0:00

Time for a quick break to talk about

0:02

McDonald's. Mornings are for mixing and matching at

0:04

McDonald's. For just $3, mix and match two

0:07

of your favorite breakfast items, including a

0:09

sausage McMuffin. Some

0:26

people just know the best rate for you is

0:28

a rate based on you. With Allstate. Not

0:31

one based on the driver who treats the highway like

0:33

a racetrack and the shoulder like a

0:35

passing lane. Why pay

0:37

a rate based on anyone else? Get one

0:39

based on you with DriveWise from Allstate. Not

0:42

available in Alaska or California, subject to terms and conditions, rates

0:44

are determined by several factors, which vary by state. In some

0:46

states, participation in DriveWise allows Allstate to use your driving data

0:49

for purposes of rating. While in some states your rate could

0:51

increase with high-risk driving, generally safer drivers will save with DriveWise.

0:53

Allstate Byron Casually Insurance Company in Affiliates North Park, Illinois. Hi

1:03

and welcome back to Nighty Night. Bedtime

1:05

stories to keep you awake. I'm your

1:07

host, Rabia Chaudhary. In

1:10

this week's tale, we revisit a story

1:12

by Ambrose Beers. And the

1:14

protagonist learns a hard way that there's

1:16

nothing to fear but fear

1:19

itself. The

1:24

Man and the Snake by Ambrose Beers.

1:28

Part 1. It

1:40

is of veritable report, and attested of

1:42

so many, that there be no of

1:44

wise and learned none to gain say

1:46

it, that ye serpent

1:48

has I had the magnetic property

1:50

that whoso folleth into its invasion

1:52

its drawn forwards in despite of

1:54

his will, and perish

1:57

it miserable by a creature's

1:59

bite. Stretched

2:01

at ease upon a sofa, in a

2:03

gown and slippers, Parker Brayton

2:05

smiled as he read the foregoing

2:08

sentence in Old Morister's Marvels of

2:10

Science. The only marvel

2:12

in the matter, he said to himself, is

2:14

that the wise and learned in Morister's Day

2:16

should have believed such nonsense as is

2:19

rejected by most of even the ignorant in

2:21

ours. A train of

2:23

reflection followed, for Brayton was a man

2:25

of thought, and he unconsciously lowered

2:27

his book without altering the direction of his

2:30

eyes. As soon as

2:32

the volume had gone below the line of

2:34

sight, something in an obscure corner of the

2:36

room recalled his attention to his surroundings. What

2:40

he saw in the shadow under his bed was

2:43

two small points of light. Apparently

2:46

about an inch apart, they

2:48

might have been reflections of the gas jet

2:50

above him in metal nail heads. He

2:53

gave them but little thought and resumed his reading.

2:56

A moment later something, some impulse which it

2:58

did not occur to him to analyze, impelled

3:01

him to lower the book again and seek for

3:03

what he saw before. The

3:06

points of light were still there. They

3:09

seemed to have become brighter than before, shining

3:11

with a greenish luster that he had not

3:13

at first observed. He

3:16

thought too that they might have moved a trifle,

3:18

or somewhat nearer. They

3:21

were still too much in shadow, however, to

3:23

reveal their nature and origin to an

3:26

indolent attention, and again he resumed his

3:28

reading. Suddenly

3:30

something in the text suggested a thought that

3:32

made him start and dropped the book for

3:35

the third time to the side of the

3:37

sofa, whence, escaping from his hand, it

3:39

fell sprawling to the floor, back upward.

3:43

Brayton, half risen, was staring intently

3:45

into the obscurity beneath the bed,

3:47

where the points of light shone

3:50

with, it seemed to him, and

3:52

added fire. His

3:54

attention was now fully aroused, his

3:56

gaze eager and imperative. It

3:59

disclosed. Almost directly under the foot rail

4:01

of the bed. The coils

4:03

of a large serpent. The.

4:06

Point Of the or it's eyes.

