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One of my favorite memories of scaring myself as a
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child was getting a compilation book of Edgar Allan Poe's
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stories from my elementary school library. It brought me so
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much fear and so much excitement. I remember running home
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from school with that book in my backpack as the
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sky was dark and a storm was coming. I was
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in my childhood living room, but I wasn't alone. I
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had a pizza and the books of Poe. Every so
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often I'll bring you a tale of Poe, and I
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hope it gives you that scary fun sense, just the
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same as it does for me. So listen to these
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words from our sponsors, and when the clock strikes midnight,
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the story will begin. The Murders in the Room Morgue
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by Edgar Allan Poe, Part one, Paris. In Paris, it
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was in the summer of eighteen forty there I first
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met that strange and interesting young fellow, August Dupin. Dupin
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was the last member of a well known family, a
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family which had once been rich and famous. He himself, however,
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was far from rich. He cared little about money. He
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had enough to buy the most necessary things of life
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and a few books. He did not trouble himself about
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the rest, just books with books. He was happy. We
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first met when we were both trying to find the
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same book, as it was a book which few had
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ever heard of. This chance brought us together in an
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old bookstore. Later we met again in the same store,
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then again in another bookstore. Soon we began to talk.
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I was deeply interested in the family history he told me.
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I was surprised at how much much and how widely
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he had read. More important, the force of his busy
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mind was like a bright light in my soul. I
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felt that the friendship of such a man would be
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for me riches without price. I therefore told him of
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my feelings toward him, and he agreed to come and
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live with me. He would have, I thought, the joy
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of using my many fine books, and I would have
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the pleasure of having someone with me, for I was
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not happy alone. We passed the days reading, writing, and talking.
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But Dupin was a lover of the night, and at night,
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often with only the light of the stars to show
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us the way, we walked the streets of Paris, sometimes talking,
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sometimes quiet, always thinking. I soon noticed a special reasoning power.
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He had an unusual reasoning using it gave him great pleasure.
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He told me once, with a soft and quiet laugh,
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that most men have windows over their hearts. Through these
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he could see into their souls. Then he surprised me
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by telling what he knew about my own soul, and
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I found that he knew things about me that I
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had thought only I could possibly know. His manner at
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these moments was cold and distant, His eyes looked empty
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and far away, and his voice became high and nervous.
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At such times it seemed to me that I saw
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not just Dupin, but two Dupins, one who coldly put
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things together, and another who just as coldly took them apart.
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One night, we were walking down one of Paris's long
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and dirty streets. Both of us were busy with our
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thought thoughts. Neither had spoken for perhaps fifteen minutes. It
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seemed as if we had each forgotten that the other
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was there at his side. I soon learned that Dupin
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had not forgotten me. However, Suddenly he said, you're right.
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He is a very little fellow, that's true, and he
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would be more successful if he acted in lighter, less
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serious plays. Yes, there can be no doubt of that,
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I said at first I saw nothing strange in this.
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Dupin had agreed with me with my own thoughts. This,
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of course, seemed to be quite natural. For a few seconds.
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I continued walking and thinking. But suddenly I realized that
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Dupin had agreed with something which was only a thought.
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I had not spoken a single word. I stopped walking
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and turned to my friend Dupin. I said, Dupin, this
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is beyond my understanding. How could you know what I
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was thinking of? Here? I stopped in order to test him,
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to learn if he really did know my unspoken thoughts.
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How did I know you were thinking of Chantilly? Why
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do you stop? You were thinking that Chantilly is too
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small for the plays in which he acts. That is
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indeed what I was thinking. But tell me, in Heaven's name,
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the method, if method, there is by which you have
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been able to see into my soul in this manner.
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It was the fruit seller. Fruit seller, I know no
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fruit seller. I mean the man who ran into you
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as we entered this street. It may have been ten
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or fifteen minutes ago, perhaps less. Yes, yes, that's true.
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I remember now. A fruit seller carrying a large basket
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of apples on his head almost threw me down, But
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I don't understand why the fruit seller should make me
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think of Chantilly, or if he did, how you can
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know that I will explain. Listen closely. Now let us
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follow your thoughts from the fruit seller to the play
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actor Shantilli. Those thoughts must have gone like this, from
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the fruit seller to the cobblestones, from the cobblestones to
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the stereotomy, and from the stereotomy to the Epicurius, to O'Brien,
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and then to Chantilly. As we turned into this street,
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the fruit seller, walking very quickly past us, ran against
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you and made you step up on some cobblestones which
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had not been put down evenly, and I could see
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that the stones had hurt your foot. You spoke a
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few angry words to yourself and continued walking, but you
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kept looking down down at the cobblestones in the street,
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so I knew you were still thinking of stones. Then
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we came to a small street where they are putting
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down street stones, which they have cut in a new
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and very special way. Here your face became brighter, and
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I saw your lips move. I could not doubt that
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you were saying the word stereotomy, the name of this
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new way of cutting stones. It is a strange word,
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isn't it, But you will remember that we read about
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it in the newspaper only yesterday. I thought that word
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stereotomy must make you think of that old Greek writer
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named Epicurius, who wrote of something he called atoms. He
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believed that the world and everything in the heavens above
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are made of these atoms. Not long ago, you and
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I were talking about Epicurius and his idea as his atoms,
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ideas which Epicurius wrote about more than two thousand years ago.
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We were talking about how much those old ideas are
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like today's ideas about the earth and the stars and
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the sky. I felt sure that you would look up
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to the sky. You did look up. Now. I was
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certain that I had been following your thoughts as they
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had in fact come into your mind. I too looked
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up and saw that the group of stars we call
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Orian is very bright and clear. Tonight, I knew you
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would notice this and think about the name Oriyan. Now
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follow my thoughts carefully. Only yesterday in the newspaper there
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was an article about the actor Chantilly, an article which
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was not friendly to Chantilly, not friendly at all. We
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noticed that the writer of the article had used some
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words taken from a book we both had read. These
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words were about Ryan, So I knew you would put
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together the two ideas of Oriyan and Shantilly. I saw
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you smile, remembering that article and the hard words in it.
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Then I saw you stand straighter, as tall as you
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could make yourself. I was sure you were thinking of
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Chantilly's size, and especially his height. He is small, he
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is short, and so I spoke saying that he is
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indeed a very little fellow, this Chantilly, and he would
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be more successful if he acted in lighter, less serious plays.
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I will not say that I was surprised. I was
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more than surprised. I was astonished. Dupin was right, as
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right as he could be. Those were, in fact my thoughts,
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my unspoken thoughts, as my mind moved from one thought
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to the next. But if I was astonished by this,
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I would soon be more more than astonished. One morning,
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this strangely interesting man showed me once again his unusual
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reasoning power. We heard that an old woman had been
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killed by unknown persons. The killer or the killers had
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cut her head off and escaped into the night. Who
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was this killer, this murderer the police had no answer.
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They had looked everywhere and found nothing that helped them.
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They did not know what to do next, and so
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they did nothing. But not Dupin. He knew what to do.
