SYSK’s Scare Your Socks Off Halloween Spooktacular 2019

Josh and Chuck chose a truly unsettling story by one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time – Philip K Dick. Join the boys as they read “The Hanging Stranger,” complete with scary sound effects by the Extraordinary Jeri!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everyone, it's me Josh. Happy Halloween. Uh, we just
wanted to give you guys the heads up that Jerry
went all out with this Halloween episode and there is
a moment of surprisingly graphic violence. Is brief and it's quick,
but we just wanted to give a heads up to
all the people who are sensitive to violence and all
the parents. So at any rate, on with the show.

(00:31):
Welcome to Stuff. You should know a production of I
Heart Radios, How Stuff Works, And welcome to the podcast.
I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles w Spooktacular Bryant. I think
I would have had something better than that. And there's

(00:53):
Jerry over there. She's spooky all year round. So nothing
nothing different here, nothing different. How you do. I'm great.
I'm ready to get our Halloween read on. It's exciting.
This is how many years in a row? Oh? Man,
I don't know. I think it goes back to something
like two thousand and ten, maybe, I think. And uh,

(01:14):
we don't want to pat ourselves in the back too much,
but we have made great efforts everyone to keep the
Halloween and Christmas episodes ad free at great peril. Oh yeah,
it's kind of like a constant clashing of swords against
our shields and saying back back Huskies, and we've we've
done a good job with it so far. That's right.
So we are you won't hear any ads on this

(01:36):
episode because that really kills the buzz of the mood.
You will hear those in our we're doing a shorty
Halloween reading. In fact, I think that came out just
prior to this one, and uh, we didn't fight that battle,
so sorry about that. Hopefully that was a nice little
warm up for this one though. Yeah, just get your primed.
And this year, Chuck, we're doing one by an amazing

(01:58):
author who hasn't been dead for a hundred and fifty years.
Philip K. Dick, that's right, who wrote Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep, which became Blade Runner, um A Scanner Darkly,
all sorts of amazing stuff, right, Uh, Minority Report, I think,
and this one. He also wrote a bunch of short
stories and this one I found was like in the

(02:20):
public domain, so I said, let's do Philip K. Dick.
That's right, he said, heck, yes, let's do Philip K. Dick,
because we don't want to get sued by the Dick foundation. No,
so we wanted to make sure that everyone knows this
is public domain. That's right. So, uh do you want
to get started? Uh? Yeah, who's We haven't discussed order
anything usually freewheel it. Do you have this thing segmented out?

(02:41):
Or you just want to knock me over the head
when I've gotten too far, I think we'll be able
to tell. And if not, you know, we'll just edit
out the roughness about that. Who's going to start? I'll start? Okay,
you're ready. I like the story, by the way. I
love it. It's good. By the way, This is The
Hanging Stranger by Phil up k Dick. At five o'clock,

(03:07):
ed Lewis washed up, tossed on his hat and coat,
got his car out, and headed across town towards his
TV sales store. He was tired. His back and shoulders
ached from digging dirt out of the basement and wheeling
it into the backyard, but for a forty year old man,
he had done okay. Janet could get a new vase
with the money he saved, and he liked the idea

(03:27):
of repairing the foundations himself. It was getting dark. The
setting sun cast long rays over the scurrying commuters, tired
and grim faced women loaded down with bundles and packages,
students swarming home from the university, mixing with clerks and
businessmen and drab secretaries. He stopped his packard for a
red light and then started it up again. The store

(03:50):
had been open without him. He arrived just in time
to spell the help for dinner, go over the records
of the day, maybe even close a couple of sales himself.
He drove slow. He passed the small square of green
in the center of the street, the town park. There
were no parking places in front of Lois TV Sales
and Service. He cursed under his breath and swung the

(04:10):
car in a U turn. Again, he passed the little
square of green with its lonely drinking fountain and bench
and single lamp post. From the lamp post, something was hanging,
a shapeless, dark bundle, swinging a little with the wind,
like a dummy of some sort. Lois rolled down his
window and peered out. What the hell was it? A

