MUSIC:

HAUNTING WIND EFFECT ... TOLL OF OMINOUS BELL ... THEN BEHIND--

VOICE:

(ECHO, SEPULCHRAL) Stay - Tuned - for - Terror!

MUSIC:

CHANGES TO CREEPY ORGAN ... "SWAN LAKE"

ANNOUNCER:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, stay tuned for terror. Stay tuned for shivers and excitement. Listen to Craig Dennis in "The Bogey Man Will Get You," written by Robert Bloch for Weird Tales Magazine and adapted by the author especially for this program. You'll hear it now if you--

VOICE:

(ECHO, SEPULCHRAL) Stay - Tuned - for - Terror!

MUSIC:

ORGAN ... "SWAN LAKE" ... FILLS A MINUTE-AND-A-HALF LONG PAUSE ... THEN OUT

ANNOUNCER:

And now here is Craig Dennis in "The Bogey Man Will Get You."

MUSIC:

BRIEF INTRODUCTION ... THEN IN BG--

WALTER:

(SLIGHTLY OMINOUS) You're afraid of the dark, aren't you? Oh, but you are. I know all about you, do you understand? You were afraid of the dark when you were a child. Not because of robbers or thieves or murderers. Children don't think of such things. You were afraid of the dark because of -- the bogey man.

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN IN BG--

WALTER:

That's the name your parents used -- "bogey man." One of those smart sophisticated grown-up words. But there is terror behind it. When you were a child you knew what the bogey man looked like. You would see him in your dreams -- that black grinning shape with the wicked red eyes and the clutching claws. You heard his buzzing voice mumbling to you in sleep, when you had nightmares, and you'd wake up screaming for your mother.

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN IN BG--

WALTER:

Admit it! You did scream, didn't you? And now that you're grown up, you laugh about it. But deep down inside you're still afraid. You say you don't believe such things? It's all superstition? (CHUCKLES) Then why are you still afraid of the dark? Why do you keep the lights on when you're home alone at night? I'll tell you why. Because you know it's true. There are such things as monsters. There are such evil beings. And the bogey man will get you if you don't watch out.

MUSIC:

MILD ACCENT ... THEN OUT

WALTER:

(CASUAL, FRIENDLY) Well? What do you think of it?

MOTHER:

Marvelous. I don't know how you do it, Walter.

FATHER:

Great stuff. You say it's part of a new essay?

WALTER:

That's right. Looks like I'll have it finished this week.

MOTHER:

But, Walter, you work too hard -- cooped up all day long in that cottage of yours. Why don't you relax?

WALTER:

That's just why I rented the cottage -- to stay cooped up and get some work done. A book doesn't write itself, you know.

FATHER:

I don't see how you fellas do it. Writing I mean. Me, I'll stick to the insurance business.

WALTER:

Life insurance must be a wonderful thing.

FATHER:

You mean to tell me you're not insured, man?

MOTHER:

Oh, wait a minute now, darling. Walter, you'll have to excuse that husband of mine. He's always trying to sell something. Lewis, let the poor man alone. We invited him over here tonight for a visit, remember?

WALTER:

I appreciate it, too. You folks are very kind to ask me in. But I'm apt to bore you with my essays.

MOTHER:

(LIGHTLY) Bore me? Oh, nonsense. You nearly scared me stiff.

WALTER:

Is that why Nancy isn't around? Do I scare her, too?

MOTHER:

Oh, of course not. The child's probably out with her gang -- you know, the bobby sox crowd.

WALTER:

Nancy is a very remarkable young woman. She didn't strike me as a typical member of the younger generation at all.

FATHER:

Well, she isn't really. Nancy is very mature for seventeen. Too mature, I'm afraid. Sometimes she comes out with something that surprises me.

WALTER:

Really?

FATHER:

Yes. Now, take what she was saying about you the other day--

MOTHER:

(INTERRUPTS, QUIETLY CAUTIONS) Lewis, Lewis--

FATHER:

Oh. (CLEARS THROAT) I guess I put my foot in it that time.

WALTER:

Nancy said something about me? What was it?

