Unknown Broadcast | "The Hitchhiker"

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I see you fiddled with that thing
enough again that you've found my broadcast.

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Well, very good, very good. I'm happy to happy to hear that

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you're here with me. Say,
are any of you out there listening?

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Driving right now on the big open
road, darkness surrounding you on either side?

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Who am I kidding? All four
sides? Really? Maybe a little

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peak of the lines on the road. Well, I hope you don't pick

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up any hitchhikers tonight, because well
you'll find out what's about to happen to

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you if you do. Oh yes, yes, but what's that? Oh

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no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

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of course not No. Who I
am is simply not important. You

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see where I am. Your name
is what goes for. But who you

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are is really what you love and
what you do and what you spend all

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night thinking about. Yes, and
if you want to find out more about

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what we're doing here, well I
suppose you can go to the internet.

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It still works for me. It's
at Weird Mysteries dot com. You can

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find out everything you may want to
know, but be careful because with knowledge

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comes responsibility. Anyway, Now let's
get comfortable because I have another one for

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you. I've dusted off just for
such an occasion, and make sure you

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use their turn signal. Tonight,
the Columbia Network takes pleasure in bringing you

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suspend suspense. Columbia's parade of outstanding
thrillers, Produced and directed by William Spear

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and scored by Bernard Herman. The
notable melodramas from stage and screen, fiction

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and radio presented each week to bring
you to the edge of your chair to

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keep you in suspense. Good evening, missus orson Wells. I'm very happy

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I am to be back in the
United States and back on the Columbia Network,

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even for so sure a visit as
this one, back with old friends

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like Johnny Deetz, who's Tonight's director, and Bernard Herman. Mercury Theater presented

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Tonight's Radio Player for the first time
last. They came right out then and

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hailed it as a classic of the
medium. Nobody argued the point. A

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lot of people asked us to do
it again, so it's gratifying to get

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the chance now and to find a
favorite of ours in this distinguished anthology of

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spook shows. Personally, I've never
met anybody who didn't like a good ghost

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story. But I know a lot
of people who think there are a lot

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of people who don't like a good
ghost story. For the benefit of these

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at least, I go on record
at the outset of this evening's entertainment with

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a sober assurance that although blood may
be curdled on this program, none will

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be spilt. There's no shooting,
knifing, throttling, axing, or poisoning

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here. No clanking chains, no
cobwebs, no bony and or hairy hands

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appearing from secret panels or better yet, bedroom curtains. If it's any part

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of that dear old, phosphorescent foolishness
that people who don't like ghost stories don't

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like, then again, I promise
you we haven't got it tonight. What

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we do have is a thriller.
It's half as good as we think it

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is. You can call it a
shaker. It's already been called a real

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orson Well story. Now. Frankly, I don't know what this means.

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I've been on the air, directing
and acting in my own shows for quite

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a while now, and I don't
suppose I've done more than half a dozen

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thrillers and all that time. Honestly, I don't think even that many.

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But it seems I do have a
reputation for the uncanny. Quite possibly a

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little escapade of mine involving a couple
of planets which shall be nameless, is

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responsible, doesn't really matter. Don't
think I disapprove of thrillers. I don't.

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A story doesn't have to appeal to
the heart. It can also appeal

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to the spine. Sometimes you want
your heart to be warmed, and sometimes

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you want your spine to tingle.
The tingling, it's to be hoped will

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be quite audible as you listen tonight. The Hitchhiker. That's the name of

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our story, The Hitchhiker. I'm
in an auto camp on Route sixty six,

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just west of Gallop, New Mexico. If I tell it, perhaps

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it'll help me keep me from going
going crazy. You gotta tell this quickly.

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I'm not crazy now. I feel
perfectly well, except that I'm running

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a slight temperature. My name is
Ronald Adams. I'm thirty six years of

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age, unmarried, tall, dark
with a black mustache. I drive a

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nineteen forty Buick license number six y
one seventy five one eight nine. I

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was born in Brooklyn. All this
I know, I know that I'm at

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this moment perfectly sane. But it's
not me who's gone bad, something else,

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something utterly beyond my control. I'd
not to speak quickly. In any

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minute, the link may break.
This may be the last thing I ever

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tell on Earth, the last night
I ever see the stars. Six days

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ago I left Brooklyn to drive to
California. Goodbye son, Good luck to

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you, my boy, Goodbye mother. Hey, give me a kiss and

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I'll go. I'll come out with
you to the car. Oh no,

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it's raining. Stare at the door. What's this, DearS? I thought

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you'd promised me you wouldn't cry.
No, dear, I'm sorry, but