(04:31):
display of some kind. Sometimes the Chamber of Commerce put
up displays in the square. Again, he made a U
turn and brought his car around. He passed the park
and concentrated on the dark bundle. It wasn't a dummy,
and if it was a display, it was a strange kind.
The hackles on his neck rose and he swallowed uneasily.
Sweat slid out on his face and hands. It was

(04:53):
a body, a human body. Han, that's you, buddy, all right,
So TV salesman, I'm really glad his wife is gonna
be able to buy that new vase. Sure. I thought
that was a weird detail too, because he's digging out
the foundation of his house, which I think is is

(05:14):
that a red herring? We'll find out. We'll find out.
Look at it, Lloyd snapped, Come on out here. Don
Ferguson came slowly out of the store, buttoning his pin
striped coat with dignity. This is a big deal, Ed.
I can't just leave the guy standing there, see it,

(05:35):
Ed pointed into the gathering gloom, the lamp post jutted
up against the sky, the post and the bundle swinging
from it. There it is. How the hell long has
it been there? His voice rose excitedly. What's wrong with everybody?
They just walk on past? Don Ferguson lit a cigarette. Slowly,
take it easy, old man, there must be a good reason,

(05:57):
or it wouldn't be there. A reason, kind of a reason.
Ferguson shrugged, like the time the traffic Safety Council put
that wrecked buick there, some sort of civic thing. How
would I know, Geez, Ferguson's uptight. Yeah, yeah, a little uptight.
Shir Jack Potter from the shoe shop joined them. What's up, boys,

(06:18):
there's a body hanging from the lamp post. Lloy said,
I'm going to call the cops, and they must know
about it, Potter said, or otherwise it wouldn't be there.
I got to get back in. Ferguson headed back into
the store. Business before Pleasure Lois began to get hysterical.
You see it, You see it hanging there, A man's body,

(06:40):
a dead man. Sure, Ed, I saw it this afternoon
when I went out for coffee. You mean it's been
there all afternoon? Sure, what's the matter? Potter glanced at
his watch. Have to run see you later, ed. Potter
hurried off, joining the flow of people moving along the sidewalk,
men and women passing by the park. A few glanced up,
curious at the dark bundle, and then went on. Nobody

(07:03):
stopped nobody paid any attention. Very good check. That was
really good. Yeah, apparently no one is concerned about this
person hanging there, but ed Llois, which is a little
weird if you think about it. I'm going nuts, Lowis whispered.
He made his way to the curb and crossed out

(07:25):
into traffic. Among the cars, horns honked angrily at him.
He gained the curb and stepped up onto the little
square of green. The man had been middle aged. His
clothing was ripped and torn, a gray suit, splashed and
caked with dried mud. A stranger. Lewis had never seen
him before, not a local man. His face was partly
turned away, and in the evening win he spun a little,

(07:47):
turning gently silently. His skin was gouged and cut, red, gashes,
deep scratches of congealed blood. A pair of steel rimmed
glasses hung from one ear, dangling foolishly. His eyes bulged,
his mouth was open, tongue thick and ugly blue. For
heaven's sake, Llois muttered, sickened. He pushed down his nausea

(08:09):
and made his way back to the sidewalk. He was
shaking all over with revulsion and fear. Why, who was
the man, why was he hanging there? What did it mean?
And why didn't anybody notice? He bumped into a small
man hurrying along the sidewalk. Watch it, the man grated,
Oh it's you. Ed, Ed nodded dazedly, Hello, Jenkins, what's

(08:33):
the matter. The stationary clerk caught Ed's arm. You look
sick the body there in the park. Sure, Ed Jenkins
led him into the alcove of Loys TV Sales and Service.
Take it easy, Margaret Henderson, from the jewelry store joined them.
Something wrong. Ed's not feeling well? Lois yanked himself free.
How can you stand here? Don't you see it? For

(08:55):
God's sake, what's he talking about? Margaret asked nervously. The body,
Edge shouted the body hanging there? More people collected. Is
he sick? Is Ed? Lloys? You okay? Yet? The body?
Lloys screamed, Struggling to get past them, hands caught at him.
He tore loose, Let me go the police, Get the police.