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Part two. It was in Paris, in the summer of
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eighteen forty that I met August Dupin. He was an
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unusually interesting young man with a busy, forceful mind. This
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mind could, it seemed, look right through a man's body,
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into his soul, and uncover his deepest thoughts. Sometimes he
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seemed to be not one but two people, one who
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could coldly put things together, and another who just as
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coldly took them apart. One morning, in the heat of
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the summer, dupe and showed me once again his special
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reasoning power. We read in the newspaper about a terrible killing.
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An old woman and her daughter living alone in an
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old house in the Room Morgue had been killed in
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the middle of the night, Paris, July seventh, eighteen forty.
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In the early morning today, the people in the western
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part of the city were awakened from their sleep by
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cries of terror, which came, it seemed, from a house
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in the street called the Room. More the only persons
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living in the house were an old woman, missus Lespaigna,
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and her daughter. Several neighbors and a policeman ran toward
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the house, but by the time they reached it, the
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cries had stopped. When no one answered their calls, they
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forced the door open. As they rushed in, they heard voices,
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two voices. They seemed to come from above. The group
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hurried from room to room, but they found nothing until
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they reached the fourth floor. There they found a door
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that was firmly closed, locked with the key inside. Quickly
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they forced the door open and they saw spread before
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them a bloody, sickening scene, a scene of horror. The
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room was in the wildest possible order. Broken chairs and
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tables were lying all around the room. There was only
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one bed, and from it everything had been taken and
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thrown into the middle of the floor. There was blood
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everywhere on the floor, on the bed, on the walls.
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A sharp knife covered with blood was lying on the floor.
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In front of the fireplace. There was some long gray hair,
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also bloody. It seemed to have been pulled from a
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human head. On the floor were four pieces of gold,
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an earring, several objects made of silver, and two bags
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containing a large amount of money in gold clothes had
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been thrown around the room. A box was found under
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the bed covers. It was open and held only a
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few old letters and papers. There was no one there,
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or so it seemed. Above the fireplace they found the
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dead body of the daughter. It had been put up
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into the opening where the smoke escapes to the sky.
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The body was still warm. There was blood on the
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face and on the neck. There were dark, deep marks
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which seemed to have been made by strong fingers. These
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marks surely show how the daughter was killed. After hunting
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in every part of the house without finding anything more,
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the group went outside. Behind the building. They found the
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body of the old woman. Her neck was almost cut through,
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and when they tried to lift her up, her head
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fell off. The next day the newspaper offered to its
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readers these new facts, the murders in the Room Morgue, Paris,
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July eighth, eighteen forty. The police have talked with many
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people about the terrible killings in the old house on
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the Room Morgue, but nothing has been learned to answer
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the question of who the killers were. Pauline duborg, a washwoman,
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says she has known both of the dead women for
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more than three years, and has washed their clothes during
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that period. The old lady and her daughter seemed to
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love each other dearly. They always paid her well. She
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did not know where their money came from. She said
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she never met anyone in the house. Only the two
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women lived on the fourth floor. Pierre Moreau, a shopkeeper,
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says missus Laspanna had bought food at his shop for
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nearly four years. She owned the house and had lived
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in it for more than six years. People said they
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had money. He never saw anyone enter the door except
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the old lady and her daughter, and a doctor eight
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or ten times. Perhaps many other persons neighbors said the
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same thing. Almost no one ever went into the house,
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and missus Laspanna and her daughter were not often seen.
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Jules Minaud, a banker, says that missus Laspagna had put
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money in his bank beginning eight years before. Three days
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before her death, she took out of the bank a
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large amount of money in gold. A man from the
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bank carried it for her to her house. Isidore Mussey,
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a policeman, says that he was with the group that
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first entered the house. While he was going up the
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stairs he heard two voices, one low and soft and
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one hard, high and very strange, the voice of someone
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who was certainly not French, the voice of a foreigner Spanish.
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Perhaps it was not a woman's voice. He could not
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understand what it said. But the low voice, the softer voice,
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said in French, my God. Alfonso Garcia, who is Spanish
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and lives on the Rooe Morgue, says he entered the
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house but did not go up the stairs. He is
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nervous and he was afraid he might be ill. He
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heard the voices. He believes the high voice was not
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that of a Frenchman. Perhaps it was English, but he
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he doesn't understand English, so he is not sure. William Byrd,
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another foreigner, an Englishman, says he was one of the
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persons who entered the house. He has lived in Paris
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for two years. He heard the voices. The low voice
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was that of a Frenchman. He was sure because he
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heard it say in French, my God. The high voice
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was very loud. He is sure it was not the
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voice of an Englishman, nor the voice of a Frenchman.
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It seemed to be that of an Italian. It might
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have been a woman's voice. He does not understand Italian.
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Mister Alberto Montani, an Italian, was passing the house at
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the time of the cries. He says that they lasted
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for about two minutes. They were screams, long and loud, terrible,
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fearful sounds. Montani, who speaks Spanish but not French, says
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that he also heard two voices. He thought both voices
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were French, but he could not understand any of the
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words spoken. The persons who first entered the house all
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agree that the door of the room where the daughter's
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body was found was locked on the inside. When they
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reached the door, everything was quiet. When they forced the
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door open, they saw no one. The windows were closed
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and firmly locked on the inside. There are no steps
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that someone could have gone down while they were going up.
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They say that the openings over the fireplace are too
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small for anyone to have escaped through them. It took
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four or five people to pull the daughter's body out
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of the opening over the fireplace. A careful search was
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made through the whole house. It was four or five
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minutes from the time they heard the voices to the
273
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moment they forced open the door of the room. Paul Dumas.
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A doctor says that he was called to see the
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body soon after they were found. They were in horrible condition,
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badly marked and broken. Such results could not have come
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from a woman's hands, only from those of a very
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powerful man. A daughter had been killed by strong hands
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around her neck. The police have learned nothing more than this.
280
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A killing as strange as this has never before happened
281
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in Paris. Police do not know where to begin to
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look for the answer. When we had finished reading the
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newspaper's account of the murders, neither Dupine nor myself said
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anything for a while. But I could see in his
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eyes that cold, empty look, which told me that his
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00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.680
mind was working busily. When he asked me what I
287
00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:46.519
thought of all of this, I could only agree with
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00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:50.359
all of Paris. I told him I considered it a
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very difficult problem, a mystery to which it was not
290
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possible to find an answer. No, No, said no, I
291
00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:06.440
think you're wrong. A mystery it is, yes, but there
292
00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:09.559
must be an answer. Let us go to the house
293
00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:13.079
and see what we can see. There must be an answer,
294
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there must Part three. It was in Paris that I
295
00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:24.759
met August Dupin. He was an unusually interesting young man
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with a busy, forceful mind. This mind could, it seemed,
297
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:33.160
look right through a man's body into his deepest soul.
298
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One hot summer morning, we read in the newspapers about
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a terrible killing. The dead persons were an old woman
300
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and her unmarried daughter, who lived alone on the fourth
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floor of an old house on the street called the
302
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Rue Morgue. Someone had taken the daughter's neck in his
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powerful fingers and pressed his fearful strength until her life
304
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was gone. Her mother's body was found outside behind the house,
305
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:05.279
with the head nearly cut off. The knife with which
306
00:22:05.319 --> 00:22:09.440
she was killed was found, however, in the room on
307
00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:13.559
the floor. Several neighbors ran to the house when they
308
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heard the women's cries of fear. As they ran up
309
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to the fourth floor, they heard two other voices, But
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when they reached the room and broke down the door,
311
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they found no living person in the room. Like the door,
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the two windows were firmly closed locked on the inside.