4:09

It's horrible head thrust flatly forth

4:11

from the innermost coil and resting

4:13

upon the outermost was directed straight

4:16

toward him, the definition of the

4:18

wide brutal jaw and the idiot

4:20

like forehead serving to show the

4:22

direction of it's malevolent gaze. The

4:25

eyes were no longer merely luminous

4:27

planes. They. Looked into

4:29

his own with the meaning. Of

4:32

a line significance. A

4:47

snake in a bedroom of a modern

4:49

city dwelling of the better sort is

4:51

happily not so common a phenomenon as

4:54

to make explanation altogether. Needless. Parker

4:56

Brayton, a bachelor of thirty five, a

4:58

scholar, idler, and something of an athlete.

5:01

Rich, popular, and. Of Sound Help

5:03

had returned to San Francisco. From all

5:05

manner of remote and unfamiliar countries,

5:08

Is tastes always a trifle

5:10

luxurious. Had taken on and

5:13

added exuberance. From long privation. And

5:15

the resources that even the Castle

5:18

Hotel being inadequate to the perfect

5:20

gratification, he had gladly accepted the

5:22

hospitality of his friend. Doctor.

5:24

During the distinguished scientist.

5:27

Doctor Drawings House, a large old

5:29

fashioned one in what is now

5:31

an obscure quarter of the city,

5:33

had an outer and visible aspect

5:36

of Proud Reserve. It

5:38

plainly would not associate with a contiguous

5:40

elements of. It's altered environment. And.

5:42

Appeared to have developed some of the

5:44

eccentricities. Which com of isolation? One

5:47

of these was a wing. Conspicuously.

5:50

Irrelevant in point of architecture and

5:52

no less rebellious and matter of

5:54

purpose. for it was a

5:56

combination of laboratory manager ray and

5:59

museum It was here that

6:01

the doctor indulged the scientific side of his

6:03

nature in the study of such forms of

6:05

animal life as engaged to his interest and

6:07

comforted his taste, which, it

6:09

must be confessed, ran rather to

6:11

the lower types. For

6:14

one of the higher, nimbly and

6:16

sweetly to recommend itself unto his

6:18

gentle senses, it had

6:20

at least to retain certain rudimentary

6:22

characteristics, allying it to

6:24

such dragons of the prime as

6:27

toads and snakes. His

6:29

scientific sympathies were distinctly

6:31

reptilian. He loved

6:33

nature's vulgarians and described

6:35

himself as the Zola of

6:38

Zoology. His wife and daughters, not

6:40

having the advantage to share his enlightened

6:42

curiosity regarding the works and ways of

6:44

our ill-starred fellow creatures, were

6:47

with needless austerity excluded from

6:49

what he called the Snakery and

6:52

doomed to companionship with their own kind,

6:55

though to soften the rigors of their

6:57

lot he had permitted them out of

6:59

his great wealth to outdo the reptiles

7:01

in the gorgeousness of their surroundings and

7:03

to shine with the superior splendor. Architecturally

7:07

and in point of furnishing

7:09

the Snakery had a severe

7:11

simplicity befitting the humble circumstances

7:13

of its occupants, many

7:16

of whom indeed could not safely have been

7:18

entrusted with the liberty that is necessary to

7:20

the full enjoyment of luxury, for

7:23

they had the troublesome peculiarity

7:25

of being alive. In

7:27

their own apartments, however, they were under

7:29

as little personal restraint as was

7:31

compatible with their protection from the

7:34

baneful habit of swallowing one another,

7:37

and as Brayton had thoughtfully been apprised,

7:39

it was more than a tradition that some

7:42

of them had, at times, been found in

7:44

parts of the premises where it

7:46

would have embarrassed them to explain their presence.

7:49

Despite the Snakery and its

7:51

uncanny associations, to which indeed

7:53

he gave little attention, Brayton

7:56

found life at the Druring Mansion very

7:58

much to his mind. This

8:07

week's episode of Nighty Night is brought

8:09

to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you

8:11

love true crime or comedies, celebrity interviews

8:14

and news, or spooky bedtime stories, you

8:16

call the shots on what is in

8:18

your podcast queue, right? And guess what?

8:21

Now you can call the shots on your auto insurance too.

8:24

Enter the name your price tool from Progressive.

8:26

The name your price tool puts you in

8:28

charge of your auto insurance by working just

8:30

the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how

8:32

much you want to pay for car insurance,

8:34

then they'll show you a variety of coverages

8:36

that sit within your budget, giving you options.

