednesday, and you know what
that means. It's time for a

10
00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:15.040
little spooky in your weekly. I'm
your host and narrator, Enrique Kuto,

11
00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:19.400
and we have quite a chilling story
for you tonight. We're heading back to

12
00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:26.280
Black Springs, Texas, a town
we first visited back in episode two oh

13
00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:29.879
four. If you want to go
back and check it out. You don't

14
00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:32.560
have to listen to episode two o
four for this to make sense, but

15
00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:38.280
it does expand on the mythology of
Black Springs. I love the concept of

16
00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:46.200
Black Springs. It's a little homeye
Texas town with so many deeply dark mysteries,

17
00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:52.120
and this episode brings out some pretty
intense ones. I really enjoyed it,

18
00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:56.120
and it was written by our listener, William Spears, a listener inspired

19
00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:00.079
to write for Weekly Spooky. And
if you want to send in a story

20
00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.879
for us to consider, just like
tonight's author did, you can send it

21
00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:07.520
over to Weekly Spooky at gmail dot
com. You can also contact us for

22
00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.479
any reason at that address. We
love hearing from you, and hey,

23
00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:15.520
real quick, make sure you're subscribed
on your favorite podcasting app and why not

24
00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:21.360
leave us a five star rating,
whether on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It

25
00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:24.319
helps the show and doesn't cost you
a penny. And if you do want

26
00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:28.080
to spend a little bit to help
support the show, you can go to

27
00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:31.560
Weeklyspooky dot com and click on Patreon. For as little as one dollar a

28
00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:37.120
month, you get a bonus show
every single month, our Undead Gratitude,

29
00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.639
and a lot of other little bonuses
I think you'll enjoy. We also have

30
00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:46.719
a store at Weeklyspooky dot com where
you can get all kinds of fun wearables,

31
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.240
coffee mugs, and so much more. So there are lots of ways

32
00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:53.479
to support us, but The number
one way to support us is what you're

33
00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:58.800
doing right now, and that is
tuning in to a scary story with me.

34
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.560
My friends, Get out your cowboy
boots. We're about to go on

35
00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:20.120
a trip to Black Springs right after
these quick words from our sponsors Horror at

36
00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:29.439
the Hexagon House Inn by Bill Spears, September twenty fourth, nineteen thirty four.

37
00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:36.240
To my dear friend Robert Hoffman,
your favorite writer of weird fictions is

38
00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:40.479
a cowboy. Now, that's right. I, Henry Noble and my lovely

39
00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:46.719
wife Victoria have moved from the great
city of Chicago to an up and coming

40
00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:53.319
Texas town called Black Springs. You
may ask why we have moved. The

41
00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:59.159
move was because Victoria has been suffering
from a persistent cough for months and doctors

42
00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:04.039
have recommended that we moved to a
drier climate. So goodbye Great Lakes and

43
00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:10.120
hello to a town that has no
natural water source other than a creek that

44
00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:15.400
is ten miles away. Black Springs
is a town that seems to be prospering

45
00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:19.399
more than many others from the recent
oil boom. While the country seems to

46
00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:24.959
be in a recession. You couldn't
tell it here. The name even comes

47
00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:29.399
from the oil boom. The story
I've heard is that Black Springs was named

48
00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:34.160
New Munich when the community was discovered
by German immigrants in eighteen fifty nine.

49
00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:40.040
The name was changed in nineteen seventeen
when loathing of the Kaiser by the Scotch

50
00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.839
Irish citizens that took over the population
and the discovery of oil in the area

51
00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:49.560
caused them to change the name to
Black Springs. It's no secret that the

52
00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:56.480
history of Texas economics is a bloody
one between cattle drives and fence cutter wars.

53
00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.120
This newest chapter is no different.
On the outside skirts of oil boom

54
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.040
towns, there are acres of tense
cities where the roughnecks live while working in

55
00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:10.800
this county. At night, the
roads are filled with miscreants and robbers that

56
00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:15.120
are looking to take advantage of the
roughnecks that are reaping great rewards for the

57
00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:20.240
incredibly long hours they are working.
Bars and beer joints are being erected overnight

58
00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:26.720
to tempt the roughnecks out of their
pay. It's not unusual for gunfights to

59
00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:31.240
happen at these establishments. Here we
are three and a half decades into the

60
00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:35.439
twentieth century, an age of civility, and these men are living like they

61
00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:41.279
were in the outlaw West. Don't
let my previous paragraphs worry you too much

62
00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:45.000
about my safety, though. If
you take out the bars, robbers,

63
00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.920
ten cities and oil dericks, Black
Springs and Samuel County are quite beautiful.

