WEBVTT
1
00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:06.440
Hello, my spookies. Happy to see you back tonight. I
2
00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:09.960
want to share a sampling of some of my favorite
3
00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:14.640
Edgar Allan Poe stories. After all, his work is what
4
00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:19.039
originally set me on a path of seeking all things
5
00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:25.519
fearful and fun. So kick back and relax. Whether you've
6
00:00:25.559 --> 00:00:29.679
never heard these stories or you just want to trip
7
00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:35.799
down memory lane, I have you covered. We'll start with
8
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:42.719
the underrated classic manuscript Found in a Bottle and keep
9
00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:49.359
going from there further into madness, murder, and the macabre.
10
00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:54.640
Now let's get started. I think there's a storm forming
11
00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:04.439
on the horizon uscript Found in a Bottle by Edgar
12
00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:11.760
Allan Poe. Of my country and of my family, I
13
00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:17.040
have little to say. Ill usage and length of years
14
00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:21.920
have driven me from the one and estranged me from
15
00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:27.599
the other. Hereditary wealth afforded me an education of no
16
00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:33.040
common order, and a contemplative turn of mind enabled me
17
00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:39.200
to methodize the stores which early study very diligently garnered up.
18
00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:44.239
Beyond all things, The works of the German moralists gave
19
00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:49.599
me great delight, not from any ill advised admiration of
20
00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:54.040
their eloquent madness, but from the ease with which my
21
00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:59.519
habits of rigid thought enabled me to detect their falsities.
22
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:06.000
I have often been reproached with the aridity of my genius.
23
00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:10.759
A deficiency of imagination has been imputed to me as
24
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:15.840
a crime, and the pyrhism of my opinions has at
25
00:02:15.879 --> 00:02:22.240
all times rendered me notorious. Indeed, a strong relish for
26
00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:27.680
physical philosophy has I fear tinctured my mind with a
27
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.960
very common error of this age. I mean the habit
28
00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:38.120
of referring occurrences even the least susceptible of such reference
29
00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:43.879
to the principles of that science. Upon the whole. No
30
00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:48.280
person could be less liable than myself to be led
31
00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:52.560
away from the severe precincts of truth by the ignis
32
00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:58.080
fatui of superstition. I have thought proper to premise thus
33
00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:03.280
much less the incredible tale I have to tell should
34
00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:07.479
be considered rather the raving of a crude imagination than
35
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.439
the positive experience of a mind to which the reveries
36
00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:16.319
of fancy have been a dead letter and a nullity.
37
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:21.759
After many years spent in foreign travel, I sailed in
38
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:26.199
the year eighteen something or other from the port of
39
00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:32.199
Batavia in the rich and populous island of Java, on
40
00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:37.400
a voyage to the archipelago of the Sunda Islands. I
41
00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:42.360
went as passenger, having no other inducement than a kind
42
00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:48.159
of nervous restlessness which haunted me like a fiend. Our
43
00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:53.639
vessel was a beautiful ship of about four hundred tons copper,
44
00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:59.400
fastened and built at Bombay of Malabar Tik. She was
45
00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:04.560
freighted with cotton, wool and oil from the Lahadive Islands.
46
00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:11.919
We had also on board choir, jaggery, ghee, cocoa, nuts,
47
00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:17.519
and a few cases of opium. The stowage was clumsily done,
48
00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:22.680
and the vessel consequently crank. We got under way with
49
00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:26.759
a mere breath of wind, and for many days stood
50
00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:31.600
along the eastern coast of Java, without any other incident
51
00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:36.319
to beguile the monotony of our course than the occasional
52
00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:40.040
meeting with some of the small grabs of the archipelago
53
00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:45.639
to which we were bound. One evening, leaning over Taffrail,
54
00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:51.879
I observed a very singular, isolated cloud to the northwest.
55
00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:57.000
It was remarkable as well for its color, as from
56
00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:59.920
its being the first we had seen since our depart
57
00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:06.360
archure from Batavia. I watched it attentively until sunset, when
58
00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.879
it spread all at once to the eastward and westward,
59
00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:14.279
girding in the horizon with a narrow strip of vapor,
60
00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:19.360
and looking like a long line of low beach. My
61
00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:24.399
notice was soon afterwards attracted by the dusker appearance of
62
00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.959
the moon and the peculiar character of the sea. The
63
00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:33.800
latter was undergoing a rapid change, and the water seemed
64
00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:39.800
more than usually transparent, although I could distinctly see the bottom.