313
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There was no other way that the killer could have
314
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.680
got in or out of the room. The Paris police
315
00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.079
did not know where to begin to look for the answer.
316
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I told Dupin that it seemed to me that it
317
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.839
was not possible to learn the answer to the mystery
318
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:51.680
of these killings. No, no, said Dupin. No, I think
319
00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.359
you are wrong. A mystery it is, yes, but there
320
00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:59.000
must be an answer. We must not judge what is
321
00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.839
possible just by what we have read in the newspapers.
322
00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.920
The Paris police work hard and often get good results,
323
00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:07.960
but there is no real method in what they do.
324
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:12.200
When something more than simple hard work is needed. When
325
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:17.359
a little real method is needed, the police fail. Sometimes
326
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:20.440
they stand too near the problem. Often, if a person
327
00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:23.839
looks at something very closely, he can see a few
328
00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:27.000
things more clearly, but the shape of the whole thing
329
00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:33.680
escapes him. There must be an answer. There must let
330
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us go to the house and see what we can see.
331
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I know the head of the police, and he will
332
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allow us to do so, and this will be interesting
333
00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.519
and give us some pleasure. I thought it strange that
334
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:48.599
Dupin should believe we would get pleasure out of this,
335
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.720
but I said nothing. It was late in the afternoon
336
00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:55.519
when we reached the house on the room Morgue. It
337
00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.440
was easily found, for there were still many persons, in
338
00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:04.359
fact crowd standing there looking at it. Before going in,
339
00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:07.799
we walked all around it and Dupin carefully looked at
340
00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:11.240
the neighboring houses as well as this one. I could
341
00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:15.920
not understand the reason for such great care. We came
342
00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:17.920
again to the front of the house and went in.
343
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.720
We went up the stairs into the room where the
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00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:25.000
daughter's body had been found. Both bodies were there. The
345
00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.279
police had left the room as they had found it.
346
00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:30.720
I saw nothing beyond what the newspaper had told us.
347
00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:34.920
Dupin looked with great care at everything, at the bodies,
348
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:39.759
at the walls, the fireplace, the windows. Then we went home.
349
00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:44.359
Dupin said nothing. I could see the cold look in
350
00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:47.599
his eyes, which told me that his mind was working,
351
00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:54.279
working busily quickly. I asked no questions. Dupin said nothing
352
00:24:54.359 --> 00:24:57.480
until the next morning, when he came into my room
353
00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.279
and asked me suddenly, if I had not known, is
354
00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.880
something especially strange about what we saw at the house
355
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.839
on the room rgue? I replied, nothing more than we
356
00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:11.920
both read in the newspaper. Tell me, my friend, how
357
00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:16.599
shall we explain the horrible force, the unusual strength used
358
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.359
in these murders? And whose were the voices that were heard?
359
00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:23.960
No one was found except the dead women, Yet there
360
00:25:24.039 --> 00:25:27.319
was no way for anyone to escape, and the wild
361
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.599
condition of the room, the body which was found head
362
00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:34.440
down above the fireplace, the terrible broken appearance of the
363
00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:37.799
body of the old lady when its head cut off.
364
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.240
These are all so far from what might be expected
365
00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:46.759
that the police are standing still. They don't know where
366
00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:52.200
to begin. These things are unusual, indeed, but they are
367
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:57.119
not deep mysteries. We should not ask what has happened,
368
00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:02.440
but what has happened that has never happened before. In fact,
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00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:05.920
the very things that the police think cannot possibly be
370
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:11.079
explained are the things which will lead me to the answer. Indeed,
371
00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:13.920
I believe they have already led me to the answer.
372
00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:17.839
I was so surprised I could not say a word.
373
00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:22.039
Dupin looked quickly at the door. I am now waiting
374
00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:24.759
for a person who will know something about these murders,
375
00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:29.279
these wild killings. I do not think he did them himself,
376
00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:32.240
but I think he will know the killer. I hope
377
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.920
I am right about this. If I am, then I
378
00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:38.920
expect to find the whole answer to day. I expect
379
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.480
the man here in this room at any moment. It
380
00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:45.759
is true that he may not come, but he probably will.
381
00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:50.000
But who is this person? How did you find him?
382
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:53.960
I'll tell you while we wait for this man we
383
00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:56.880
do not know, for I have never met him. While
384
00:26:56.920 --> 00:26:59.319
we wait, I will tell you how my thoughts went.
385
00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:03.839
Dupin began to talk, but it did not seem that
386
00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.400
he was trying to explain to me what he had thought.
387
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.680
It seemed that he was talking to himself. He looked
388
00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:14.519
not at me, but at the wall. It has been
389
00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:17.960
fully proved that the voices heard by the neighbors were
390
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.640
not the voices of the women who were killed. Someone
391
00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:25.200
else was in the room. It is therefore certain that
392
00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:28.599
the old woman did not first kill her daughter then
393
00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:31.880
kill herself. She would not have been strong enough to
394
00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:34.880
put her daughter's body where it was found, and the
395
00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:37.880
manner of the old lady's death shows that she could
396
00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:42.119
not have caused it herself. A person can kill himself
397
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:45.480
with a knife, yes, but he surely cannot cut his
398
00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:48.759
own head almost off, then drop the knife on the
399
00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:52.240
floor and jump out the window. It was murder, then,
400
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:57.680
done by some third person or persons, and the voices
401
00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:01.359
heard were the voices of these persons. Let us now
402
00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:05.400
think carefully about the things people said about those voices.
403
00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:10.000
Did you notice anything especially strange in what was told
404
00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:14.839
about them? Well, yes, everybody agreed that the low voice
405
00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:17.400
was the voice of a Frenchman, but they could not
406
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:21.480
agree about the high voice. Ah, And that was what
407
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:25.039
they said, Yes, but that was not what was so
408
00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:29.000
strange about what they said. You say, you have noticed
409
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.319
nothing that makes their stories very different from what might
410
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:37.519
have been expected. Yet there was something. All these persons,
411
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:40.920
as you say, agreed about the low voice, but not
412
00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:44.920
about the high hard voice. The strange thing here is
413
00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:48.119
that when an Italian, an Englishman, a Spaniard, and a
414
00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:52.000
Frenchman tried to tell what the voice was like, each
415
00:28:52.119 --> 00:28:55.640
one said, it sounded like the voice of a foreigner.
416
00:28:56.759 --> 00:29:01.039
How strangely unusual that voice really must have been. Here
417
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:05.000
are four men from four big countries, and not one
418
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.319
of them could understand what the voice said. Each one
419
00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:11.640
gave it a different name. Now I know that there
420
00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:15.119
are other countries in the world. You will say that
421
00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:17.519
perhaps it was the voice of someone from one of
422
00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:22.440
those other lands, Russia perhaps, But remember, not one of
423
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:27.240
these people heard anything that sounded like a separate word. Here,
424
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:32.359
Dupin turned and looked into my eyes. This is what
425
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:36.119
we have learned from the newspaper. I don't know what
426
00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:38.640
I have led you to think. But I believe that
427
00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:41.559
in this much of the story there are enough facts
428
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:44.400
to lead us in the one and only direction to
429
00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:49.960
the right answer. What this answer is, I will not say,
430
00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:54.319
not yet, but I want you to keep in mind
431
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:56.799
that this much was enough to tell me what I
432
00:29:56.920 --> 00:29:59.640
must look for. When we were in that house on
433
00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:08.240
the room and I found it part four murderers had
434
00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:10.400
come to the old house on the street called the
435
00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:14.559
Room Morgue. Murderers had come and gone and left behind
436
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:18.319
dead bodies of an old woman and her daughter. The
437
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:21.160
daughter's body was in the bedroom on the fourth floor.