64
00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:55.959
There's an opera house downtown that they
are installing a screen and movie projector into.

65
00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:00.240
It will be the first movie theater
in this area. That's not all.

66
00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.920
There is legend that the opera house
was opened by John Wilkes Booth after

67
00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:10.319
he escaped death. Imagine the absurdity
of the assassin of my home state hero

68
00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.759
escaping a burning barn and gunshot to
the neck to open an opera house in

69
00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:20.600
Texas. Our lodging is quite remarkable
as well. We're staying in room two

70
00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:26.639
of the Hexagon House Inn. This
beautiful structure was built at the turn of

71
00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:31.160
the sentry and has six identical sides, each with balconies and three gables.

72
00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:38.040
Each gable has a five pointed star
above a peaked window. The upstairs area

73
00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:42.639
has six rooms, one for each
side of the inn. The rooms form

74
00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.439
a sort of circle, so Room
one is next to Room six. Each

75
00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:51.120
room is complete with a king sized
bed, and a fireplace complete with a

76
00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:57.120
sitting area with two comfortable chairs.
I have never seen anything like this and

77
00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.560
refuse to believe that an inn this
remarkable ex exists anywhere else in the world.

78
00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:05.959
The inn is owned by a couple
named Cartwright. They also live downstairs

79
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:11.199
and are great company. Inclosing,
I hope that you are doing well in

80
00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:15.680
California. Tomorrow morning, I will
start my new job as a ranch hand,

81
00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:19.360
because we both know that the delayed
payments from Weird Fiction's magazine are not

82
00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:25.399
going to be enough to support my
wife and myself. Your friend, Henry

83
00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:32.360
Noble, October twenty fifth, nineteen
thirty four. Dear Robert Hoffmann, I'm

84
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.600
glad to hear that all is well
with you, and I did enjoy your

85
00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:40.959
story that was published in the last
issue of Weird Fictions. The owner of

86
00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:45.519
the local pharmacy was kind enough to
stock the magazine when I requested it.

87
00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:48.279
It turns out that it is quite
the cellar with the roughnecks that frequent the

88
00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:55.839
store for benzadrine and sleeping pills.
I'm honestly surprised these Scotch Irish barbarians know

89
00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:00.800
how to read They have finished installing
the screen and the projector the Opera House,

90
00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:05.680
and it is now officially a movie
theater. This weekend, for Halloween,

91
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:11.560
the new Universal Pictures movie The Black
Cat will be showing. It's based

92
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:16.079
on the Edgar Allan Poe story.
I hope the Opera House isn't truly haunted

93
00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:20.560
by John Wilkes Booth. He might
decide to shoot me, confusing me with

94
00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:26.000
another Republican from Illinois. My new
job as a ranch hand on the Failure

95
00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:30.439
ranch is going well enough, but
I fear that I am not entirely cut

96
00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.840
out for the work. It is
hard labor and long hours. I have

97
00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:39.159
never ridden a horse before, so
the experience I have to offer is limited.

98
00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.840
I feel like a burden because the
other hands are constantly having to stop

99
00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.879
to teach me things that seem to
come naturally to most people born down here.

100
00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:54.519
My writing has been suffering because I
have hardly any time to devote to

101
00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.480
it. Working in the oil field
is not a suitable alternative. Perhaps I

102
00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.799
can take up work as a soda
jerk for the local drug store. Victoria

103
00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:07.519
is ever supportive of whatever I wished
to do. She received an inheritance years

104
00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:13.120
ago. And it helps us greatly. Thank you for asking about Victoria's cough.