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I do hate to see you that
I'll be back. It'll always been on

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the court three months. It isn't
that is, It's just the trip,

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Ronald. I wish you weren't driving. Oh, mother, there you go

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again. People do it every day, I know. But you will be

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careful, won't you promise me you
will be extra careful. Don't fall asleep

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or drive fast or pick up any
strangers on the road. Oh gosh,

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I think I was still seventeen.
Here you turn, and why? I

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mean, as soon as you get
to Hollywood, sir, why don't you

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worry when are going to happen?
This is eight days of perfectly simple driving

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on smooth, decent, civilized roads. A hot dog or a Hamburger stand

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every ten miles. I was in
fine spirits, drive ahead, and even

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the loneliness seemed like a lark.
I reckoned without him. Crossing Brooklyn Bridge

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that morning, in the rain,
I saw a man leaning against the cables.

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He seemed to be waiting for a
lift. There was lots of fresh

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rain on his shoulders. He was
carrying a cheap overnight bag in one hand.

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He was thin, nondescript, with
a cap pulled down over his eyes.

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I would have forgotten him completely,
except that just an hour later,

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while crossing the Pulaski Skyway over the
Jersey Flats, I saw him again.

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At least he looked like the same
person. He was standing now with one

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thumb pointing west. I couldn't figure
out how he got there, but I

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thought probably one of those fast trucks
had picked him up, beat me to

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the skyway and let him off.
I didn't stop for him, and late

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that night I saw him again.
He saw on the New Pennsylvania turnpike between

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Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. It's two hundred
and sixty five miles long with a very

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high speed limit. I was just
slowing down for one of the tunnels when

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I saw him standing under an arc
light by the side of the road.

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I seemed distinctly the bag of cap, even the spots of fresh rain slatted

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over his shoulders. He halloaded me
this, hello, Hello, stepped on

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the gas like a shot, not
lonely countries of the alleghenies, and I

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have no intention of stopping besides the
coincidences or whatever it was. Name of

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the willis He stopped at the next
gas station. Cat fill her up,

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certainly, sir, check your while
chair. Oh thanks, nice night,

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And yes, and hasn't been raining
here recently? Hasn't not a drop of

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rain all the way? Oh?
Oh, I suppose that doesn't done your

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business any harm? Oh? People
drive through here all kinds of weather,

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mostly business. You know, there
aren't many pleasure cars out on the turnpike

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this season of the year, I
suppose not what uh, what about hitchhikers?

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Hitch hikers here? What's matter?
Don't you ever see any? Not

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much? If we did it,
it'd be a sight for soll right,

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Why, oh, guy, I'd
be a fool who started out to hitch

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rides on this road. Look at
it. Then, you've never seen anybody.

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No, maybe they get the lift
before the turnpike starts, I mean,

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you know, just before the toll
house. But then it'd be a

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mighty long ride. Most cars wouldn't
want to pick up a guy for that

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long ride. And you know,
this is pretty lonesome country here, mountains

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and woods. You ain't seen anybody
like that, have you? No?

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Oh, no, not at all. I'm just a technical question. Well

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that'll be just a dollar forty nine
with attacked. Then gradually passed through my

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mind, a sheer coincidence. I
had a good night's sleep in Pittsburgh.

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I didn't think about the man all
next day until just outside of Zainesville,

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Ohio, I saw him again.
It's a bright, sunshiny afternoon, the

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peaceful Ohio fields brown with the autumn
double a dreaming in the golden light.

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I was driving slowly, drinking it
in when the road suddenly ended in a

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detur in front of the barrier.
He was standing. Let me explain about

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his appearance before I go on.
I repeat There was nothing sinister about him.

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He was as drab as a mud
fence. There was his attitude,

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menacing. He merely stop there,
waiting, almost drooping, a little cheap

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overnight bag in his hand. He
looked as though he had been waiting there

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for hours. And he looked up. He hailed me. He started to

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walk forward. Hello, Hello,
Hello, No, not just now,

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sorry, oh California. No,
not today, the other way, going

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to New York. Sorry. After
I got the car back on the road

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again, I felt like I had
the thought of picking him up, of

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having him sit beside me, was
somehow unbearable. Same time, I felt

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more than ever unspeakably alone. Hour
after hour went by Fields, the town

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was ticked off one by one.
The light changed. I knew now that

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I was going to see him again, And though I dreaded the sight,

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I caught myself searching the side of
the road waiting for him to appear.

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Yeah, why do you want to
sell sandwiches and't pop here, don't you?