438
00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:25.720
The old woman was lying outside behind the house, her
439
00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:29.680
head almost cut off, but the knife which killed her
440
00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:33.279
was up in the bedroom on the floor. The door
441
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.920
and the windows were all firmly closed locked on the inside.
442
00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:40.880
There was no way for any one to go in
443
00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:45.359
or out. Voices had been heard. One voice was speaking
444
00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:48.400
in French. The other voice had not spoken even one
445
00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:52.000
word that anyone could understand. But there was no one
446
00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:55.960
in the room when the police arrived. This much we
447
00:30:56.039 --> 00:31:00.039
had learned from the newspapers. My friend Dupin and I
448
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:02.359
interested by it. We had gone to look at the
449
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:05.960
house and the bodies. Dupin was now explaining to me
450
00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:10.240
what he had learned there. That is what we learned
451
00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:13.319
from the newspapers. Please remember it, for that much was
452
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.759
enough to tell me what I must look for when
453
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:18.279
we were in that house, on the room Morgue, and
454
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.599
I found it. Let us now take ourselves again in
455
00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:26.319
our thoughts, to the room where the murders were done.
456
00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:30.519
What shall we first look for the way the murderers escaped?
457
00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.720
All right, we agree. I am sure that we do
458
00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.799
not have to look for anything outside of nature, for
459
00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:40.720
anything not having a real form a body. The killers
460
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:44.200
were not spirits, they were real. They could not go
461
00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:48.880
through walls. Then how did they escape? There is only
462
00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:51.480
one way to reason on that subject, and it must
463
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:55.000
lead us to the answer. Let us look, one at
464
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:58.640
a time at the possible ways to escape. It is
465
00:31:58.759 --> 00:32:00.880
clear that the killers were in the room where the
466
00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:04.160
daughter was found. From this room they must have escaped.
467
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:09.039
How at first I saw no way out. It had
468
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:11.759
been necessary for the neighbors to break down the door
469
00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:15.519
in order to enter the room. There was no other door.
470
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:19.720
The opening above the fireplace is not big enough near
471
00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:23.680
the top for even a small animal. The murderers therefore
472
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:27.079
must have escaped through one of the windows. This may
473
00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:31.119
not seem possible. We must prove that it is possible.
474
00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:34.960
There are two main windows in the room. Both of them,
475
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:38.839
you will remember, are made of two parts. To open
476
00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.920
the window, one must lift up the bottom half one
477
00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:45.359
of these windows is easily seen. The lower part of
478
00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:47.680
the other is out of sight behind the big bed.
479
00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:51.559
I looked carefully at the first of these windows. It
480
00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:56.319
was firmly closed, fastened like the door on the inside.
481
00:32:57.079 --> 00:33:00.759
To keep the window closed, to fasten it, someone had
482
00:33:00.759 --> 00:33:03.400
to put a strong iron nail into the wood at
483
00:33:03.400 --> 00:33:05.519
the side of the window in such a way that
484
00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:09.160
the window could not be raised. At least, it seemed
485
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:12.799
that the nail held the window closed. The nail was
486
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:16.400
easy to see there it was, and the people who
487
00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:19.839
discovered the killings used their great strength and could not
488
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.359
raise the window. I too, tried to raise the window
489
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:26.599
and could not. I went to the second window and
490
00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:29.519
looked behind the bed at the lower half of the window.
491
00:33:30.039 --> 00:33:32.799
There was a nail here too, which held the window
492
00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:36.000
closed without moving the bed. I tried to open this
493
00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:40.400
window also, and again I could not do so. I
494
00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:43.720
did not stop looking for an answer However, because I
495
00:33:43.799 --> 00:33:46.880
knew that what did not seem possible must be proved
496
00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:51.240
to be possible. The killers, or perhaps I should say
497
00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:54.079
the killer, for I am certain there was only one.
498
00:33:54.839 --> 00:33:58.440
The killer escaped through one of these windows. Of this
499
00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:02.680
I felt certain. After the murderer had left the bedroom,
500
00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.440
he could have closed the window from the outside, but
501
00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:09.199
he could not have fastened it again on the inside.
502
00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:12.800
Yet anyone could see the nails which held the windows
503
00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:17.440
tightly closed. This was the fact that stopped the police.
504
00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:24.880
How could the murderer put the nail back in its place? Perhaps? Perhaps, uh,
505
00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:29.280
perhaps if you pulled out the nail. Yes, that is
506
00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:33.400
just what I thought. Two things seemed clear. First, there
507
00:34:33.480 --> 00:34:36.320
had to be something wrong with the idea that the
508
00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:39.840
nails were holding the windows closed. I didn't know what
509
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.519
was wrong. Something was. Second, if it was not the
510
00:34:44.679 --> 00:34:48.360
nails which were holding the windows closed, then something else
511
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:52.719
was holding them closed, something hard to see, something hidden.
512
00:34:53.719 --> 00:34:56.519
I went back to the first window. With great effort,
513
00:34:56.519 --> 00:34:59.559
I pulled out the nail. Then I again tried to
514
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:04.360
raise the window. It was still firmly closed. This did
515
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:07.679
not surprise me. There had been a hidden lock, I
516
00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:11.920
thought inside the window. I felt the window carefully with
517
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.480
my fingers. Indeed, I found a button which, when I
518
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:21.239
pressed it opened an inner lock. With almost no effort,
519
00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:26.639
I raised the window. Now I knew that the killer
520
00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:30.840
could close the window from outside, and the window would
521
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:37.000
lock itself. But there was still the nail. Carefully, I
522
00:35:37.039 --> 00:35:39.159
put the nail back into the hole from which I
523
00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:42.639
had taken it. Then I pressed the button and tried
524
00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:47.280
to raise the window. I could not. The nail also
525
00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:52.119
was holding the window closed. Then the murderer could not
526
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:56.719
possibly have gone out the window. He could not have
527
00:35:56.760 --> 00:36:01.800
gone out that window. Therefore, he must have escaped through
528
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:05.880
the other window. The other window was also held closed
529
00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:08.760
by a nail. But I knew I must be right.
530
00:36:09.400 --> 00:36:11.880
Although no one else had looked carefully at the window
531
00:36:12.039 --> 00:36:15.159
behind the bed, I went to it and tried to
532
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:18.480
see whether the two windows were in some way different.