65
00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:45.680
Yet heaving the lead, I found the ship in fifteen fathoms.
66
00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:50.920
The air now became intolerably hot, and was loaded with
67
00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:58.279
spiral exhalations, similar to those arising from heated iron. As
68
00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:03.240
night came on, every breath of wind died away, and
69
00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:09.199
a more entire calm. It is impossible to conceive the
70
00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:13.000
flame of a candle burned upon the poop without the
71
00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:18.199
least perceptible motion, and a long hair held between the
72
00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:25.759
finger and thumb hung without the possibility of detecting a vibration. However,
73
00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:31.040
as the captain said, he could perceive no indication of danger,
74
00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:36.480
and as we were drifting in bodily to shore, he
75
00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:40.600
ordered the sails to be furled and the anchor let go.
76
00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:46.839
No watch was set, and the crew, consisting principally of malaise,
77
00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:54.639
stretched themselves deliberately upon deck, not without a full presentiment
78
00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:01.240
of evil. Indeed, every appearance warranted me an APPREHENSI a simoum.
79
00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:06.240
I told the captain my fears, but he paid no
80
00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:10.759
attention to what I said, and left me without deigning
81
00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:16.920
to give a reply. My uneasiness, however, prevented me from sleeping,
82
00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:22.680
and about midnight I went up upon deck. As I
83
00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:27.160
placed my foot upon the upper step of the companion ladder,
84
00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:32.240
I was startled with a loud, humming noise, like that
85
00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:36.759
occasioned by the rapid revolution of a mill wheel, And
86
00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:41.040
before I could ascertain its meaning, I found the ship
87
00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:46.720
quivering to its center. In the next instant, a wilderness
88
00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:51.160
of foam hurled us upon our beam ends, and rushing
89
00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:55.480
over us fore and aft, swept the entire decks from
90
00:07:55.639 --> 00:08:00.600
stem to stern. The extreme fury of the blast proved
91
00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:05.079
in a great measure the salvation of the ship. Although
92
00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:09.319
completely water logged, yet as all her masts had gone
93
00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:14.279
by the board, she rose after a minute, heavily from
94
00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:19.079
the sea and staggering awhile beneath the immense pressure of
95
00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:26.079
the tempest, finally righted. By what miracle I escaped destruction.
96
00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:30.959
It is impossible to say Stunned by the shock of
97
00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.639
the water, I found myself upon recovery, jammed in between
98
00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:40.559
the stern post and rudder. With great difficulty, I gained
99
00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:46.240
my feet, and, looking dizzily around, was at first struck
100
00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:50.840
with the idea of our being among breakers so terrific.
101
00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:55.320
Beyond the wildest imagination was the whirlpool of mountainous and
102
00:08:55.399 --> 00:09:01.159
foaming ocean within which we were engulfed. After a while
103
00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.679
I heard the voice of an old Swede who had
104
00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.720
shipped with us at the moment of our leaving port.
105
00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:12.320
I halloed to him with all my strength, and presently
106
00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:17.240
he came reeling aft. We soon discovered that we were
107
00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:22.360
the sole survivors of the accident. All on deck, with
108
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:27.159
the exception of ourselves, had been swept overboard, and the
109
00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:32.279
captain and mates must have perished as they slept, for
110
00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:37.639
the cabins were deluged with water. Without assistance, we could
111
00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:40.639
expect to do little for the security of the ship,
112
00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:45.240
and our exertions were at first paralyzed by the momentary
113
00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:51.799
expectation of going down. Our cable had, of course parted
114
00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:55.519
like pack thread at the first breath of the hurricane,
115
00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:01.200
or we should have been instantaneously overwhelmed. We scudded with
116
00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.440
frightful velocity before the sea and the water made clear
117
00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:10.799
breeches over us. The framework of our stern was shattered excessively,
118
00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:16.519
and in almost every respect we had received considerable injury.
119
00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:22.200
But to our extreme joy, we found the pumps unchoked,
120
00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:26.360
and that we had made no great shifting of our ballast.