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Yeah? We go in the daytime. I know when I was one

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of you could posibly have a cup
of coffee, black coffee. Just no,

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that is time like my wife's the
cough don't shut the door. Please

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listen. Just a minute ago,
just a minute ago, there was a

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man standing here right beside the stand, a suspicious looking man. I don't

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mean to disturb it. Can you
see how I was driving along when I

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just happened to look and there he
was. How was he doing or nothing?

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You've been taking a nit? That's
what you're been going. I lie

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your way before I golos car hoats. I got into the car again and

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drove on slowly. It's ginning to
hate the car. If I could have

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found a place to stop, i'd
to rest a little. I was in

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the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. Now
fewer resort places there were closed, only

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an occasional log cabin, seemingly deserted. That's all that broke the knocked me

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into the wild wooded lions caps.
I had seen him at that roadside stand.

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I knew i'd see him again,
maybe at the next turn of the

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road. I knew that when I
saw him mixed, I would run him

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down. I didn't. I didn't
see him until late next afternoon. Stopped

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the car to sleep a little junction
just across the border into Oklahoma, to

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let a train pass by when he
appeared across the tracks, leaning against a

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telephone pole. Perfectly airless, dry
day. The red clay of Oklahoma was

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baking under the southwestern sun, yet
there were spots of fresh rain on his

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shoulders. I couldn't stand there without
thinking blindly, I started the car across

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the tracks. He didn't look up
at me. He was staring at the

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ground and stepped on the gap car
during the heel sharply toward him. I

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could hear the train in the distance
now, and I didn't care them.

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He said he went wrong with the
car. The train was coming closer.

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I could hear the bell ring.
I had a twistler. Still he stood

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there, and now I knew that
he was beckoning, beckoning me to my

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death. Well, I frustrated him, met and started work to last,

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and managed to back up and the
train past. He was gone. I

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was all alone in the hot,
dry afternoon. After that, I knew

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I had to do something. I
didn't know who this man was, of

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what he wanted of me. I
only knew that from now on I mustn't

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let myself alone on the road for
one minute. Hello, there like a

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ride? What do you say?
How are you going? Oh, where

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do you want to go? I'll
drive you there. Gee, do you

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mind if I take off my shoes? My dog? Get chu right ahead?

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Oh gee, what a break there? Didn't shrike much? Sure,

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honey, it's tough sometimes, and
these great open spaces to get the break

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she think it would be, though, I'll bet you get a good pickup

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and a fast car. You did
you get get places faster than, say,

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another person, than another car?
Couldn't you? I don't get you?

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Well? Take me, for instance, Suppose I'm I'm driving across the

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country saying a nice steady clip about
forty five miles an hour. Couldn't girl

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like you just standing beside the road
waiting for let's beat me to town or

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any town? I? Why did
she got picked up every time in the

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car doing from sixty five to seventy
miles an hour? I don't know what

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difference does it make? Oh,
no difference. It's just a crazy idea

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I had sitting here in the car. Imagine spending your time in a swell

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car thinking of things like that?
What would you do? In steed?

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Would I do if I was a
good looking fellow like yourself? Why?

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I just enjoy myself? Every minute
of the time. I'd sit back and

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relax. If I saw a good
looking girl along the side of the road,

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all see who man standing beside the
barber fence. I didn't see anybody.

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There was nothing but a bunch of
cows and the wire. Fancy what

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did think you was doing trying to
run into the barber man? There?

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I tell you it's ten gray man
of an overnight bag against tann and I

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was trying to run him down,
run him down, kill him. Say

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he didn't see him? Back?
You sure I didn't see it. So

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as far as watching for him the
next time, and keep watching your eye

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peeled on the road, he'll turn
up again at any minute. There we're

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there. How does this so work? I'm getting out seeing that time.

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No, I didn't see him that
time, and personally, mister, I

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don't expect never to see him.
All I want to do is go on

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living. I don't see how I
will very long driving with you. I'm

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sorry I didn't. I don't know
what came over me, but please don't

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go. So if you'll excuse me, you can't go. Listen, how

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would you like to go to California? I'll grind you to California, seeing

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pink elephants all the way. No, thanks, ha hauh, thanks,

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just please just one minute, Please
do what I think you need, big

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boy, Not a girlfriend, just
a good dozens please, I got it

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now. How you can't put my
hands off me? Do you hear me?

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She ran from me, I said, Oh, I were a monster.

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A few minutes later, I saw
a passing truck picker up. I

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knew then that I was utterly alone. It's in the heart of the Great

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Texas Prairies. There wasn't a car
on the road. After the truck went

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by, I tried to figure out
what to do, how to get hold

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of myself. I could find a
place to rest or even if I could

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sleep right here in the car for
a few hours alongside of the road.