105
00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.240
It has gotten so much better since
we've moved to Texas. It has

106
00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:22.600
virtually disappeared in the past month.
Speaking of Victoria, I do understand that

107
00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.360
this letter will find its way to
you some time after Halloween. But I

108
00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.799
have a great ghost story to share
with you that involves Victoria. It's not

109
00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:35.759
a weird fiction's yon either, It's
a real ghost story. For the past

110
00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:39.120
two weeks, I've woken up in
the middle of the night and Victoria was

111
00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:43.240
not in bed with me. For
the first few nights, I went back

112
00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:48.559
to sleep and paid her absence no
mine, and returned to my slumber.

113
00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.600
On the fourth or fifth night,
however, I let my curiosity get the

114
00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:58.840
best of me and began looking for
her. I would find Victoria in Room

115
00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:03.120
four of the inn. The room
is currently unoccupied, as Victoria and I

116
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:09.039
are the only lodgers at the moment. Victoria is spending these nights in a

117
00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.120
room four, sitting by the fire
talking. The chair she's been sitting in

118
00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:18.159
has its back to the door,
so she hasn't seen me standing there.

119
00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.879
There was no indication of who she
had been talking to though the other chair

120
00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:30.159
was completely empty. It's like she
was talking to herself. But that is

121
00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:35.200
an impossibility because she has been slipping
into speaking German at times. I have

122
00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:41.399
never known Victoria to speak any other
language. Last Sunday morning, over breakfast,

123
00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:48.000
I asked Victoria about her fireside chats. She said, she has no

124
00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:52.200
memory of what I'm talking about.
She's firmly convinced that she's sleeping through the

125
00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:56.759
night. She even went as far
as to tell me that the past few

126
00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.440
weeks were the best she slept in
years, and only knows of going to

127
00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.799
sleep and waking up. Then I
mentioned to her that I heard her speak

128
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.159
in German. Victoria replied, I
don't even know German, in a laugh,

129
00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:15.440
as if I were making the whole
thing up as a joke on her.

130
00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:20.720
But then she paused, I have
been having dreams of a German priest.

131
00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:26.080
Though. Do you think that it's
possible that Victoria is dreaming of a

132
00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:33.159
ghost, or possibly that this is
a case of possession. I feel like

133
00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.440
I should be keeping a record of
this. Then maybe I too can have

134
00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:43.639
a new story published in Weird Fictions. Your friend, Henry Noble, November

135
00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:50.919
thirtieth nineteen thirty four. Dear Robert
Hoffman, your favorite writer of weird fictions,

136
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.759
is no longer a cowboy. That
is correct, I am now a

137
00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:00.440
legitimate soda jerk. I do hope
that I can perform this job to the

138
00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:05.960
best of my abilities. All joking
aside. I received your letter Wednesday and

139
00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:11.559
do appreciate your support in my ghost
situation. I felt you would best understand

140
00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:15.279
the situation. Out of all of
our circle of weird fiction's writer friends.

141
00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:18.720
The others all loved to write about
the supernatural, but I doubt any of

142
00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:24.960
them truly believe in the things they
write about. It is now a cool

143
00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:28.399
November Friday afternoon, and I am
writing in the cool air while sitting on

144
00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.399
the porch of the inn. Yesterday
was Thanksgiving. I hope your holiday was

145
00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:39.879
well. Mine was educational. Mister
and Missus Cartwright are a couple in their

146
00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:45.840
forties that never managed to have children. On Thanksgiving, they invited Victoria and

147
00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:50.399
I to join them and the family
of mister Cartwright's brother for Thanksgiving dinner.

148
00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:54.159
Mister Cartwright's brother, David, lives
in San Antonio, where he has a

149
00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:58.919
practice as a doctor. David,
his wife and two teenage sons are also

150
00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.320
staying in rooms five and six of
the Inn for the weekend. During the

151
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:09.320
dinner, I brought up Victoria's sleep
walking and dreams. As strange as it

152
00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:13.120
seems, I've actually never mentioned these
things to the Cartwrights before, only to

153
00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.200
you. I really haven't seen a
point in mentioning them. The sleepwalking hasn't

154
00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:22.759
been a bother for weeks. Victoria
denies it even happens, claiming she's been

155
00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:26.919
sleeping soundly. I've gotten used to
it and am able to sleep through it.