(09:15):
Ed better, get a doctor. He must be sick or drunk.
Loys fought his way through the people. He stumbled and
half fell through a blur. He saw rows of faces,
curious concerned, anxious men and women halting to see what
the disturbance was. He fought past them towards his store.
He could see Ferguson inside talking to a man showing

(09:36):
him an Emerson TV set, Pete Foley in the back
of the service counter setting up a new fil COO.
Lloys shouted at them frantically. His voice was lost in
the roar of traffic and the murmuring around him. Do something,
he screamed, don't stand there, do something. Something's wrong, something's happened,
things are going on. The crowd melted respectfully for the

(09:58):
two heavy set cops moving efficiently towards Lois Man. No
one's listening to Lois. He's also losing his bananas. Yeah,
as they say, I think I would have handled a
little differently. But what would you have done? I don't know.
I'm not I'm not judging it. Llois. Alright, alright, So
the cops are approaching. Here, here we come. Name the

(10:21):
cop with the notebook, murmured Lois. He mopped his head wearily.
Edward CLIs, listen to me back there, address, the cop demanded.
The police car moved swiftly through traffic, shooting among the
cars and busses. Lois sagged against the seat, exhausted and confused.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. Eight Hurst Road, that's

(10:44):
here in Pikeville. That's right. Lis pulled himself up with
a violent effort. Listen to me back there in the square,
hanging from the lamp post. Where where are you today?
The cop behind the wheel demanded where. Leois echoed, You
weren't in your shop. Where are you? No, he shook
his head. No, I was at home, down in the basement,
in the basement, digging a new foundation, getting out the

(11:08):
dirt to poor submit frame. Why what has this got
to do with Was anybody else down there with you? No?
My wife was downtown, my kids were at school. Lois
looked from one heavy set cop to the other. Hope
flickered across his face. Wild, hope you mean because I
was down there, I missed the explanation. I didn't get

(11:29):
in on it like everybody else. After a pause, the
cop with the notebook said, that's right, you missed the explanation.
Then it's official. The body is is supposed to be
hanging there. It's supposed to be hanging there for everybody
to see. Ed, Lloys grinned weekly good lord. I guess
I sort of went off the deep end. I thought

(11:51):
maybe something had happened, you know, something like the Ku
Klux Klan, some kind of violence, communist or fascist taking over.
He why his face with his breast, pocket handkerchief, his
hands shaking. I'm glad to know what's on the level.
It's on the level. The police car was getting near
the Hall of Justice. The sun had set, the streets

(12:12):
were gloomy and dark. The lights had not yet come on.
I feel better, Lloys said. I was pretty excited there
for a minute. I guess I got all stirred up.
Now that I understand, there's no need to take me in,
is there? The two cops said, nothing very nice. You're ready? Yeah,

(12:33):
it's eating up. I know you're a tough act to follow,
but here I go. I should be back at my store.
The boys haven't had dinner. I'm all right now. No
more trouble, is there any need of This won't take long.
The cop behind the wheel interrupted a short process, only
a few minutes. I hope it's short, Lloys muttered. The

(12:55):
car slowed down for a stoplight. I guess I sort
of disturbed the peace funny getting excited like that, and
Loy's yanked the door open and he sprawled out into
the street and rolled to his feet. Cars were moving
all around him, gaining speed as the light change. Loyce
leaped onto the curb and raced among the people, burrowing
into the swarming crowds. Behind him, he heard sounds, shouts,

(13:17):
people running. They weren't cops. He'd realize that right away.
He knew every cop in Pike Bill. A man couldn't
own a store, operate a business in a small town
for twenty five years without getting to know all the cops.
They weren't cops, and there hadn't been any explanation Potter
Ferguson Jenkins. None of them knew why it was there.