121
00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:31.799
The main fury of the Simoom had already blown over,
122
00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:37.679
and we apprehended little danger from the violence of the wind.
123
00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:44.120
But we looked forward to its total cessation with dismay, well,
124
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:50.000
believing that in our shattered condition, we should inevitably perish
125
00:10:50.039 --> 00:10:55.519
in the tremendous swell which would ensue. But this very
126
00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:00.840
apprehension seemed by no means likely to be soon verified.
127
00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:06.120
For five entire days and nights, during which our only
128
00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:12.200
substance was a small quantity of jaggery procured with great
129
00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:16.559
difficulty from the forecastle, the hulk flew at a rate
130
00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:23.639
defying computation, before rapidly succeeding flaws of wind, which, without
131
00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:27.799
equaling the first violence of the Simoom, were still more
132
00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:33.360
terrific than any tempest I had before encountered. Our course
133
00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:38.879
for the first four days was with trifling variations southeast
134
00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:42.399
and by south, and we must have run down the
135
00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:46.360
coast of New Holland. On the fifth day, the cold
136
00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:51.200
became extreme. Although the wind had hauled round a point
137
00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:55.720
more to the northward, the sun arose with a sickly
138
00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:01.159
yellow luster and clambered a very few degrees above the horizon,
139
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:07.080
emitting no decisive light. There were no clouds whatever apparent.
140
00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:11.360
Yet the wind was upon the increase, and blew with
141
00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:16.639
a fitful and unsteady fury. About noon, as nearly as
142
00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:21.200
we could guess, our attention was again arrested by the
143
00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:25.799
appearance of the sun. It gave out no light properly
144
00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:31.200
so called, but a dull and sullen glow, unaccompanied by
145
00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:37.240
any ray. Just before sinking within the turgid sea, its
146
00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:43.039
central fires suddenly went out, as if hurriedly extinguished by
147
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:48.840
some unaccountable power. It was a dim, silver like rim
148
00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:56.039
alone as it rushed down the unfathomable ocean. We waited
149
00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:00.679
in vain for the arrival of the sixth day. That day,
150
00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:05.279
to me has not yet arrived to the Swede never
151
00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:11.840
did arrive. Thenceforward, we were enshrouded in pitchy darkness, so
152
00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:14.919
that we could not have seen an object. At twenty
153
00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:20.919
paces from the ship. Eternal night continued to envelop us,
154
00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:25.279
all relieved by the phosphoric sea brilliancy to which we
155
00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:30.399
had been accustomed in the tropics. We observed too, that
156
00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:36.320
although the tempest continued to rage with unabated violence, there
157
00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.679
was no longer to be discovered the usual appearance of
158
00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:45.919
surf or foam which had hitherto attended us. All around
159
00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:51.360
was horror and thick gloom, and a black, sweltering desert
160
00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:56.960
of ebony. Superstitious terror crept by degrees into the spirit
161
00:13:57.080 --> 00:14:00.840
of the old Swede, and my own soul was wrapped
162
00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:06.080
up in silent wonder. We neglected all care of the
163
00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:10.960
ship as worse than useless, and securing ourselves as well
164
00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:16.320
as possible to the stump of the mizenmast looked out
165
00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:21.080
bitterly into the world of ocean. We had no means
166
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:25.159
of calculating time, nor could we form any guess of
167
00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:29.840
our situation. We were, however, well aware of having made
168
00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:34.799
farther to the southward than any previous navigators, and felt
169
00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:40.039
extreme amazement at not meeting with the usual impediments of ice.
170
00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:45.440
In the meantime, every moment threatened to be our last,
171
00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:52.279
Every mountainous billow hurried to overwhelm us. The swell surpassed
172
00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:56.240
anything I had imagined possible, and that we were not
173
00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:01.960
instantly buried is a miracle. Companion spoke of the lightness
174
00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.720
of our cargo, and reminded me of the excellent qualities
175
00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.919
of our ship. But I could not help feeling the
176
00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:14.840
utter hopelessness of hope itself, and prepared myself gloomily for
177
00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:19.200
that death, which I thought nothing could differ beyond an hour.