FATHER:

Oh, er, nothing. Nothing at all. Matter of fact, I've - I've forgotten just exactly what it was.

WALTER:

Please -- tell me. I won't be offended. I'm curious. I've noticed that daughter of yours watching me and I've wondered about it.

FATHER:

Well, you'll have to excuse her, Walter. She's just a kid after all. She said-- Well, we were talking about why we never saw you in the daytime -- out in the tennis court or at the beach -- and she said, "That's not so strange. Vampires always sleep in the daytime."

WALTER:

Vampires?

MOTHER:

(LIGHTLY) Don't adolescents get the funniest notion sometimes?

WALTER:

(UNEASY) Yes. Yes, they do.

MOTHER:

She's awfully interested in you really, Walter. After all, you're handsome; a stranger here at the resort; an older man. I do believe she's getting a crush on you, but tries to hide it by crazy remarks.

FATHER:

Calling you a vampire! Where does she get such ideas? Reads too many books, I'd say.

WALTER:

Yes.

FATHER:

Sly kid, though. I asked her why she thought you were a vampire. Know what she said?

WALTER:

What did she say?

FATHER:

Said it was because you didn't eat any food.

WALTER:

She said what?

MOTHER:

Nancy said she'd asked around town at the grocery store and the butcher shop, and that you never bought any food.

FATHER:

I shut her up in a hurry, though. "Young lady," I said, "apparently you don't know much about bachelor's eating habits. Did you ever hear of places called restaurants?" You should have seen the look on Nancy's face when I--

SOUND:

DURING ABOVE, NANCY'S FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

FATHER:

(AWKWARDLY) Why, hello, Nancy. We - we were just talking about you.

NANCY:

So I heard.

MOTHER:

Where are your manners, dear? Aren't you going to say hello to Mr. King?

WALTER:

Good evening, Nancy.

MOTHER:

(NO RESPONSE, CHIDES) Nancy! Mr. King spoke to you. (MILDLY DISMAYED) Nancy, what are you doing, child?

WALTER:

(LIGHTLY) She's making the sign of the cross; an ancient custom. It's supposed to ward off vampires.

FATHER:

(AMUSED) That's a good one. (DRY) Well, young lady, how come you were running around in the dark tonight? Aren't you afraid of evil spirits?

NANCY:

Don't joke about things you don't understand, father.

MOTHER:

(STERN) Nancy, that's no way to talk to your father. Where were you?

NANCY:

(RELUCTANT) Ohhhh, just walking. With Billy Leggett. Up in the hills under the hemlock trees.

MOTHER:

I suppose that's where you lost your scarf, young lady.

NANCY:

Lost my--? (REALIZES) Ohhh. Oh, yes. I - I didn't know I'd lost it.

WALTER:

Well, folks, I've got to be running along. It's getting late.

FATHER:

So soon?

WALTER:

Yes, it's getting a little late.

FATHER:

All right, Walter. See you around. You sure you don't mind walking home alone?

WALTER:

Oh, of course not.

FATHER:

Maybe we could send Nancy along with you -- to protect you from vampires. (CHUCKLES)

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... THEN IN BG--

WALTER:

(NARRATES) Nancy was a silly little girl. I knew it. But still -- she upset me. Maybe it was because she was so beautiful and she hated me so. Thought I was a vampire. Just a silly little girl with a queer idea in her pretty head. I wondered what she was trying to do. That night when I got back to the cottage, I found out. I stood in front of the door and saw something lying on the path. It was Nancy's scarf. What had she been doing here? She said she had gone for a walk -- to the hills, near the hemlock trees -- but here was her scarf. And as I opened the door my hand touched something. A wreath on the doorknob. A wreath of -- hemlock. (BEAT) Hemlock. That's what you put on the door to keep vampires away.