(13:38):
They didn't know, and they didn't care. That was the
strange part. Lloyd stucked into a hardware store. He raced
toward the back, past the startled clerks and customers, into
the shipping room and through the back door. He tripped
over a garbage camp and ran up a flight of
concrete steps. He climbed over a fence and jumped down
on the other side, gasping and panting. There was no

(14:02):
sound behind him. He had gotten away. I think it's
back to you, man, all right. So he made a
run for it, he did, and now he's kind of
safe for the moment. For the moment. He was at
the entrance of an alley, dark and strewn with boards
and ruined boxes and tires. He could see the street

(14:24):
at the far end. A street light wavered and came
on men and women stores, neon signs. Cars. Into his
right the police station. He was close, terribly close, past
the loading platform of a grocery store, rose the white
concrete side of the Hall of Justice, barred windows, the

(14:45):
police antenna, a great concrete wall rising up in the darkness,
A bad place for him to be near. He was
too close. He had to keep moving, get farther away
from them. Them loys moved cautiously down the alley. Beyond
the police station was the City Hall, the old fashioned
yellow structure of wood and gilded brass and broad cement steps.

(15:07):
He could see the endless rows of offices, dark windows,
the cedars and beds of flowers on each side of
the entrance, and something else. Above the City Hall was
a patch of darkness, a cone of gloom, denser than
the surrounding night, a prism of black that spread out
and was lost into the sky. Weird, I know, very weird.

(15:30):
He listened. Good God, he could hear something, something that
made him struggle frantically to close his ears, his mind
to shut out the sound. A buzzing, a distant, muted hum,
like a great swarm of bees. Oh boy, things are
getting bad. It is. Whenever you see a cone of

(15:50):
gloom denser than the surrounding night, that's not a good sign.
All right, go ahead. Bloys gazed up, rigid with horror,
the splotch of darkness hanging over City Hall, darkness so
thick it seemed almost solid in the vortex. Something moved,
flickering shapes, things descending from the sky, pausing momentarily above

(16:15):
the City Hall, fluttering over it in a dense swarm,
and then dropping silently on to the roof. Shapes, fluttering
shapes from the sky from the crack of darkness that
hung above him. He was seeing them for a long time.
Lois watched, crouched behind a sagging fence in a pool
of scummy water. They were landing, coming down in groups,

(16:38):
landing on the roof of the City Hall and disappearing inside.
They had wings, like giant insects of some kind. They
flew and fluttered and came to rest, and then crawled
crab fashioned sideways across the roof and into the building.
He was sickened and fascinated. Cold night wind loo around him,

(17:00):
and he shuddered. He was tired days with shock. On
the front steps of the City Hall, where men standing here,
and there groups of men coming out of the building
and halting for a moment before going on. Were there
more of them? It didn't seem possible. What he saw
descending from the black chasm weren't men. They were alien

(17:21):
from some other world, some other dimension, sliding through the slit,
this break in the shell of the universe, entering through
this gap, winged insects from another realm of being. That's
me hitting the tennis ball back to you. This is
uh is getting pretty scary. I think so too. I mean,

(17:43):
now we've got winged insect aliens coming from a chasm
in the sky onto city Hall, or do we just
have a man losing his mind. That's a really good question, Chuck.
Let's explore that further. On the steps of the city Hall,
group of men broke up. A few moved toward a
waiting car. One of the remaining shapes started to re

(18:05):
enter the city hall. It changed its mind and turned
to follow the others. Loy's closed his eyes in horror.
Since is reeled. He hung on tight, clutching at the
sagging fence. The shape, the man shape, had abruptly fluttered
up and flapped after the others. It flew to the
sidewalk and came to rest among them. Pseudo men imitation men,

(18:28):
insects with ability to disguise themselves as men, like other
insects familiar to earth protective coloration mimicry. Loys pulled himself away.
He got slowly to his feet. It was night. The
alley was totally dark, but maybe they could see in
the dark. Maybe darkness made no difference to them. He

(18:50):
left the alley cautiously and moved out onto the street.
Men and women flowed past, but not so many. Now
At the bus stops stood waiting groups. A huge bus
lumbering along the street, its lights flashing in the evening gloom.
Loys moved forward. He pushed his way among those waiting,
and when the bus halted, he boarded it and took

(19:11):
a seat in the rear by the door. A moment later,
the bus moved into life and rumbled down the street.
Loys relaxed a little. He studied the people around him, dull,
tired faces, people going home from work, quite ordinary faces.
None of them paid any attention to him. All sat quietly,
sunk down in their seats, jiggling with the motion of