533
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.679
The nail in the second window looked the same as
534
00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:24.440
the one I had just seen. I moved the bed
535
00:36:24.519 --> 00:36:27.760
so that I could look closely. Yes, there was a
536
00:36:27.800 --> 00:36:31.079
button here too. I was so sure I was right that,
537
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:34.239
without touching the nail, I pressed the button and tried
538
00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:38.360
to raise the window. Up it went. As the window
539
00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:40.840
went up. It carried with it the top part of
540
00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:44.239
the nail, the head. When I closed the window, the
541
00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:47.119
head of the nail was again in its place. It
542
00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:50.159
looked just as it had looked before. I took the
543
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:52.719
head of the nail in my fingers, and it easily
544
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.840
came away from the window. I saw that the nail
545
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:58.800
had been broken. But when I put the nail head
546
00:36:58.840 --> 00:37:03.719
back in its place, the nail again looked whole. What
547
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:07.760
seemed to be not possible, we have proved to be possible.
548
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:12.519
The murderer indeed escaped through that window. I could now
549
00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:15.800
see in my mind what had happened. It was a
550
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:19.360
hot summer night when the murderer first arrived. He found
551
00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:23.559
that window open open to let some fresh night air
552
00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:27.599
come in. Through the open window, the murderer went in
553
00:37:28.039 --> 00:37:31.599
and came out again. As he came out, he closed
554
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:35.920
the window, perhaps with a purpose to do so, perhaps
555
00:37:35.960 --> 00:37:40.440
by chance, the special lock inside the window held the
556
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:44.880
window firmly closed. The nail only seemed to be holding
557
00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:49.920
it closed, And that which was possible looked not possible.
558
00:37:51.159 --> 00:37:54.559
Dupin had been talking, not to me, it seemed, but
559
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:58.360
to himself. His cold eyes seemed to see only what
560
00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:02.119
was in his own mind. Now he stopped and looked
561
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:05.760
straight at me. His eyes were now hard and bright,
562
00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:10.440
and I understood that using his unusual reasoning power to
563
00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:14.239
find the answer to those bloody murders was giving Dupin
564
00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:18.239
great pleasure. At first I could think only of this.
565
00:38:19.239 --> 00:38:23.840
Then I said, Dupin, the windows are on the fourth floor,
566
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:28.639
far above the ground, even an open window. Yes, that
567
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:32.639
is an interesting question. How did the murderer go from
568
00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:36.039
the window down to the ground. Once I was quite
569
00:38:36.039 --> 00:38:39.280
certain that the murderer had in fact gone through that window,
570
00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:42.760
the rest was not so hard to know, And the
571
00:38:42.840 --> 00:38:46.199
answer to this question told me still more about who
572
00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:50.239
the murderer was. When you and I first came to
573
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:53.599
the house on the room Moor, we walked around the house.
574
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:57.800
At that time I noted a long, thin metal pole
575
00:38:58.199 --> 00:39:01.280
which went from the top of the building to the ground.
576
00:39:01.960 --> 00:39:06.559
A lightning rod put there to carry down to the
577
00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:10.119
ground a charge of electricity that might come out of
578
00:39:10.119 --> 00:39:14.480
the clouds during a bad summer storm. Here, I thought,
579
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:17.400
is a way for someone to go up or down
580
00:39:17.480 --> 00:39:21.599
the wall and then go in or out the window.
581
00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:26.840
He would have to be very strong, although certain animals
582
00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:30.679
could easily go up the pole. Not every man could
583
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:35.320
do it, only a man with very special strength and
584
00:39:35.480 --> 00:39:40.599
special training. This told me more about what the murderer
585
00:39:41.320 --> 00:39:50.199
was like, but I still had the question who. Part five.
586
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:56.960
That unusual Frenchman August Dupine was still explaining to me
587
00:39:57.079 --> 00:40:00.199
how he found the answer to the question of who
588
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:03.559
murdered the two women in the house on the room Rgue.
589
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:06.800
We now knew that it was indeed possible for the
590
00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:09.159
killer to go in and again out of one of
591
00:40:09.159 --> 00:40:13.559
the windows and still leave them both firmly closed locked
592
00:40:13.639 --> 00:40:16.960
on the inside. And I agreed with Dupin when he
593
00:40:17.039 --> 00:40:21.400
said that only someone with very special strength and training
594
00:40:21.800 --> 00:40:23.960
could have gone up the lightning rod on the side
595
00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:27.679
of the house and thus entered the window. But who
596
00:40:27.719 --> 00:40:32.400
the murderer was we still did not know. Let us
597
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:37.280
look again, said Dupin, at that room on the fourth floor.
598
00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:41.039
Let us now go back in our minds to the
599
00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:46.800
room we saw yesterday. Consider its appearance. Clothes had been
600
00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:50.440
thrown around the room, yet it seemed that none had
601
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:54.440
been taken. The old woman and her daughter almost never
602
00:40:54.599 --> 00:40:57.559
left the house. They had little use for many of
603
00:40:57.599 --> 00:41:00.880
the clothes. Those that were found in the room were
604
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:04.559
as good as any they had. If the killer took some,
605
00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:09.079
why didn't he take the best or take all? And
606
00:41:09.199 --> 00:41:12.400
why would he take a few clothes and leave all
607
00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:16.480
the money? Nearly the whole amount brought from the bank
608
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:21.840
was found in bags on the floor. I want you, therefore,
609
00:41:21.960 --> 00:41:25.039
to forget the idea in the minds of the police,
610
00:41:25.480 --> 00:41:28.719
the idea that a desire for money was what they
611
00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:34.039
call the motive, the reason for the murders. This idea
612
00:41:34.239 --> 00:41:37.119
rose in their minds when they heard how the money
613
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:40.119
was brought to the house three days before the killings.
614
00:41:40.679 --> 00:41:44.599
But this is only what we call a coincidence, two
615
00:41:44.679 --> 00:41:48.440
things happening at the same time, but only by chance,
616
00:41:48.800 --> 00:41:53.360
and not because of some cause, some cause that brought
617
00:41:53.400 --> 00:41:57.840
them together. Coincidences happened to all of us every day
618
00:41:57.880 --> 00:42:01.559
of our lives. If the gold was the reason for
619
00:42:01.599 --> 00:42:04.840
the murders, the killer must have been quite a fool
620
00:42:05.239 --> 00:42:09.880
to forget and leave it there. No, I don't think
621
00:42:09.960 --> 00:42:12.800
the desire for money was the reason for the killings.
622
00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:16.239
I think that there was no reason for these killings,
623
00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:24.119
except perhaps fear. Now, let us look at the murders themselves.
624
00:42:24.639 --> 00:42:28.360
A girl is killed by powerful hands around her neck,
625
00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:32.280
then the body is placed in the opening over the fireplace,
626
00:42:32.679 --> 00:42:36.960
head down. No murders we usually hear about are like this.
627
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:41.159
There's something here that does not fit our ideas of
628
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:44.840
human actions, even when we think of men of the
629
00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:49.480
most terrible kind. Think also of the great strength which
630
00:42:49.559 --> 00:42:52.480
was necessary to put the body where it was found.
631
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:56.119
The strength of several men was needed to pull it down.
632
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:01.599
There are other signs of this fearful strength. In front
633
00:43:01.639 --> 00:43:06.000
of the fireplace, some gray human hair was lying, thick,
634
00:43:06.079 --> 00:43:09.000
pieces of it pulled from the head of the old woman.
