The Whisperer in Darkness

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The Whisperer in Darkness

The whole matter began,

so far as I am concerned,

with the unprecedented

Vermont floods of 1927.

The rain poured down for days

and the flooding was extensive.

It washed all kinds of things into the rivers,

and people reported seeing

strange things floating in the water.

As the flood waters receded,

there was a widespread tendency

to connect these sights with a primitive,

half-forgotten cycle of whispered legend

which old people resurrected forthe occasion.

Many of my friends appealed to me to

shed what light I could on the subject.

I thought all copies had been lost.

Didn't Armitage have the last known one?

I thought it was ruined in that business last year...

Yes, that was the last known printed copy.

This is Davenport's original manuscript.

And all his notes!

The original?

There's knowledge in those

pages that's recorded nowhere else.

It's quite a find.

What will you do with it? Another book?

Sure, eventually. But right now I

have a more immediate use for it.

I've been going over the notes in

preparation for this absurd "debate."

That radio program? Albert,

you shouldn't do it.

Dean Hayes insists!

After all the back-and-forth

in the newspaper columns

about the "bodies" washed

up in the recent flooding...

You should have left it alone, Albert.

I'm a folklorist, Nate!

Nobody, nobody in this world knows more

about this particular area of folklore than I.

And you think that with Davenport's notes...

Exactly! Even a hundred years ago,

Eli Davenport was hearing the same stories.

"A hidden race of monstrous

beings is said to lurk

somewhere among the remoter hills -

in the deep woods of the highest peaks.

Evidence of their existence was seen

by those who ventured far up the slopes

of certain mountains or in the deep,

steep-sided gorges

that even the wolves shunned."

Davenport collected countless

tales detailing their supposed origins.

Here, look at this - illustrations

that have never been seen!

Tales of settlers who vanished and

others who collaborated with the things.

I'm familiar with... these legends.

And I'm sure you're right. But you can't debate it.

I have to be there in less than an hour.

It's being aired on the N.B.C. Network

Cancel it.

You know who you're going up against?

Charles Fort.

And you think you can go on the radio and

debate a best-selling author with countless fans,

the world's most prominent

expert on unexplained phenomena?

How is this going to help your cause?

Look, I can convince people...

With the minutiae of

obscure New England folklore?

You only stand to lose here.

Nate, this is my life's work.

The whole reason to study folklore is to

help us understand how and why we create myths.

People can't keep believing that each

bolt of lightning is a spear thrown by Zeus!

It isn't Zeus I'm worried about.

OKnow, you're making this sound like one

of those nameless cults you investigate!

I know you've had some rough experiences...

I'm telling you, you have

nothing to gain from this debate.

C'mon, your pal Charlie Tower will be there.

He's footing the bill for the whole thing.

Albert, I've met Fort. His style

may be strange, but he's smart.

Be careful what you say.

Perhaps I should have taken Nate Ward's advice.

Charles Fort was popular

among the students

for his open contempt for science

and his extravagant books.

Charlie Tower, a friend and

wealthy Miskatonic alumnus,

paid to bring him to campus for the debate.

Tower had funded a number

of university expeditions,

flew airplanes, travelled the world.

He enjoyed stirring things up,

and had Dean Hayes wrapped around his finger.

The host of the program was

some sort of toothpaste salesman

not a moderator or journalist of any kind.

I've collected books full of evidence in support

of the idea that there are worlds beyond our own,

and people, creatures... call them what you will,

that have come here from somewhere else.

So you believe these creatures

are alien beings of some kind?

I don't believe or

disbelieve anything, Mr. Bradbury.

I merely note the long history

of remarkably consistent reports.

The Pennacook Indians described similar things,

did they not, Professor Wilmarth, ages ago?

Yes, they did, Mr. Fort. In fact...

They said that the beings

were not native to this earth,

that they had flown here from the stars.

The later Puritan settlers described them too,

as creatures in league with Satan,

only too happy to lead

mankind down the path to sin.

The folklore is abundant.

My point is that it's the folklore

that lies behind the recent reports.

Frightened people have

doubtless seen broken tree branches

and other suggestive shapes in the water,

and under the nervous strain of the moment have

let their imaginations get the better of them.

But what lies behind the folklore?

What do you say, Professor?

Are you suggesting that

these legends are literally true?

The descriptions of countless people,

across cultures and unconnected with each other,

have been amazingly consistent.

They're also consistent with

Nepalese tall tales of the dreaded Mi-Go

or "Abominable Snow Man" of the Himalaya.

I suppose you think

those are connected as well?

Well, now that you mention it...

So you're actually saying that people have

been seeing large, winged, crab-like beings

in the rivers of Vermont?

That's what I read in the papers.

Forgive me, Mr. Fort, but that's preposterous!

Compared to what?

Your explanation?

You'd have us believe

that the farmers of Vermont

can't tell a tree branch from a rock lobster!

Your point of view has only one advantage:

It keeps everyone calm.

Once a thing is explained away by"science",

it can be dismissed.

Science doesn't strive to explain things away.

Science is a method of arriving at the truth!

And while it may have its faults,

it's better than relying on newspaper accounts!

Touch, Professor.

If the Arkham Advertiser had been in

publication two hundred and forty years ago,

when the witch trials were under way,

we would no doubt have read reports

that our town was beset by

witchcraft and dealings with Satan, right?

From what I've heard of Arkham,

I'm sure we would!

And even if each and every one of us

took such newspaper accounts at face value,

and believed there were witches among us,

would that have made it true?

It seemed to people in that time

and place that witchcraft was real.

But a heritage of legend and

popular belief in a phenomenon

isn't enough to make it true, is it, Mr. Bradbury?

Cultural traditions and beliefs,

even superstitions, shape our view of the world.

But the world is what the world is,

and if we are to progress beyond witch trials

and superstition we must cultivate the discipline

to separate objective fact from myth and fancy.

The science of today is the witchcraft of yesterday.

Today's superstition is tomorrow's science.

Tell me, Mr. Fort, have you seen

one of these hill creatures yourself?

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