(19:33):
the bus. The man sitting next to him unfolded a newspaper.
He began to read the sports section, his lips moving.
An ordinary man, blue suit tie, a businessman or a salesman,
on his way home to his wife and family. Cross
the aisle. A young woman perhaps twenty, dark eyes and hair,
a package on her lap, nyelons and heels, red coat

(19:55):
and white Angora sweater, gazing absently ahead of her. A
high school boy why in jeans and black jacket. A great,
triple chinned woman with an immense shopping bag loaded with
packages and parcels, her face dim with weariness. Ordinary people,
the kind that rode the bus every evening, going home
to their families to dinner. Well, you can make riding

(20:20):
the bus home to dinner sounds sinister check. Going home
with their minds, dead controlled, filmed over with the mask
of an alien being that had appeared and taken possession
of them, their town, their lives. Himself too, except that
he had happened to be deep in his cellar instead

(20:43):
of in the store. Somehow he had been overlooked. They
had missed him. Their control wasn't perfect, foolproof. Maybe there
were others. Hope flickered in Loi's They weren't omnipotent. They
had made a mistake, not gotten control of him. Their net,
their field of control, had passed over him. He had

(21:05):
emerged from his cellar as he had gone down. Apparently
their power zone was limited. A few seats down the aisle,
a man was watching him. Lois broke off his chain
of thought. A slender man with dark hair and a
small mustache, well dressed, brown suit, shiny shoes, a book
between his small hands. He was watching Loyce, studying him intently.

(21:29):
He quickly turned away. Lois tensed one of them or
another they had missed. The man was watching him again, small,
dark eyes, alive and clever, shrewd, A man too shrewd
for them, or one of the things, an alien insect
from beyond the bus halted. An elderly man got on

(21:52):
slowly and dropped his token into the box. He moved
down the aisle and took a seat opposite Lois. The
elderly man caught the sharp eyed man's gaze for a
split second. Something passed between them, a look rich with meaning.
Lois got to his feet. The bus was moving. He
ran to the door one stepped down into the well.

(22:12):
He yanked the emergency door release. The rubber door swung open. Hey,
the driver shouted, jamming on his brakes. What the hell?
I just wanted to keep reading until I got to say, Hell,
you don't need you to take over? Okay? Lloys squirmed through.
The bus was slowing down. Houses on all sides, a

(22:32):
residential district, lawns and tall apartment buildings behind him, the
bright eyed man had leapt up. The elderly man was
also on his feet. They were coming after him. Leis leaped.
He hit the pavement with terrific force and rolled against
the curb. Pain lapped over him, pain and a vast
tide of blackness. Desperately, he fought it off. He struggled

(22:53):
to his knees and then slid down again. The bus
had stopped. People were getting off. Lois groped around, his
fingers closed over something, a rock lying in the gutter.
He crawled to his feet, grunting with pain. A shape
loomed before him, a man, the bright eyed man with
a book. Lois kicked. The man gasped and fell. Lois

(23:14):
brought the rock down. The man screamed and tried to
roll away. Stop, for God's sakes, listen. He struck again,
hideous crunching sound. The man's voice cut off and dissolved
in a bubbling wail. Leois scrambled up and back. The
others were there now, all around him. He ran awkwardly
down the sidewalk up a driveway. None of them followed him.

(23:38):
They had stopped and were bending over the inert body
of the man with the book, the bright eyed man
who had come after him. Had he made a mistake,
But it was too late to worry about that. He
had to get out away from them, out of Pikeville,
beyond the crack of darkness, the rent between their world
and his. He really shakes off a possible murder pretty easy.