156
00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.720
At the mention of dreams of a
German priest, mister Cartwright and his

157
00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:37.320
brother David both fell silent. I
took this as a rather ominous sign,

158
00:13:37.879 --> 00:13:41.879
so after dinner I made it a
point to catch David on the porch while

159
00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:45.960
he was smoking his pipe. I
wanted to find out if there was more

160
00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:50.200
to this. I really couldn't think
of any way to lead in with it,

161
00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:54.240
so I just started talking, hoping
that he would bring up the topic.

162
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.039
It took a bit, but the
conversation came around when David asked me

163
00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:03.200
how long Victoria and I were planning
on staying at the Inn. As long

164
00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:07.080
as we can. We really haven't
discussed whether we should stay here or go

165
00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:11.440
back to Chicago. Have you thought
of finding another place to stay in the

166
00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:18.200
meantime? Does this have to do
with Victoria's dreams? David fell silent.

167
00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:22.879
He was looking for an excuse for
us to leave that didn't involve whatever he

168
00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:26.919
was hiding. When he realized that
there wasn't one, he asked, do

169
00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.440
you believe in the supernatural? I
answered that I did. I think there's

170
00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.120
something supernatural in that house. I
think it's been here since nineteen seventeen.

171
00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.919
Why nineteen seventeen, I asked.
In nineteen seventeen, the Catholic Church built

172
00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.720
that little chapel out on the east
side of town. I don't know why

173
00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:52.120
they even built it. Everyone in
town is either German families that immigrated to

174
00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:56.720
Texas during the days of the Impresarios
or scotch Irish by way of Tennessee.

175
00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:05.000
The Germans are Lutheran and the scotch
Irish are Baptist. There's no Catholics any

176
00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:09.720
who. They sent a priest,
a German named Father Johann Bauer, not

177
00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:13.360
like the Germans that were already here
and have been here since the town was

178
00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:18.159
founded. This was a German from
Germany. You can imagine that didn't go

179
00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.120
over very well. Since the Great
War was going on at the time.

180
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:26.039
We were in the middle of changing
the name of the town because even the

181
00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:31.840
Germans living here didn't want to be
associated with Germany. People said things about

182
00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:35.720
him. Some said that the Catholics
didn't even build the church, that it

183
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.120
was the Kaiser that had built it, and that the priest was a spy

184
00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:43.440
for the Kaiser. That made sense
to a lot of people. Father Bauer

185
00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:48.440
was having a hard time finding any
place to stay. None of the boarding

186
00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:50.879
houses would have him. No one
wanted to rent or sell to him.

187
00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:56.159
My parents owned the inn at the
time and weren't in any position to turn

188
00:15:56.200 --> 00:16:00.639
down anybody, so he stayed here
in room four. I was twenty two

189
00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.159
at the time and working here part
time and at the pharmacy part time,

190
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:08.679
trying to save up for medical school. There was a pause. It was

191
00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:14.120
almost as if David needed a push
to go further. So I asked him

192
00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.240
what happened to Father Bower. That
church is about a mile and a half

193
00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:23.039
from here. Father Bower would walk
it every day. I still don't see

194
00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:27.159
why no one else was setting foot
in the place. But he walked there

195
00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:32.519
every morning and then back here every
evening. One morning he left for the

196
00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:38.399
church, but didn't come back that
evening. He just disappeared. I asked,

197
00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.960
in a town this small, nobody
just disappears. You hear talk about

198
00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.320
what happened to people? What talk
did you hear about what happened to Father

199
00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:55.320
Bawer? He was lynched? You
mean he was hanged. I was disgusted.

200
00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.960
I had heard stories of people being
hanged here in the South, but

201
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:03.200
the tales I'd heard usually involved the
person being hanged also being accused of horrible

202
00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:10.720
crimes. I couldn't imagine someone being
hung over paranoid rumors. Not all lynchings

203
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.000
are hangings, David continued. In
father Bower's case, he was tarred and

204
00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:21.000
feathered. I have lived my entire
life in Chicago, where the police handle

205
00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:25.680
matters. Lynchings of any sort are
not common. I was trying to imagine

206
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.680
someone being tarred and feathered. I
had always heard of this as a metaphor

207
00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:34.000
for humiliation, not a lynching.
David saw the confusion in my face and

208
00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:38.880
began to explain, when someone is
tarred and feathered, it's supposed to hurt

209
00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:44.200
and scar, but not kill.
The tar has to be hot enough to

210
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:48.119
stick to the skin and the feathers. That's about three hundred and fifty to

211
00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:52.440
four hundred degrees at least. There
was a group of about a half a

212
00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:56.640
dozen men that waited for Father Bower
between the church and here that evening.