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It's getting my winter overcoat out of
the back seat to use as a blanket.

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When I saw him coming toward me, emerging from the herd of moving

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steer, oh maybe I should have
spoken to him then, fought it out

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then and there for now. He
began to be everywhere whenever I stopped,

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even for a moment, for gas, for oil, for a drink of

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pop, a cup of coffee,
Sandwich. He was there. I saw

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00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:32.000
him standing outside the auto camp in
a Mailla that night when I dared to

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slow down. I was sitting near
the drinking fountain of a little camping spot

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just inside the border of New Mexico. He was waiting for me outside the

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Navajo reservation where I stopped to check
my tires. I saw him in Albuquerque

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when I bought twenty gallons of gas. Her was hers afraid to stop.

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I began to drive faster and faster. I was him landscape, the great

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arid Mesa country of New Mexico.
I drove through it with the indifference of

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a fly crawling over the face of
the moon. Well, he didn't even

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wait for me to stop. Unless
I drove at eighty five miles an hour

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over those endless roads. He waited
for me. At every other mile,

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I'd see his figure, shadowless,
flitting before me, still in the same

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00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:33.240
attitude, over the cold, lifeless
ground, flitting over dried up rivers,

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00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:41.000
over broken stones cast up by old
gracial upheavals, flitting in that pure and

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cloudless air. I was beside myself
when I finally reached Gallop, New Mexico.

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This smaker as an autocamp here cold, almost deserted this time of year.

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I went inside, asked if there
was a telephone, and the feeling

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00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:10.240
that if only I could speak to
someone familiar, someone I loved, I

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could pull myself together. Your call, please long distance, long distance.

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00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:27.920
Certainly, this is long distance.
I'd like to put in a call to

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my home in Brooklyn, New York. I'm Ronald Adams. The number is

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Beechwood two oh oh eight, too
eight. Certainly I will try to get

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00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:48.440
it for you. Albuquerque, New
York for Gallup, New York, Gallup,

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00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:55.319
New Mexico. Calling Beechwood two oh
a two eight. I read somewhere

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that love could banish demons. To
the middle of the morning, I knew

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00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.720
Mother would be home. I pictured
her, tall, white haired in her

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00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:14.640
chrisp postress, going about her tasks. Be enough, I thought, just

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00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:18.160
to hear the even calmness of her
voice. Will you please deposit three dollars

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00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:22.279
and eighty five cents for the first
three minutes. When you have deposited a

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00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:36.079
dollar and a half, will you
wait until I have collected the money?

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00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:59.480
All right, deposit another dollar and
a half. Will you please deposit the

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00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:15.640
remaining eighty five then ready, with
Brooklyn Go ahead, please hello hello Missus

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00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:22.000
Adams residence. Oh, hello mother, This is missus Adams residence. Who

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00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:26.759
is a Jewish to speak to?
Please? Who is this? This is

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00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:30.759
missus Whinney, missus Whinnie. I
don't know any Missus Whinny. Is this

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00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:37.119
beach? What two eight two eight? Yes? Well, where where is

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00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:41.200
my mother? Where's Missus Adams?
Missus Adams is not at home. She's

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still in the hospital, the hospital. Yes, who's this calling? Please?

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00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.240
Is it a member of the family. What's she in the hospital for.

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00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:55.559
She's been prostrated for five days,
nervous breakdown. But who is nervous

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00:25:55.680 --> 00:26:00.319
breakdown? Well, my grand mother
never was nervous. It's all taken place

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00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:06.039
since the death of our oldest son, Ronald, death of her death of

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00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:10.200
her oldest son, Ronald. Hey, Well what's this? What number is

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00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:14.400
this? This is beech Wood two
eight two eight. It's all been very

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00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:18.480
sudden. He was killed just six
days ago in an automobile accident on the

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Brooklyn Bridge. You are three minutes, our upsair, You're three minutes,

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00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:33.839
our unsir, you're three minutes our
answer. And so so I'm sitting here

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00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:41.519
in this deserted auto camp in youallup, New Mexico. I'm trying to think,

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00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:51.920
trying to get hold of myself.
Otherwise I am going to go crazy

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00:26:53.680 --> 00:27:03.920
outside. It's night, a vast, soulless night of New Mexico. A

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00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:11.039
million stars are in the sky ahead
of me, stretch one thousand miles of

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00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:23.640
empty Mesa, mountains, prairies,
desert. Somewhere among them, he's waiting

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00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:48.200
for me. Somewhere I shall know
who he is and who I am.