(24:00):
Do you like to worry about that? That's in my past?
Happened ten seconds ago. I got to move forward, and
Janet Looys backed away nervously. What is it? What ed?
Lloys slammed the door behind him and came into the
living room, pulled down the shades quick. Janet moved toward
the window. But do as I say. Who else is

(24:22):
here beside you? Nobody? Just the twins. They're upstairs in
their room. What happened? You look so strange? Why are
you home? Do you like the new vase? I pointed,
with the money we saved, find the foundation work you did,
and locked the front door. He prowled around the house
into the kitchen. From the drawer under the sink, he
slit out the big butcher knife and ran his finger

(24:44):
along it. Sharp, plenty sharp. He returned to the living room.
Listen to me, he said, I don't have much time.
They know I escaped, and they'll be looking for me. Escaped.
Janet's face twisted with bewilderment and fear. Who the town
has been taken over. They're in control. I've got it
pretty well figured out. They started at the top at

(25:06):
the city hall, in police department. What they did with
the real humans? They what are you talking about? We've
been invaded? From some other universe, some other dimension. Their insects,
mimicry and more power to control our minds, your mind,
my mind, their entrances here. I think this is the

(25:27):
role you were born to play. Thank you, Janet Leois,
Janet Leois. Their entance is here in Pikeville. They've taken
over all of you, the whole town except me. We're
up against an incredibly powerful enemy. But they have their limitations.
That's our hope. They're limited, they can make mistakes. Janet
shook her head. I don't understand ed. You must be insane. Insane, No,

(25:52):
just lucky. If I hadn't been down in the basement,
i'd be like all the rest of you. Lois peered
around the window, but I can't stand here talking. Get
your coat, my coat. We're getting out of here, out
of Pikesville. We've got to help to fight this thing.
They can be beaten. They're not infallible. It's going to
be close, but we may make it if we hurry.

(26:13):
Come on, he grabbed her arm roughly, Get your coat
and call the twins. We're all leaving. Don't stop to pack.
There's no time for that. White faced, his wife moved
toward the closet and got down her coat. Where are
we going? Ed pulled open the desk drawer and spilled
the contents out onto the floor. He grabbed up a
road map and spread it open. To have all the

(26:34):
highways covered, of course, but there's a back road to
oak growth. I got onto it once. It's practically abandoned.
Maybe they'll forget about it. The old ranch road. Good lord,
it's completely closed. Nobody's supposed to drive over it, I know.
Ed thrust the map grimly in his coat. That's our
best chance. Now call down the twins and let's get going.

(26:56):
Your collar is full of gas, isn't it. Janet was dazed.
Should I keep going? Oh man, keep going? The chevy?
I d n Philip yesterday afternoon. Janet moved towards the stairs,
and I call the twins. Ed unlocked the front door
and peered out. Nothing stirred, no sign of life. All right,
so far, come on downstairs, Janet called, in the wavering voice.

(27:19):
We're going out for a while. Now let me do
a different one for Tommy. Now. Tommy's voice came. Hurry up, ed, bark,
get down here, both of you. Tommy appeared at the stairs,
I'm just doing my homework. We're starting fractions. Miss Parker says.
If we don't get this done, you can forget about fractions.

(27:40):
Ed grabbed his son as he came down the stairs
and propelled him toward the door. Where's Jim, he's coming.
Jim started slowly down the stairs. What's up, dirt, We're
going for a ride, a ride where Ed turned to Janet.
We'll leave all the lights on and the TV set.
Go turn it on. He pushed her towards the set
so they'll think are still. He heard the buzz and

(28:03):
dropped instantly. The long butcher knife out sickened. He saw
it coming down the stairs at him, wings, a blur
of motion as it aimed itself. It still bore a
vague resemblance to Jimmy. It was small, a baby one.
A brief glimpse the thing hurtling at him, cold, multi
lensed inhuman eyes, wings, bodies still clothed in the yellow

(28:26):
T shirt and jeans, the mimic outline still stamped on it,
a strange half turn of its body as it reached him.
What was it doing? A stinger? Lois stabbed wildly at it.
It retreated buzzing frantically, Lois rolled and crawled toward the door.
Tommy and Janet stood still as statues, faces blank, watching
without expression. Lois stabbed again. This time the knife connected.

