Strange June 29, 1955 Date: Jun 29 1955

Strange
Mrs. Cartwright
Jun 29 1955


CAST:
ANNOUNCER
WALTER GIBSON, narrator

CELIA
DOCTOR
GROVER
MILLICENT


WABC & NETWORK STRANGE
7:30-7:45 JUNE 29, 1955. WEDNESDAY
(40 SECOND DELAY)

(SCREAM) ANNOUNCER: The story you are about to hear is true, but -- (ECHO) STRAAAAANGE! (MUSIC: BIG, WEIRD, SUSPEND FOR) (JIGGLING TELEPHONE) DOCTOR: Operator ... Operator .... (JIGGLING TELEPHONE) Operator! ... Operator! ... MILLICENT: The phone is dead, Doctor. DOCTOR: But we must get you to a hospital, Mrs. Cartwright. MILLICENT: It's too late, doctor ... Too late. (MUSIC: HIT THEME) ANNOUNCER: ABC Radio Network presents STRANGE! True stories of the supernatural, with your narrator - famous author, lecturer and expert on strange and weird events - Walter Gibson. (MUSIC: OUT) GIBSON: Thank you, ______________. My true and strange story tonight concerns an event that took place in the year 1900 in a small town in New England. (MUSIC: ... ACCENT ... SET UNDER) GIBSON: It was a cold and miserable day. The snow had been falling for hours. Dr. Carl Armitage and his wife Celia were sitting in front of the fireplace. He was reading a medical book, while she was knitting. They were both grateful that the phone had been silent for hours. That the doctor would not have to go out on such a bitter night. Then, from the distance they heard the sound of sleigh bells. (SLEIGH BELLS) Coming closer and closer. (SLEIGH BELLS) Then, at a point that seemed in front of their door, the sleigh bells stopped. And a few moments later, there was a knock on the door. (KNOCK ON DOOR) CELIA: Now who would be visiting us on a night like this? DOCTOR: I hope it is a visit, dear. I'll go and see. CELIA: No, you sit quietly. I'll see. (FOOTSTEPS ... SHE OPENS DOOR ... GUST OF WIND) GROVER: (DOUBLE-DOCTOR) I beg your pardon, ma'am, is the doctor at home? CELIA: Yes. Come in and shut the door. (DOOR SHUTS) GROVER: I'm Grover, the coachman. CELIA: If you'll follow me, the doctor will see you. GROVER: It's not for myself I've come. It's for my mistress. CELIA: What's ailing her? GROVER: She's terribly sick, ma'am. I'm afraid she's dying. CELIA: I didn't want my husband to go out tonight, but I suppose he must now. GROVER: Yes, ma'am. I have the sleigh outside. I'11 take him and I'll bring him back, ma'am. CELIA: That will be a great help. Thank you. I'll call the doctor. (MUSIC: BRIDGE) GIBSON: After making sure that her husband was properly bundled up, Celia went to the door with him where Grover, the coachman was waiting. The two men left the house, got into the sleigh and drove away. About a half hour later, they reached their destination. It was an old mansion on the outskirts of the town. The doctor followed the coachman into the house and up a circular stairway to a master bedroom on the right. The coachman tapped on the door. (TAP ON DOOR) MILLICENT: (DOUBLE-CELIA) Come in! (DOOR OPENS) GIBSON: The doctor stepped into an immense room with a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The furnishings, the drapes and the curtains all spoke of great wealth. In the fourposter bed with its silk canopy lay a middle-aged woman. She raised her head a trifle and said: MILLICENT: You are the doctor? DOCTOR: Yes. I'm Doctor Carl Armitage. MILLICENT: I'm glad you could come, Doctor. DOCTOR: Your coachman said it was an emergency. MILLICENT: So it is. DOCTOR: As a rule I like to know the name of my patient. MILLICENT: You don't know? DOCTOR: No. I questioned your coachman, but he never answered. MILLICENT: Grover has his silent spells. DOCTOR: You'd think the man was deaf and dumb. He never uttered a single sound. MILLICENT: I'll make up for it. DOCTOR: I wish you would. MILLICENT: My name is Millicent Cartwright. DOCTOR: Mrs. I presume. MILLICENT: Yes. Mrs. Millicent Cartwright. I've been shot, doctor. DOCTOR: Shot? MILLICENT: Here.... I'll show you. DOCTOR: That's bad. Very bad. MILLICENT: I know, doctor. DOCTOR: I'm afraid I'm not equipped for that kind of work. We must get you to a hospital immediately. (FOOTSTEPS ... PICKS UP PHONE) DOCTOR: Hello. ... Hello. (JIGGLING PHONE) Operator ... Operator ... (JIGGLING PHONE) Operator! ... Operator! MILLICENT: The phone is dead, doctor. DOCTOR: But