635
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:12.639
You saw the hair on the floor yourself, and you
636
00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:16.880
saw the blood and skin with it. You know, and
637
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:20.480
I know that great force is necessary to pull out
638
00:43:20.559 --> 00:43:24.639
even twenty or thirty hairs at a time. A much
639
00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:28.119
greater force was needed to pull out hundreds of hairs
640
00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:31.440
at one time. Also, the head of the old lady
641
00:43:31.559 --> 00:43:37.440
was cut almost completely from the body. Why to kill
642
00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:40.440
a woman with a knife, it is not necessary to
643
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:44.719
cut her head off. If now added to all these
644
00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:48.480
things we added also the condition of the room. We
645
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:53.039
have put together the following ideas, strength more than human,
646
00:43:53.840 --> 00:43:58.920
wildness less than human, a murder without reason, a horror
647
00:43:58.960 --> 00:44:02.639
beyond human under standing, and a voice which made no
648
00:44:02.920 --> 00:44:07.440
sound that men could understand. What result, then, have you
649
00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:12.159
come to? What have I helped you to see? A
650
00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:15.400
cold feeling went up and down my back as Dupin
651
00:44:15.519 --> 00:44:20.960
asked me the question, a man someone who has lost
652
00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:25.960
his mind? I said, A madman, A madman. Only a
653
00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:30.719
madman could have done these murders. I think not. In
654
00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:34.400
some ways your idea is a good one. But madmen
655
00:44:34.559 --> 00:44:38.760
are from one country or another. Their cries may be terrible,
656
00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:41.280
but they are made of words, and some of the
657
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:46.119
words can be understood. Here look, look at this hair.
658
00:44:46.800 --> 00:44:48.920
I took it from the fingers of the old woman.
659
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:53.719
The hair of a madman is not like this. Tell
660
00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:57.679
me what you think it is, Dupin? This hair is?
661
00:44:58.480 --> 00:45:02.239
This hair is not huge woman, I did not say
662
00:45:02.280 --> 00:45:06.679
that it is. But before we decide this matter, look
663
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:09.280
at the picture I had made here on this piece
664
00:45:09.320 --> 00:45:12.239
of paper. It is a picture of the marks on
665
00:45:12.280 --> 00:45:15.960
the daughter's neck. The doctors said these marks were made
666
00:45:15.960 --> 00:45:19.559
by fingers. Let me spread the paper on the table
667
00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:23.360
before us. Try to put your fingers all at the
668
00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:26.559
same time on the picture, so that your hand and
669
00:45:26.639 --> 00:45:29.199
its fingers will fit the picture of the marks on
670
00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:34.679
the daughter's neck. I cannot no, but perhaps we are
671
00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:38.000
not doing this in the right way. The paper is
672
00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:41.519
spread out on the table, the human neck is round.
673
00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:44.480
Here is a piece of wood about as big as
674
00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:48.239
the daughter's neck. Put the paper around it, and try again,
675
00:45:48.960 --> 00:45:52.800
go on, try. I tried to put my fingers around
676
00:45:52.840 --> 00:45:55.480
the piece of wood as if it were the girl's neck.
677
00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:58.800
But still my hand was not large enough to equal
678
00:45:58.840 --> 00:46:03.000
the marks left by the King Dupin. These marks were
679
00:46:03.159 --> 00:46:08.599
made by no human hand. No, they were not. I
680
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:11.199
am almost certain that they were made by the hand
681
00:46:11.639 --> 00:46:15.719
of an orangutan, one of those manlike animals that live
682
00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:20.440
in the wild forests. The great size, the strength, the
683
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:24.960
wildness of these animals are well known. Now look in
684
00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:29.719
this book by Cuvier, read look at the picture. I
685
00:46:29.800 --> 00:46:32.599
did so, and at once I knew that Dupin was
686
00:46:32.719 --> 00:46:36.840
right in everything he said. The color of the hair,
687
00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:42.400
the size of the hand, the terrible strength, the wildness
688
00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:46.079
of the killings, those sounds which were a voice but
689
00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:51.920
were not words. Everything fit nicely in its place. No,
690
00:46:52.679 --> 00:46:58.159
not everything, Dupin, I said, there were two voices. Whose
691
00:46:58.320 --> 00:47:04.000
was the second voice? The second voice? Yes, Remember, we
692
00:47:04.199 --> 00:47:07.519
decided that only someone with a very special kind of
693
00:47:07.559 --> 00:47:10.519
strength could have gone up the lightning rod, up the
694
00:47:10.559 --> 00:47:13.320
side of the house to the window on the fourth floor.
695
00:47:13.360 --> 00:47:16.760
Perhaps an animal, perhaps a strong man from a circus,
696
00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:20.400
perhaps a sailor. We know now that one of the
697
00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:24.360
voices was the voice of an animal, an orangutan. The
698
00:47:24.519 --> 00:47:28.039
other was the voice of a man. This voice spoke
699
00:47:28.199 --> 00:47:33.360
only two words. They were my God, spoken in French.
700
00:47:34.639 --> 00:47:37.679
Upon those two words. I have placed my hopes of
701
00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:42.280
finding a full answer to this horrible question. The words
702
00:47:42.280 --> 00:47:45.880
were an expression of horror. This means that a Frenchman
703
00:47:46.480 --> 00:47:51.000
knew about these murders. It is possible, indeed, it is
704
00:47:51.199 --> 00:47:55.440
probable that the Frenchman himself did not help the orangutan
705
00:47:55.639 --> 00:47:59.239
to kill. Perhaps the animal escaped from him and he
706
00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:02.199
followed it to the house on the room mordue. He
707
00:48:02.239 --> 00:48:05.000
could not have caught it again. It must still be
708
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:10.280
free somewhere in Paris. I will not continue with these guesses,
709
00:48:10.519 --> 00:48:14.079
for I cannot call them more than that. If I
710
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:17.920
am right, and if the Frenchman did not himself help
711
00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:22.719
with the killings, I expect him to come here. Read this.
712
00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:26.880
I paid to have this put in the newspaper. I
713
00:48:26.960 --> 00:48:31.559
took the newspaper and read the following. Caught early in
714
00:48:31.599 --> 00:48:34.320
the morning of the seventh of this month a very
715
00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:37.920
large orangutan. The owner, who is known to be a sailor,
716
00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:41.280
may have the animal again if he can prove it
717
00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:46.599
is his. But Dupin, how can you know that the
718
00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:50.119
man is a sailor. I do not know it. I
719
00:48:50.159 --> 00:48:52.800
am not sure of it. I think the man is
720
00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:55.639
a sailor. A sailor could go up that pole on
721
00:48:55.679 --> 00:48:59.719
the side of the house. Sailors traveled to strange, far
722
00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:03.719
away places where such things as orangutans can be got.