(28:50):
The thing shrieked and faltered. It bounced against the wall
and fluttered down. Something lapped through his mind, a wall
of force energy, an alien mind probing in to him.
He was suddenly paralyzed. The mind entered his own, touched
against him, briefly, shockingly and utter, alien presence settling over him,

(29:10):
and then it flickered out. As the thing collapsed in
a broken heap on the rug. It was dead. He
turned it over with his foot. It was an insect,
a fly of some kind, yellow T shirt, jeans, his son, Jimmy.
He closed his mind tight. It was too late to
think about that. Savagely, he scooped up his knife and

(29:32):
headed toward the door. Janet and Tommy stood stone still,
neither of them moving. The car was out. He'd never
get through. They'd be waiting for him. It was ten
miles on foot, ten long miles over rough ground, gullies
and open fields and hills of uncut forest. He'd have
to go alone. Lois opened the door. For a brief second,
he looked back at his wife and son. Then he

(29:54):
slammed the door behind him and raced down the porch steps. Man,
it is really quick to kill and move on, all right,
Too late for that. Let's move yep, stab and forget,
stab and forget um okay. A moment later he was

(30:15):
on his way, hurrying swiftly through the darkness towards the
edge of town. The early morning sunlight was blinding. Lois halted,
gasping for breath, swaying back and forth. Sweat ran down
in his eyes. His clothing was torn, shredded by the
brush and thorns through which he had crawled ten miles
on his hands and knees, crawling creeping through the night.

(30:39):
His shoes were mud kicked. He was scratched and limping,
utterly exhausted. But ahead of him lay oak growth. He
took a deep breath and started down the hill. Twice,
he stumbled and fell, picking himself up and trudging on.
His ears rang. Everything receded and wavered, but he was there.

(31:00):
He had gotten out away from Pikeville. A farmer in
a field gaped at him. From my house. A young
woman watched in wonder. Leois reached the road and turned
onto it. Ahead of him was a gas station and
a drive in, a couple of trucks, some chickens pecking
in the dirt, a dog tied with a string. The
white clad attendant watched suspiciously as he dragged himself up

(31:23):
to the station. Thank god he caught ahold of the wall.
I didn't think I was going to make it. They
followed me most of the way. I could hear them buzzing, buzzing,
and flitting around behind me. What happened? The intendant demanded,
you in a wreck? Hold up? Leis shook his head weirdly.
They have the whole town, the city hall, and the

(31:45):
police station. They hung a man from the lamp post,
and that was the first thing I saw. They got
all the roads blocked. I saw them hovering over the
cars coming in about four this morning. I got beyond them.
I knew it right away. I could feel them leave,
and then the sun came up. The attendant licked his
lips nervously. You're out of your head. I better get

(32:07):
a doctor. Give me and oh, crow voice gasped. He
sank down on the gravel. We've got to get started
cleaning them out. Gotta get started right away, onto you chuckers.
He kept a tape recorder going all the time he talked.

(32:29):
When he had finished, the commissioner snapped off the recorder
and got to his feet. He stood for a moment,
deep in thought. Finally he got out his cigarettes and
lit up slowly, a frown on his beefy face. You
don't believe me, Lois said. The commissioner offered him a cigarette.
Vois pushed it impatiently. Away, suit yourself. The commissioner moved

(32:52):
over to the window and stood for a time looking
out at the town of Oak Grove. I believe you,
he said, abruptly, voice act. Thank god, so you got away.
The commissioner shook his head. You were down in your
cellar instead of at work. A freak chance. One in
a million. Boy sipped some of the black coffee they

(33:13):
had brought him. I have a theory, he murmured. What
is it about them? Who they are? They take over
one area at a time, starting at the top the
highest level of authority, working down from there in a
widening circle. When they're firmly in control, they go on
to the next town. They spread slowly very gradually. I
think it's been going on for a long time. EDGs

(33:37):
really filling in the blanks. Heredney, he really is. He's
got it all figured out a long time, thousands of years.
I don't think it's new. Why do you say that.
When I was a kid, a picture they showed us
in Bible League, a religious picture, an old print the
enemy gods defeated by Jehovah, Molok be els Abu, moab

(34:01):
Baalin ash tar Off, Chuck. I think you just raised
a bunch of demons. So they were all represented by figures.
Lais looked up at the commissioner. B l Zebub was
represented as a giant fly. Don't don't do. The commissioner

(34:23):
grunted an old struggle. Don't don't do. They've been defeated.
The Bible is an account of their defeats. They make gains,
but finally they're defeated. Why defeated? They can't get everyone
if they didn't get me, and they never got the Hebrews.
The Hebrews carried the message to the whole world, the
realization of the danger. The two men on the bus,