MUSIC:

MINOR ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND WALTER--

WALTER:

(NARRATES) I thought about it all night. What was that girl up to? The next day I investigated a little. I found out plenty. Nancy had spread talk all over the village. Talk about me; about my habits; how I stayed in all day and came out at night; about my not eating at home. She even tried to call New York to check up on me; whether I really had a job, and so on. She told the minister I didn't dare come to church and said I had no mirrors in my house because a vampire couldn't look into mirrors. This wasn't funny any more. Foolish kid was making trouble for me. Somehow she had this mad obsession about vampires. I had to talk to her, so that night I started over for her place, but before I arrived I ran into her by accident on the path.

NANCY:

(STARTLED) Oh! Oh, you startled me.

WALTER:

Sorry, Nancy, I didn't mean to frighten you. But, say, I've been looking for you. Let's take a walk, shall we?

NANCY:

(RELUCTANT) Well, um, really, Mr. King, I have a date--

WALTER:

(INTERRUPTS) Only for a few minutes, my dear, and-- Why so formal? Call me Walter. By the way, I seem to have a speck in my eye. Have you a mirror in your purse?

NANCY:

A mirror? Why, yes. Er-- (BEAT, HANDS OVER MIRROR) Er, here it is.

WALTER:

(TAKES MIRROR) Oh, good. (SLOWLY, TO HIMSELF) Let's see. Ah. There, I've got it. (RETURNS MIRROR, TO NANCY) Thank you.

NANCY:

(QUIETLY SURPRISED) You looked into the mirror.

WALTER:

Of course. (AMUSED) And I found that hemlock on my doorknob last night, too.

NANCY:

(QUIETLY WORRIED) Oh.

WALTER:

Oh, don't look so startled, Nancy. I know all about your ideas. You thought I was a vampire, didn't you? Just because I work all day, and eat in restaurants, and walk at night. But you're wrong. You know that now, don't you? I look in mirrors and touch hemlock and all the rest.

NANCY:

(SELF-CONSCIOUSLY AMUSED) Yes, I - I see. I - I guess you think I'm an awful fool, Walter.

WALTER:

(SLOWLY, AFFECTIONATELY) Not at all. I think you're a very lovely girl. I wish it wasn't so dark out here, so I could see your hair. You have beautiful hair, Nancy. Look -- the moon is rising. I can see you now. Nancy, you aren't afraid of me any more?

NANCY:

(QUIETLY ENTRANCED) No. Walter, I - I never was afraid. Not really. I - I just thought up all this vampires stuff to - to make you notice me. And besides, all vampires are tall and dark and - and handsome -- like you.

WALTER:

You're a very clever little girl, Nancy. Very clever. Only I - I wish you hadn't gone to the police today.

NANCY:

Police? Then - you know?

WALTER:

Yes. I found that out, too. A search warrant for my house.

NANCY:

(BRISKLY DISMISSIVE) Oh, but - but that was all a joke! And - and you aren't really a vampire, so it doesn't matter. When they come we'll laugh at them.

WALTER:

(SLOWLY) I'll laugh at them. You won't.

NANCY:

(INCREASINGLY DISTRESSED) Walter? What are you doing? Let go of me. (BEAT) Walter, what's happening to you? You're changing! Walter--?!

WALTER:

(LOW, SAVAGE) Too bad you were such a meddling little fool, Nancy.

NANCY:

(WHIMPERS WITH FEAR)

WALTER:

I can't let you get away now. It would spoil everything. You - guessed too much.

NANCY:

Walter, let me go! Walter! Oh, good heavens! Then it is true! You are a vampire!

WALTER:

(SLOWLY, BROKENLY, AS HE TRANSFORMS) No, my dear. I'm - not a vampire. I'm just - a werewolf!

NANCY:

(BLOODCURDLING SCREAM!)

MUSIC:

CURTAIN

ANNOUNCER:

You have just heard Craig Dennis in "The Bogey Man Will Get You," written by Robert Bloch, author of stories in Weird Tales Magazine. The original music was conceived and played by Rommelle Fay. In just a moment we'll tell you about the next story in--

VOICE:

(ECHO, SEPULCHRAL) Stay - Tuned - for - Terror!

ANNOUNCER:

In the meantime--

MUSIC:

ORGAN ... "SWAN LAKE" ... FILLS A MINUTE-LONG PAUSE ...