723
00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:08.559
If I am right, think for a moment, the sailor
724
00:49:08.639 --> 00:49:12.760
will say to himself, the animal is valuable. Why shouldn't
725
00:49:12.760 --> 00:49:15.320
I go and get it. The police do not know
726
00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:19.239
the animal killed two women, and clearly somebody knows I
727
00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:22.559
am in Paris. If I do not go get the animal,
728
00:49:23.079 --> 00:49:26.199
they will ask why. I don't want anyone to start
729
00:49:26.239 --> 00:49:29.639
asking questions about the animal, So I will go and
730
00:49:29.679 --> 00:49:32.320
get the orangutan and keep it where no one will
731
00:49:32.360 --> 00:49:38.039
see it until this trouble has passed. This, I believe,
732
00:49:38.519 --> 00:49:42.519
is how the sailor will think. But listen, I hear
733
00:49:42.559 --> 00:49:47.159
a man's step on the stairs. Dupin had left the
734
00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:50.519
front door of the house open, and the visitor entered
735
00:49:50.559 --> 00:49:55.280
without using the bell. He came several steps up the stairs,
736
00:49:56.440 --> 00:50:02.440
then stopped. We heard him go down again. Dupin was
737
00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:07.719
moving toward the door when we heard the stranger coming up.
738
00:50:08.880 --> 00:50:12.559
He did not turn back a second time, but came
739
00:50:12.719 --> 00:50:19.559
straight to the door of our room. In a strong, warm,
740
00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:25.599
friendly voice, Dupin said, come in, my friend, come in.
741
00:50:27.639 --> 00:50:37.599
Slowly the door opened, and in came a sailor. Part six.
742
00:50:39.400 --> 00:50:42.840
My friend Dupin was now certain that the murders in
743
00:50:42.920 --> 00:50:46.360
the room Morgue had been done by a wild animal
744
00:50:46.440 --> 00:50:50.880
of the jungle, the man like animal known as an orangutan.
745
00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:55.079
The animal had escaped from its owner, he thought, and
746
00:50:55.199 --> 00:50:58.960
the owner was probably a sailor. He had put a
747
00:50:59.039 --> 00:51:01.760
notice in the newspaper that the man who owned the
748
00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:04.679
orangutan could have it again if he came to our
749
00:51:04.719 --> 00:51:08.440
house to get it. Now, as the owner came to
750
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:12.039
our door, we were both wondering if that man would,
751
00:51:12.440 --> 00:51:17.199
as dupean guest, be a sailor. Yes, the man who
752
00:51:17.360 --> 00:51:21.039
entered was indeed a sailor. He was a large man
753
00:51:21.119 --> 00:51:25.239
and strong. He carried a big, heavy piece of wood,
754
00:51:25.760 --> 00:51:30.639
but no gun. He said to us in French. Good evening.
755
00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:34.920
Sit down, my friend. I suppose you've come to ask
756
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.400
about the orangutan. A very fine animal. I have no
757
00:51:39.559 --> 00:51:43.400
doubt that it is a very valuable animal. How old
758
00:51:43.440 --> 00:51:46.199
do you think it may be? I have no way
759
00:51:46.280 --> 00:51:49.000
of guessing how old he is, but it can't be
760
00:51:49.119 --> 00:51:52.719
more than four or five years old. Have you got
761
00:51:52.719 --> 00:51:56.239
it here? No? No, we have no place for it here.
762
00:51:56.760 --> 00:51:59.000
You can get it in the morning. Of course you
763
00:51:59.119 --> 00:52:05.360
can prove it's yours. Yes, yes, I can. I wish
764
00:52:05.400 --> 00:52:08.199
I could keep it. I would like to have it.
765
00:52:08.599 --> 00:52:11.639
I of course I will pay you for finding and
766
00:52:11.719 --> 00:52:16.960
keeping the animal. Anything, anything within reason. Well, that is
767
00:52:17.199 --> 00:52:22.000
very fair. Indeed, let me think what shall I ask for?
768
00:52:23.239 --> 00:52:28.599
I know, let this be my pay. Tell me everything
769
00:52:28.679 --> 00:52:33.599
you know about the murders in the room Morgue. As
770
00:52:33.719 --> 00:52:37.400
quietly as he had spoken, Dupin walked to the door,
771
00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:42.480
locked it, and put the key in his coat. At
772
00:52:42.480 --> 00:52:45.360
the same time, he took a gun out of his
773
00:52:45.480 --> 00:52:50.440
coat and placed it on the table. The sailor's face
774
00:52:50.519 --> 00:52:54.239
had become red. He jumped to his feet and reached
775
00:52:54.239 --> 00:52:57.039
for his stick of wood, but in the next moment
776
00:52:57.639 --> 00:53:02.960
he fell back into his chair trembling. His face became
777
00:53:03.039 --> 00:53:08.920
quite white, bloodless. He spoke not a word. His eyes
778
00:53:09.639 --> 00:53:14.960
were closed. My friend, you must not be afraid. We
779
00:53:15.039 --> 00:53:17.760
are not going to hurt you. I know very well
780
00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:21.159
that you yourself are not the killer. But it is
781
00:53:21.320 --> 00:53:25.400
true that you know something about him or about it.
782
00:53:26.199 --> 00:53:28.519
From what I have already said. You must know that
783
00:53:28.639 --> 00:53:31.920
I have ways of learning about the matter, ways you
784
00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:35.559
could never have dreamed of. Now I know that you
785
00:53:35.559 --> 00:53:39.280
yourself have done nothing wrong. You didn't even take any
786
00:53:39.360 --> 00:53:42.159
of the money. You have no reason to be afraid
787
00:53:42.199 --> 00:53:45.840
to talk and to tell the truth. It is a
788
00:53:45.880 --> 00:53:48.639
matter of honor for you to tell all you know,
789
00:53:49.559 --> 00:53:54.039
and you know who the killer is. So help me God.
790
00:53:54.400 --> 00:53:57.000
I'll tell you all I know about this, all I know,
791
00:53:57.239 --> 00:53:59.800
but I don't expect you to believe one half of
792
00:54:00.079 --> 00:54:06.119
what I say, not one half. Still, I didn't kill anyone,
793
00:54:06.199 --> 00:54:10.119
and I'll tell the whole story if I die for it.
794
00:54:10.119 --> 00:54:15.880
It was that animal, the orangutan. About a year ago
795
00:54:16.079 --> 00:54:19.239
our ship sailed to the far East to the island
796
00:54:19.280 --> 00:54:23.920
of Borneo. I had never before seen Borneo. The forest
797
00:54:24.480 --> 00:54:28.960
Zajangle was thick with trees and other plants, and hot
798
00:54:29.039 --> 00:54:32.800
and wet and dark, but we went A friend and
799
00:54:32.840 --> 00:54:37.559
I we went into that forest for pleasure. There we
800
00:54:37.599 --> 00:54:42.360
saw this orangutan, a big animal, but we were too
801
00:54:42.960 --> 00:54:45.679
and we caught it. We took it with us on
802
00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:50.880
the ship. Soon, however, my friend died and the animal
803
00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:54.960
was mine. But it was very strong and caused a
804
00:54:54.960 --> 00:54:58.320
lot of trouble. In the end, I brought it back
805
00:54:58.360 --> 00:55:01.199
to Paris with me. I kept it in my house,
806
00:55:01.719 --> 00:55:05.559
in my own house, carefully locked up so the neighbors
807
00:55:05.599 --> 00:55:08.559
could not know about it. The animal had cut one
808
00:55:08.599 --> 00:55:13.199
foot badly while on the ship. I thought. I thought
809
00:55:13.239 --> 00:55:15.519
that as soon as it got well, I would sell it.