(34:45):
I think they understood had escaped like I did. He
clinched his fists. I killed one of them. I made
a mistake. I was afraid to take a chance. The
commissioner nodded, Yes, they undoubtedly had escaped, as you did
freak accidents, but the rest of the town was firmly
in control. He turned from the window. Well, mister Loys,
you seem to have figured everything out. Not everything. The

(35:09):
hanging man, the dead man hanging from the lamp post.
I don't understand that. Why Why did they deliberately hang
him there? That would seem simple. The commissioner smiled faintly. Bait.
Lloyd stiffened, his heart stopped beating. Bait, What do you
mean to draw you out? Make you declare yourself, so

(35:32):
they'd know who was under control and who had escaped.
Vois recoiled with horror. Then they expected failures, They anticipated
he broke off. They were ready with a trap, and
you showed yourself. You reacted, you made yourself known. The
commissioner abruptly moved toward the door. Come along, Lois. There's

(35:55):
a lot to do. We must get moving. There's no
time to waste. Lloys started slowly to his feet, numbed,
and the man who was the man I never saw
him before. He wasn't a local man. He was a stranger,
all muddy and dirty, his face cut slashed. There was
a strange look on the Commissioner's face as he answered maybe,

(36:16):
He said softly, you'll understand that too. Come along with me,
Mr Loys. He held the door open, his eyes gleaming.
Loys caught a glimpse of the street in front of
the police station. Policeman, a platform of some sort, a
telephone pole, and a rope. Right this way, the commissioner said,

(36:41):
smiling coldly, All right, I think we know what's happening,
and take us home. As the sun set, the vice
president of the Oak Grove Merchants Bank came up out
of the vault through the heavy time. Locks, put on

(37:03):
his hat and coat, and hurried outside onto the sidewalk.
Only a few people were there, hurrying home to dinner.
Good night, the guard said, locking the door after him.
Good night. Clarence Mason murmured. He started along the street
toward his car. He was tired. He had been working
all day down in the vault, examining the layout of
the safety deposit boxes to see if there was room

(37:26):
for another tier. He was glad to be finished. At
the corner, he halted. The street lights had not yet
come on. The street was dim. Everything was vague. He
looked around and froze. From the telephone pole in front
of the police station, something large and shapeless hung. It
moved a little with the wind. What the hell was it?

(37:48):
Mason approached it warily. He wanted to get home. He
was tired and hungry. He thought of his wife, his kids,
a hot meal on the dinner table. But there was
something about the dark bundle, something ominous and ugly. The
light was bad. He couldn't tell what it was, yet
it drew him on, made a move closer for a
better look. The shapeless thing made him uneasy. He was

(38:10):
frightened by it, frightened and fascinated. And the strange part
was that nobody else seemed to notice it. All right,
that's the Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick. Pretty good.

(38:33):
Whether he was insane or not. I think the end
proves that he was quite sane, and that he would
just be the next victim. The bank manager. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Lewis was the next victim. He's part of a chain
of bait, so I think he was saying, but he
definitely killed another non possessed person with a rock. But

(38:59):
I think though, because as he wasn't insane that his
son was a human fly like the Cramp said, yeah,
because he was. He was not insane, so what he
saw was real, which means that him seeing his sun
flying around trying to sting him it was real. All right,

(39:19):
what's your take? It was that what you said? Okay, see,
this is why we get along so well, Chuck. I
gotta see this thing visually. Somebody needs to make this
into a short film. It would be a pretty good one,
I think, And it's public dommain. I'm just saying, well,
thank you very much everybody. Happy Halloween to you. Hopefully

(39:40):
you enjoyed this. Sure it wasn't fact based. It was
a little more fictitious than usual, but it is, after all,
Halloween out there, yes for sure. Uh, And enjoy your
trick or treating and your Halloween parties and bobbing for apples,
and happy Halloween to everybody. Go enjoy this one of
the most greatest Hall of Days of all time. Stuff

(40:04):
you should know is a production of iHeart Radios. How
Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit
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