213
00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:00.079
From what I understand, the goal
was never to kill him, just to

214
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.759
hurt him bad enough to make him
want to leave. Something went wrong,

215
00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.400
though, and he ended up dead. From what I heard, the body

216
00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:14.519
was buried with the feathers still melted
to the flesh. David Cartwright went on

217
00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.400
to tell me that the Catholic Church
sent a new priest the following spring,

218
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:23.480
this time an irishman, so those
types of rumors wouldn't spread again. David

219
00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:27.920
said he moved to San Antonio the
following fall and tries not to think of

220
00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.599
Father Bauer. I hope that my
story hasn't lowered your spirits too much.

221
00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:37.319
I fear that this story might be
too gruesome for even the pages of Weird

222
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.200
Fictions if I were to try to
turn it into a story for the magazine.

223
00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:45.039
I felt that I must write you
while it was still on my mind,

224
00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:51.599
since it seems to relate to Victoria's
new sleeping habits. I really want

225
00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:53.680
to get this to you as soon
as possible, and it is early enough

226
00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:57.640
that I can walk to the post
now and send it. Henry Noble,

227
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:06.759
February nineteenth, nineteen thirty five.
My friend, Robert Hoffman, it has

228
00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:08.720
been months since I have written to
you, and if you responded to the

229
00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:14.640
letter I sent you during Thanksgiving,
I never received it. I have been

230
00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:21.319
institutionalized and imprisoned since the night that
I placed that letter in the post.

231
00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:25.839
To you, Robert, you are
the only one that will believe me,

232
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.839
and I have tried to explain to
others what happened, but they locked me

233
00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:33.640
up in a sanitarium in North Texas, where I was drugged and unable to

234
00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:38.960
communicate with the outside world. Don't
go away weekly, Spooky will be right

235
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:52.480
back. I spent months in that
dreaded place, surrounded by people who couldn't

236
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:57.039
even form a sentence. Screams of
the mad filled the hallways at night.

237
00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:02.799
They thought I was because of the
story I told them, but the place

238
00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:08.279
they sent me to cure me was
driving me mad. I'm getting far ahead

239
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:12.279
of myself, though, I need
to start with that night, the night

240
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:17.960
that you last heard from me.
The evening was very normal. After I

241
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:22.200
returned from placing the letter in the
post, we sat in the parlor visiting

242
00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:27.319
the Cartwrights, David's family, Virginia, and myself. The Cartwrights had a

243
00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:32.799
bottle of Kentucky bourbon that they shared
with us. Around midnight, a thunderstorm

244
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:37.880
rolled in. We wound things down
and retired to our rooms. I fell

245
00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:42.160
asleep easily, with the bourbon in
my system and Victoria beside me. As

246
00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:47.920
soon as my head hit the pillow. I was sleeping heavily, regardless of

247
00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:52.759
the storm. Suddenly I was awakened
by a stark, blood curdling scream,

248
00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:59.160
the scream of a woman. I
bolted upright, reaching my hand beside me.

249
00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:07.359
Victoria wasn't there. The storm was
still raging outside. I got to

250
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:11.359
my feet and rushed to the door, reaching for the electric switch next to

251
00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.079
it. I flipped the switch up, then down, then up again,

252
00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:22.400
but there was nothing. The storm
had knocked out the electricity. I rushed

253
00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:26.519
back to bed with only the flashes
of lightning to guide me. There was

254
00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.599
a kerosene lamp and a box of
matches on the bedside table. I was

255
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:36.920
so shaken by the scream and Victoria
missing that I had trouble striking the matches.