we must get you to a hospital, Mrs. Cartwright. MILLICENT: It's too late, doctor....Too late. DOCTOR: We might improvise a stretcher and take you in the sleigh. MILLICENT: No, doctor. I'd rather die here in bed. Here in my own home. DOCTOR: This is also a matter for the police. MILLICENT: Yes, the police must be told. DOCTOR: Definitely. MILLICENT: That's why I sent for you, Doctor. DOCTOR: Couldn't Grover, your coachman, go for the police? MILLICENT: (LAUGHS) No, Grover...couldn't. DOCTOR: Will you tell me what happened? MILLICENT: Of course. Listen carefully, doctor, and please remember every word I say. DOCTOR: I promise you I shall. MILLICENT: You must make them believe you, doctor. DOCTOR: They will. MILLICENT: I was alone in the house with my husband. Grover was out. My husband had sent him to the tobacco shop. DOCTOR: Yes? MILLICENT: It was late and I decided to retire. My husband said he would follow me as soon as he finished the chapter in the book he was reading. I waited a while but he did not come up. So I turned out my light and fell asleep. Will you remember that, doctor? DOCTOR: Of course I will. MILLICENT: Then, for some unaccountable reason I woke up. I felt there was some one in the room. DOCTOR: Did you turn on the light? MILLICENT: No. But I called out, "John, is it you?" There was no answer. And yet I was sure there was someone in the room. DOCTOR: What did you do then? MILLICENT: I waited and listened intently. Of course you can't hear footsteps on this thick carpet. But I felt that someone was coming closer and closer to my bed. I cried out for help, "John! John! Come up here!" DOCTOR: And did he come? MILLICENT: No. Shall I tell you why? DOCTOR: Why? MILLICENT: Because it was John who was in my room. He came over to my bed and shot me. DOCTOR: Your husband shot you? MILLICENT: Yes. Be sure and tell that to the police. My husband is my murderer. (MUSIC: BRIDGE) GIBSON: A few minutes later, Mrs. Cartwright died. The doctor covered the body with a sheet and left the room. He went through the house looking for Grover, the coachman, but the man could not be found. The doctor went out to look for the sleigh, but that too had disappeared. Well, there was nothing else to do, but trudge home in the snow. He was weary, tired and exhausted when he reached his front door. (DOOR OPENS) CELIA: (OFF) Is that you, Carl? DOCTOR: Yes, dear. CELIA: (COMING IN) What happened? You look like a snow man. DOCTOR: I had to walk home. CELIA: But the coachman promised to bring you back. DOCTOR: For all I know he was a ghost. CELIA: A ghost? DOCTOR: After he took me to the woman's room, he disappeared. So did the sleigh and the horses. CELIA: Let's not stand here. Take off that wet coat and let's go in the living room. Here, I'll help you ... It'll take a day to dry out. Come, dear. (FOOTSTEPS) Now sit right here in front of the fire. I'll take your shoes off. (DROPS ONE SHOE ... THEN ANOTHER) Here's a pair of socks I finished knitting ... You'll put them right on. DOCTOR: Thank you, dear. CELIA: I think it's disgraceful. After you were kind enough to go out on a night like this. I'll call that woman in the morning and tell her a thing or two. DOCTOR: I'm afraid it won't do any good. CELIA: I suppose she lived quite a distance from here. DOCTOR: Yes. It was right on the edge of town. A big mansion with something that looked like two towers. CELIA: Two towers? That sounds like the Cartwright house. DOCTOR: So it is. CELIA: But no one's been living there for the past ten years. DOCTOR: You must be mistaken, dear. CELIA: You wouldn't know, Carl. You're a newcomer. But I've lived here all my life. That house has been closed for ten years. DOCTOR: I tell you I was there. And the woman I saw was Millicent Cartwright. CELIA: Impossible. Millicent is dead ten years. DOCTOR: She was shot. CELIA: Yes. How do you know? DOCTOR: She told me. CELIA: Carl, I think you had better go to bed and rest. You're not yourself. That walk in the snow was too much for you. DOCTOR: Now, please, Celia. I haven't gone out of my mind. The coachman took me to the Cartwright house. He led me up the circular stairway to Mrs. Cartwright's room. I saw her there lying in a fourposter. CELIA: Carl, you're imagining things. DOCTOR: I definitely am not. CELIA: But Millicent Cartwright is buried in that cemetery on the hill. DOCTOR: Did you ever see her alive? CELIA: Of course. DOCTOR: Did she have a mole on her right cheek - a rather pronounced mole? CELIA: Yes. DOCTOR: So did that woman. CELIA: I can't understand it. DOCTOR: My first question was to ask her name. CELIA: And she said she was Millicent Cartwright? DOCTOR: She did. CELIA: What else did she tell you? DOCTOR: She described how she was shot. CELIA: By a tramp. DOCTOR: No. She said her husband shot her. CELIA: That's not true, Carl. DOCTOR: Why not? CELIA: I remember the trial. It was the biggest thing that ever happened in this town. DOCTOR: How old were you then? CELIA: Eighteen. I was in the courthouse every day. I heard every word of the testimony. DOCTOR: And what was the testimony? CELIA: Her husband, John, testified that he heard her calling for help. So he ran up to her room. He saw a tramp there and he struggled with him. DOCTOR: Did John have any bruises from the struggle? CELIA: Oh, yes. He had a black eye and several scratches on his face. DOCTOR: They could have been self inflicted. CELIA: Oh, no! DOCTOR: Did the coachman testify? CELIA: Yes. He said he wasn't home at the time. He had gone on an errand to the tobacco shop for Mr. Cartwright. DOCTOR: What was the coachman's name? CELIA: Grover. DOCTOR: You said Grover. CELIA: Yes, Grover. DOCTOR: Who was the man who called for me tonight. CELIA: Good heavens...The man said he was Grover, the coachman. DOCTOR: Did you recognize him? CELIA: His face was half covered with a muffler. DOCTOR: Well, what do you think now? CELIA: I don't know. It could be a coincidence of names. DOCTOR: I doubt it very much. Where is Grover now? CELIA: The last I heard about him, he was in Australia. DOCTOR: You don't know if he's alive? CELIA: How should I know? Carl, this whole thing is too eerie. Don't tell me I was speaking to a ghost. DOCTOR: Perhaps you had. CELIA: No, no, I won't believe it. I never took any stock in stories of ghosts. DOCTOR: Neither have I until tonight. CELIA: Then you really believe you attended the ghost of Millicent Cartwright. DOCTOR: I must. CELIA: What are you going to do? DOCTOR: What Millicent asked me to do. CELIA: And what was that? DOCTOR: Inform the police who actually murdered her. CELIA: Do you think they'll believe you? DOCTOR: I'm afraid I'll have a difficult time convincing them. CELIA: Not difficult. Impossible. DOCTOR: But still I must do it. CELIA: Why? DOCTOR: Because I gave her my promise. CELIA: A promise to a ghost. DOCTOR: A promise that must be kept, because she was so anxious for me to remember every word she said. CELIA: Of course you realize that your story would never stand up as evidence in court. DOCTOR: Yes, I know that. CELIA: Then what good would it do? DOCTOR: Perhaps none. But I must see the police in the morning. (MUSIC: BRIDGE) GIBSON: Dr. Armitage told his story to the police. The sergeant scoffed, but the captain who was interested in the supernatural, arranged to have the doctor meet him in the office of John Cartwright... When the doctor related his strange visit to the Cartwright mansion, John paled, then trembled and finally cried out, "Enough! Enough! She's been haunting me for years. Yes, I did it. I shot her." (MUSIC: HIT FOR CURTAIN ... UNDER) GIBSON: A strange story -- but it happens to be true. A ghost that convicted a murderer! Taken from the private diary of Dr. Carl Armitage. (MUSIC: ... CURTAIN ... UNDER) (STANDARD CLOSING) GIBSON: Tomorrow, I'll bring you another story of the supernatural! _____________________ A story true, but strange! (MUSIC: THEME AND UNDER) ANNOUNCER: Tune in tomorrow and every weekday evening over most of these stations at this same time for Walter Gibson, your expert on the supernatural. Stories of ghosts - of spirits, werewolves and voodoo. And each story you hear is true, but -- (MUSIC: OUT) ANNOUNCER: (ECHO) STRAAAAANGE! (MUSIC: TAG) ANNOUNCER: STRAAAANGE, with Walter Gibson as your expert, was directed by _______________. In the cast were ______________ and ______________. This is _______________. STRANGE is an ABC presentation and came to you from New York. (TWO SECOND PAUSE) THIS IS ABC ... RADIO NETWORK.