178
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:23.519
As with every knot of way the ship made, the
179
00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:28.759
swelling of the black stupendous seas became more dismally appalling.
180
00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:33.919
At times we gasped for breath at an elevation beyond
181
00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:39.440
the albatross. At times became dizzy with the velocity of
182
00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:43.759
our descent into some watery hell, where the air grew
183
00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.960
stagnant and no sound disturbed the slumbers of the kraken.
184
00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:53.360
We were at the bottom of one of these abysses
185
00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:59.159
when a quick scream from my companion broke fearfully upon
186
00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:05.360
the night. See see, cried he shrieking in my ears,
187
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:11.720
Almighty God, see see. As he spoke, I became aware
188
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:16.279
of a dull, sullen glare of red light which streamed
189
00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.879
down the sides of the vast chasm where we lay,
190
00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:26.639
and threw a fitful brilliancy upon our deck. Casting my
191
00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:31.840
eyes upwards, I beheld a spectacle which froze the current
192
00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:37.279
of my blood. At a terrific height, directly above us,
193
00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:42.440
and upon the very verge of the precipitous descent, hovered
194
00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:48.960
a gigantic ship of nearly four thousand tons. Although upreared
195
00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.679
upon the summit of a wave of more than a
196
00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:56.799
hundred times her own altitude, her apparent sighs still exceeded
197
00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:00.559
that of any ship of the Line or East Indiaman
198
00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:05.880
in existence. Her huge hull was a deep, dingy black,
199
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:10.480
unrelieved by any of the customary carvings of a ship.
200
00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:16.000
A single row of brass cannon protruded from her open
201
00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:21.319
ports and dashed off from their polished surfaces the fires
202
00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:27.240
of innumerable battle lanterns, which swung to and fro about
203
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:32.319
her rigging. But what mainly inspired us with horror and
204
00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:37.319
astonishment was that she bore up under a press of sail,
205
00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:43.599
in the very teeth of that supernatural sea and of
206
00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:50.279
that ungovernable hurricane. When we first discovered her, her stupendous
207
00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:54.359
boughs were alone to be seen as she rose up,
208
00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:58.640
like a demon of the deep, slowly from the dim
209
00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:04.920
and horrible gulf beyond her. For a moment of intense terror,
210
00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:09.599
she paused upon the giddy pinnacle, as if in contemplation
211
00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:17.359
of her own sublimity, then trembled and tottered and came down.
212
00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:23.119
At this instant I know not what sudden self possession
213
00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:28.720
came over my spirit. Staggering as far aft as I could,
214
00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:34.640
I awaited fearlessly the ruin that was to overwhelm our
215
00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.920
own vessel was at length, ceasing from her struggles and
216
00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:42.759
sinking with her head to the sea. The shock of
217
00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:46.880
the descending mass struck her consequently in that portion of
218
00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:51.279
her frame which was already under water, and the inevitable
219
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:55.359
result was to hurl me in the irresistible violence upon
220
00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:59.960
the rigging of the stranger. As I fell, the ship
221
00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:05.240
hove in stays and went about, And to the confusion
222
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:10.839
ensuing I attributed my escape from the notice of the crew.
223
00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:15.039
With little difficulty, I made my way unperceived to the
224
00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:20.200
main hatchway, which was partially open, and soon found an
225
00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:24.839
opportunity of secreting myself in the hold. Why I did
226
00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:30.119
so I can hardly tell. A nameless and indefinite sense
227
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.559
of awe, which at first sight of the navigators of
228
00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.440
the ship had taken hold of my mind, was perhaps
229
00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:41.680
the principle of my concealment. I was unwilling to trust
230
00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:45.200
myself with a race of people who had offered to
231
00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.960
the cursory glance. I had taken so many points of
232
00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:55.000
vague novelty, doubt, and apprehension. I therefore thought proper to
233
00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:59.519
contrive a hiding place in the hold. This I did
234
00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:03.000
by remar moving a small portion of the shifting boards
235
00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.240
in such a manner as to afford me a convenient
236
00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:11.759
retreat between the huge timbers of the ship. I had
237
00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.759
scarcely completed my work when a footstep in the hold
238
00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:19.440
forced me to make use of it. A man passed
239
00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:24.279
by my place of concealment with a feeble and unsteady gait.