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00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:53.880
So ends the Hitchhiker and to Austin
Wells are considerable thanks for his playing of

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00:27:53.920 --> 00:28:00.880
the title role. Mister Wells,
help wanted men, women and children.

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00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:08.000
Nature of work hard, monotonous,
backbreaking labor our seventy five a week minimum,

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00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:14.559
hey, few cents an hour added
inducement two meals a day, including

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00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:18.079
several ounces of bad bread and a
cup of thin soup. Don't delay,

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00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:22.480
apply at once. How'ld you respond
to a want ad like that? Mister

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00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:27.279
and missus American working man and woman? You'd laugh, wouldn't you throw the

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00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:30.440
paper in the trash basket, dismissed
the whole advertisement of some kind of a

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00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:33.640
joke. Would believe me it's no
joke. It's a simple statement of the

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00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.920
working conditions that exist today in Nazi
Germany, in the conquered country's under Nazi

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00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.519
rule. It's also an exact statement
of the working conditions it'll be imposed on

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00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:48.599
you at every member of your family
if the Nazis win this war. You

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00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:52.759
yourself personally can stop them from winning. As you know, you don't have

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00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.319
to give up your well paid job
to do it. You needn't have to

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00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:56.680
be a soldier, a sailor,
or an airman, or a nurse or

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00:28:56.680 --> 00:29:03.240
a war worker to ensure American victory. Uncle Sam doesn't ask plain ordinary hardworking

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00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:07.440
citizens like you to give him anything. All he asks, all this he

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00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:11.680
does ask, very serious and very
urgently, is that you loan him ten

295
00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:15.279
cents out of every dollar you make. That's all there is to it.

296
00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:19.839
Lend Uncle Sam a dime to win
this war. He'll pay you back with

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00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:25.680
interest when he's won it. The
easiest, most convenient way to lend in

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00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:32.160
these dimes is to enroll in the
payroll Savings Plan. Just tell your boss

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00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.359
to deduct ten cents from every dollar
he pays you and lend it to Uncle

300
00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:38.920
Sam in your name. Sign up
for this simple savings plan today, and

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00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:44.960
when victory comes, you will have
war bonds in your pockets instead of axis

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00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.440
bonds on your wrists. Suspense will
be heard again two weeks from tonight.

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00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:55.480
Next Wednesday night, September ninth,
the Columbia Broadcasting System will present over many

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00:29:55.480 --> 00:30:00.799
of these stations at nine thirty pm
Eastern wartime and addressed by wa Geeral Harreman,

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00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:04.279
the United States Lend Lease Administrator in
London. Mister Harriman, as the

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00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:10.400
personal representative of the President of the
United States, attended the Moscow conferences between

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00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:15.920
Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Next
Wednesday's broadcast would be mister Harriman's first public

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00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:23.000
address since his return to this country. Suspense is produced and directed by William

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00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:29.359
Spear. John Dietz was our guest
director this evening. Tonight's radio drama was

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00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:41.440
written by Lucille Fletcher. The original
score was by Bernard Herrman. This is

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00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:56.119
the Columbia Broadcasting System. It's good
to listen to a little bit of your

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00:30:56.119 --> 00:31:00.839
favorite music after you've been scared.
I hope of you out there on the

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00:31:00.920 --> 00:31:03.880
road are thinking about picking up a
hitchhiker. But if you are well,

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00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:08.400
have a good time, because in
the end, that's all we really have,

315
00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:15.680
is a good time. Oh my
goodness, the evening sure has progressed

316
00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:21.599
quickly. Looks like soon the sun
will come out and my time will be

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00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:25.680
over again. But don't worry.
I'll be right back here tomorrow night.

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00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:30.759
So if you can find me,
if you can tune in, well join

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00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:33.839
me. And if you want to
reach out to me, I suppose you

320
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.160
can email me. It's a little
bit easier and cheaper than buying a Ouiji

321
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:41.640
board. You can get a hold
of me at Weird Mysteries show at gmail

322
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:45.119
dot com, or go to weird
dash Mysteries dot com and find all kinds

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00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:52.119
of neat hole things to enjoy.
I suppose. But what's that. Oh

324
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:53.119
no, no, no, don't
even worry about that at all. No,

325
00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:56.240
no, no, she doesn't bite. She doesn't bite at all.

326
00:31:56.039 --> 00:31:59.359
No no, no, not at
all, no, sir, no,

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00:31:59.480 --> 00:32:02.960
sir. Eb Well, anyway,
until next time, until tomorrow night,

328
00:32:04.119 --> 00:32:07.960
I hope I'll see you. So
don't be afraid even of the things you

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00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:09.160
know you're afraid of.