256
00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:41.160
It took me five matches before I
was able to keep one lit long

257
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:45.119
enough to light the lamp. I
then returned to the door and took a

258
00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:51.480
deep breath to steady myself before I
pulled the door open. The light of

259
00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:55.640
the lamp could only illuminate so far, so I stepped out of the room.

260
00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:00.000
I was still at a loss of
who made the scream or what caused

261
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.920
them to make it. My intentions
were to make it to room six and

262
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:08.319
five to check on David Cartwright's family. I knocked on the door of Room

263
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:12.640
six, where the teenage sons of
David were staying. I knocked on the

264
00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:21.559
door and it creaked open. I
called into the room hello. There was

265
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.960
no answer. I put my hand
with the lamp into the room and followed

266
00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:30.559
it with my head. My dear
friend Robert. I wish I could forget

267
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:36.839
the sight I saw, but it
will haunt me till the day I die.

268
00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:40.720
The bodies of the two teenage boys
were laid on the floor at the

269
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:45.039
foot of the bed, one on
top of the other. The foreheads of

270
00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.799
each of them split open as if
by an axe. There were two streaks

271
00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:56.519
of blood running from the bed to
the bodies. They were killed, then

272
00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:00.960
dragged to the floor. I gasped. This was a horrific scene, but

273
00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:04.720
it couldn't have been the source of
the scream that I heard. It was

274
00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:10.200
a woman's scream. I mustered up
courage to get past what I had seen

275
00:23:10.519 --> 00:23:17.240
and continued to Room five. Once
again, I knocked in the door creaked

276
00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:21.640
open. I repeated the entry I
used in room six, with the lamp

277
00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:26.559
entering the room before me. The
sight of David Cartwright and his wife was

278
00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:32.640
even more startling to me than the
sight of their sons. David was lying

279
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:37.240
face down on the bed with large
cuts all over him. He must have

280
00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:41.680
been attacked by the same acts that
his sons were. He never stood a

281
00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:47.480
chance. He was probably dead before
he could even wake up. His right

282
00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:52.240
arm was either under him or missing
altogether. I couldn't bring myself to approach

283
00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:59.079
him to find out. I couldn't
see David's wife until I moved the lamp

284
00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:03.839
to explore more of the room.
There she was bent over the chair,

285
00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:08.960
her back up in the air,
and the axe still in her the handle

286
00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:15.799
pointing straight up. I gasped again, this time almost dropping the lamp.

287
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:22.160
I turned and ran to the staircase. It crossed my mind to see if

288
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:26.519
Victoria was in Room four, but
the thought of finding her butchered by the

289
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:33.240
axe in there was simply too much
to bear, so instead I ran down

290
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.519
the stairs. When I was half
way down the staircase, there was a

291
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:45.000
lightning flash that revealed the contents of
the foyer to me. It was the

292
00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:51.359
bodies of the Cartwright's lying on the
floor, with Victoria above Missus Cartwright a

293
00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:56.039
knife in her raised hand. Her
back was turned to me. In that

294
00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:02.200
split second, I saw the hand
come down, then it was dark again

295
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:08.440
before I saw her plunge the knife
into the chest of Missus Cartwright. This

296
00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:14.279
sight was too much, and I
succeeded in dropping the lamp. This time

297
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:18.920
it shattered and the kerosene splashed onto
the steps. The open flame of the

298
00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:26.720
lamp caught the spreading kerosene and ignited. Victoria turned around, then ran towards

299
00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:30.359
me with the knife in her hand. In a lightning flash, her face

300
00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:38.160
changed from my Victoria to a man
with a disfigured face, A burned face

301
00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:45.960
with feathers melted to it. My
Victoria was father bower in that flash of

302
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:52.119
lightning, but then it was back
to my Victoria when the flash was over.

303
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:57.720
But it wasn't my Victoria, because
whatever it was still came at me

304
00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:03.680
with the knife raise. I was
caught off guard and fell backwards, sliding

305
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:07.160
down the stairs, but I was
able to gather myself enough to make it

306
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:11.880
to my feet quickly. Victoria,
now standing in front of me, raised

307
00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:15.720
her hand, then brought the knife
down at me, but I caught her

308
00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:21.039
arm. The fire was beginning to
build on the staircase above us, but

309
00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:26.839
Victoria was too concerned with stabbing,
and I too concerned with us surviving for

310
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:33.480
either of us to notice she spoke. It was not Victoria's voice, though,

311
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:38.119
It was the voice of a demon, and it will haunt me until

312
00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:42.960
the day I die. The words
that came from her made no sense.