810
00:55:16.360 --> 00:55:19.400
I was certain that it was of great value, and
811
00:55:19.480 --> 00:55:23.280
it was so much trouble to keep I wanted to
812
00:55:23.320 --> 00:55:28.679
sell it soon the night of the murders, very late,
813
00:55:29.199 --> 00:55:31.679
I came home and found the animal in my bedroom.
814
00:55:32.599 --> 00:55:36.360
It had got free. I don't know how. It held
815
00:55:36.360 --> 00:55:39.280
a knife in its hands and was playing with it.
816
00:55:40.119 --> 00:55:43.440
I was afraid. I didn't know what to do. When
817
00:55:43.440 --> 00:55:45.519
it saw me, it jumped up, ran out of the
818
00:55:45.599 --> 00:55:48.800
room and down the stairs. There it found an open
819
00:55:48.840 --> 00:55:53.960
window and jumped into the street. I followed, never far behind.
820
00:55:54.519 --> 00:55:57.920
Although I had no hope of catching it again. The
821
00:55:57.960 --> 00:56:01.159
animal with the knife still in its hand, and stopped
822
00:56:01.199 --> 00:56:04.280
often to look back at me. But before I could
823
00:56:04.320 --> 00:56:06.960
come near enough to even try to catch it, the
824
00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:11.119
animal always started to run again. It seemed to be
825
00:56:11.280 --> 00:56:15.159
playing with me. It was nearly morning, but the streets
826
00:56:15.159 --> 00:56:18.599
were still dark and quiet. We passed the back of
827
00:56:18.639 --> 00:56:22.000
a house. In the room Morgue, the animal looked up
828
00:56:22.079 --> 00:56:24.000
and saw a light in the open window of a
829
00:56:24.079 --> 00:56:27.920
room high above. It was the only lighted window in sight.
830
00:56:28.960 --> 00:56:32.519
The animal saw the metal pole, went up it easily
831
00:56:32.559 --> 00:56:36.920
and quickly, and jumped into the room. All this didn't
832
00:56:36.960 --> 00:56:40.400
take a minute. I didn't know what to do. I
833
00:56:40.480 --> 00:56:43.559
didn't know what I could do. I followed the animal.
834
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.599
I too went up the pole, as I am a sailor.
835
00:56:47.679 --> 00:56:50.679
That was easy for me, But the open window was
836
00:56:50.800 --> 00:56:53.039
far from the pole, and I was afraid to try
837
00:56:53.079 --> 00:56:56.880
to jump. I could see into the room, however, through
838
00:56:56.920 --> 00:57:00.119
the other window, which was closed. The two womens men
839
00:57:00.239 --> 00:57:03.480
were sitting there with their backs to the windows. Who
840
00:57:03.519 --> 00:57:05.920
can guess why they were not sleeping at that hour
841
00:57:05.960 --> 00:57:09.280
of night. A box was in the middle of the floor.
842
00:57:09.880 --> 00:57:12.039
The papers which had been in the box were laying
843
00:57:12.079 --> 00:57:15.599
around on the floor. The women seemed to be studying
844
00:57:15.599 --> 00:57:18.639
some of these. They did not see the animal, which
845
00:57:18.760 --> 00:57:23.159
was just standing there, watching the knife still in one hand.
846
00:57:24.320 --> 00:57:26.679
But the old woman heard it and turned her head
847
00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:30.320
and saw the animal there knife in hand. And then
848
00:57:31.960 --> 00:57:37.239
then I heard the first of those terrible cries. When
849
00:57:37.280 --> 00:57:40.079
the animal heard the old woman cry, it caught her
850
00:57:40.119 --> 00:57:43.599
by the hair and slowly moved the knife before her face.
851
00:57:44.599 --> 00:57:48.280
The daughter, filled with terror, fell to the floor and
852
00:57:48.400 --> 00:57:52.960
remained there without moving, her eyes closed. The old woman
853
00:57:53.079 --> 00:57:57.039
continued to cry for help, screaming with fear. I think
854
00:57:57.079 --> 00:57:59.840
the animal now was as afraid as the old woman was.
855
00:58:00.800 --> 00:58:04.159
With terrible force, it pulled out a handful of hair,
856
00:58:04.960 --> 00:58:08.079
and when the woman, covered with blood, tried to run
857
00:58:08.119 --> 00:58:11.079
from it, the animal caught her again by the hair,
858
00:58:11.119 --> 00:58:14.199
and with one move of its arm, it nearly cut
859
00:58:14.199 --> 00:58:17.760
her head from her body, throwing down the body. The
860
00:58:17.840 --> 00:58:21.480
animal turned and saw that the daughter was moving, watching
861
00:58:21.519 --> 00:58:24.840
it with horror. With fire in its eyes, it rushed
862
00:58:24.840 --> 00:58:28.039
to the girl, put its powerful fingers around her neck
863
00:58:28.639 --> 00:58:35.039
and pressed them firmly until she died. When the girl
864
00:58:35.079 --> 00:58:38.320
stopped moving, the animal dropped her body to the floor
865
00:58:38.320 --> 00:58:41.199
and looked up. It saw my face in the window.
866
00:58:41.920 --> 00:58:44.760
It began to run around the room quickly, without purpose.
867
00:58:45.400 --> 00:58:48.320
It jumped up and down, breaking the chairs, pulling the
868
00:58:48.320 --> 00:58:51.719
bed to pieces. Suddenly it stopped and took the body
869
00:58:51.719 --> 00:58:55.559
of the daughter, and as if to hide it. With
870
00:58:55.800 --> 00:58:58.960
terrible strength, it put the body up above the fireplace
871
00:58:59.440 --> 00:59:03.159
where it was It threw the old woman out the window.
872
00:59:04.599 --> 00:59:07.760
All this time I was hanging from the pole, filled
873
00:59:07.800 --> 00:59:11.519
with horror. It seemed I had lost the power to move.
874
00:59:13.119 --> 00:59:15.599
But when I saw the animal coming toward the window
875
00:59:15.639 --> 00:59:21.480
with the old woman's body, my horror became fear. I
876
00:59:21.559 --> 00:59:25.119
went quickly down. I almost fell down the pole, and
877
00:59:25.239 --> 00:59:30.800
I ran. I didn't look back. I ran. Oh my god,
878
00:59:31.400 --> 00:59:35.639
my god. The chief of the police was not happy
879
00:59:35.719 --> 00:59:38.400
that the answer to the mystery of the killings had
880
00:59:38.440 --> 00:59:41.840
been found by someone who was not a policeman. He
881
00:59:41.960 --> 00:59:46.039
said that people should keep to their own business. Let
882
00:59:46.119 --> 00:59:51.559
him talk, said Dupan. Let him talk. He'll feel better
883
00:59:51.599 --> 00:59:55.000
for it. And he's a good fellow. But he makes
884
00:59:55.079 --> 00:59:59.519
things less simple than they really are. Still people call
885
00:59:59.679 --> 01:00:04.679
him I'm skillful and even wise. I think they say
886
01:00:04.719 --> 01:00:09.159
this because of the way he explains, carefully, fully something
887
01:00:09.199 --> 01:00:12.719
which is not here or there or anywhere, and says
888
01:00:13.320 --> 01:00:19.239
not possible about something which is there before his eyes.
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