313
00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:48.720
Elderkov seize you. The struggle took
all of my strength, but I was

314
00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:53.079
able to push her to the side
into where the flames had spread. As

315
00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:59.279
her night gown caught fire. I
ran for the front door and escaped the

316
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:07.160
house. I can only imagine Victoria's
fate being left in the house as it

317
00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:15.079
burned. I stood in the road
watching the Hexagon house in engulfed in flames.

318
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:21.359
As the sheriff approached, I told
him exactly what had happened, and

319
00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:26.160
he took me to the sanitarium.
I feared I would die in that place,

320
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.039
screaming the words Eldri Kisov, seizes
you. But the sheriff returned for

321
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:37.319
me and took me back to Black
Springs for a trial. I thought that

322
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:41.319
it would be an actual trial,
but instead I was rushed into a court

323
00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:48.799
room and found guilty in less than
an hour of murdering seven people. I

324
00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:55.960
now sit on death row. This
being my first correspondent since I last wrote

325
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:04.000
you. You are the only person
that will believe me. Please help Henry

326
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:15.599
noble Man, my spookies, I
cannot lie. I love these Black Springs

327
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:19.400
stories. They just pull me in
so intensely, And I really did enjoy

328
00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:25.799
doing a narration that was kind of
a old style voiceover. I enjoyed it,

329
00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.480
and I hope you did too.
And I hope William Spears, if

330
00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:32.160
you're listening to this right now,
I hope you create a lot more Black

331
00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:36.319
Springs for us to enjoy here at
Weekly Spooky. We've even had comments about

332
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:41.480
it on our Apple podcast reviews.
People love the Black Springs. I also

333
00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:45.279
want to give you a quick reminder
that Kryptomus is just around the corner.

334
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:51.240
In December. We'll be having multiple
bonus shows, bonus compilations, tons of

335
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:56.319
chilling content to make sure your holiday
is the proper amount of spooky and cheery,

336
00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:03.000
because, as you probably know,
Christmas is the second scariest holiday of

337
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:07.599
the year, right after the Big
h And I want to say a humongous

338
00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:11.559
thank you to our Patreon backers who
helped make this show happen every single month.

339
00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:14.160
There are eighty eight of you right
now, and I would love to

340
00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:18.720
see us finally break one hundred this
year. So if you want to check

341
00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:22.920
it out, go to Weeklyspooky dot
com and click on Patreon. And speaking

342
00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:26.000
of I want to say an extra
special thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters.

343
00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:30.359
These are folks who pay just a
little bit more to hear their names

344
00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:34.519
on the show, and they are
Johnny Nix, Bobotopia dot Com, Megan

345
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:38.799
Hua, Julia Kersh, Brent McCalla, Steve King, Karen Wee, met

346
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:42.039
Jack Kerk and Craig Cohen. Thank
you all so much, and if you

347
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.599
want to join that list, just
go to Weeklyspooky dot com, click on

348
00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:51.599
Patreon and select anything at fifteen dollars
or higher. In your tears, we

349
00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:53.960
deeply appreciate it and we love what
we do here at Weekly Spooky, so

350
00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:57.599
any support makes a huge difference to
us. So hey, maybe share the

351
00:29:57.640 --> 00:30:00.599
show with a friend. Well,
anyway, my friends, I need to

352
00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:03.720
get out of here and get back
to work because we have something very special

353
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:08.119
coming up very soon. So for
myself, for my executive producer Rob Fields,

354
00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:12.200
my producer Dan Wilder, and our
composer Ray Maddis, I will talk

355
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:17.039
at you next time, and maybe
I'll start spilling some details on a new

356
00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:21.839
podcast I'm getting ready to launch.
Ooh, how mysterious. Till next time,

357
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.920
Thank you for listening. We make
sure to find your way back next

358
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:33.640
week. But for now, you
are safe, trust me.