8:38

Now, that's something you'll want to press play

8:40

on. It's easy to start a quote and

8:42

you'll be able to choose the best option

8:44

for you. Fast. It's just

8:46

one of the many ways you can

8:48

save with Progressive Insurance. Head over to

8:50

progressive.com today to try the name your

8:52

price tool for yourself and join the

8:54

over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

8:57

Progressive Casually Insurance Company and Affiliates, price

8:59

and coverage match limited by state law.

9:08

Part Three Beyond

9:11

a smart shock of surprise and a

9:14

shudder of mere loathing, Mr. Brayton

9:16

was not greatly affected. His

9:18

first thought was to ring the call bell and bring

9:21

a servant. But although

9:23

the bell port dangled with an easy reach,

9:25

he made no movement toward it. It

9:28

had occurred to his mind that the act might

9:30

subject him to the suspicion of fear, which

9:33

he certainly did not feel. He

9:35

was more keenly conscious of the

9:38

incongruous nature of the situation than

9:40

affected by its perils. It

9:43

was revolting, but absurd. The

9:45

reptile was of a species with which Brayton was

9:48

unfamiliar. Its length he

9:50

could only conjecture. The

9:52

body at the largest visible part seemed about

9:54

as thick as his forearm. In

9:57

what way was it dangerous, if in any way? Was

10:00

it venomous? Was it a constrictor?

10:04

His knowledge of nature's danger signals did not

10:06

enable him to say. He had

10:08

never deciphered the code. If

10:11

not dangerous, the creature was at

10:13

least offensive. It was neutral.

10:16

Matter out of place. An impertinence.

10:19

The gem was unworthy of the setting. Even

10:22

the barbarous taste of our time and country,

10:25

which had loaded the walls of the rooms

10:27

with pictures, the floor with furniture, and the

10:29

furniture with brick-a-brack, had not quite

10:31

fitted the place for this bit of the

10:33

savage life of the jungle. Besides,

10:36

insupportable thought, the exhalations

10:38

of his breath mingled with the atmosphere

10:41

with which he himself was breathing. These

10:44

thoughts shaped themselves with greater or

10:47

less definition in Brayton's mind and

10:49

begot action. The

10:51

process is what we call consideration and

10:53

decision. It is thus that we

10:55

are wise and unwise. It is

10:58

thus that the withered leaf in an

11:00

autumn breeze shows greater or less intelligence

11:02

than its fellows, falling upon the

11:04

land or upon the lake. The

11:06

secret of human action is an open one.

11:09

Something contracts our muscles. Does

11:12

it matter if we give to the

11:14

preparatory molecular changes the name of will?

11:18

Brayton rose to his feet and prepared

11:20

to back softly away from the snake,

11:22

without disturbing it if possible, and through

11:24

the door. Men

11:26

retire so from the presence of the great,

11:29

for greatness is power, and power

11:31

is a menace. He knew

11:34

that he could walk backward without error. Should

11:37

the monster follow, the taste

11:39

which had plastered the walls with paintings

11:41

had consistently supplied a rack of murderous

11:43

oriental weapons from which he could snatch

11:46

one to suit the occasion. In the

11:50

meantime, the snake's eyes burned with

11:52

a more pitiless, malevolence than before.

11:54

Brayton lifted his right foot free

11:56

of the floor to step backward.

12:00

That moment, he felt a strong

12:02

aversion to doing so. I

12:05

am accounted brave, he thought. Is

12:07

bravery then no more than pride? Because

12:10

there are none to witness the shame shall I retreat? He

12:14

was steadying himself with his right hand upon

12:16

the back of a chair, his foot suspended.

12:19

Nonsense, he said aloud, I am

12:21

not so great a coward as to fear

12:23

to seem to myself afraid. He

12:26

lifted the foot a little higher by slightly bending

12:29

the knee and thrust it sharply to the

12:31

floor, an inch in front of

12:33

the other. He could not

12:35

think how that occurred. A trial

12:37

with the left foot had the same result. It

12:40

was again in advance of the right. The

12:43

hand upon the chair back was grasping it.

12:46

The arm was straight, reaching somewhat

12:48

backward. One might have

12:50

said that he was reluctant to lose his hold.

12:53

The snake's malignant head was still thrust

12:55

forth from the inner coil as before,

12:58

the neck level. It

13:00

had not moved, but its eyes were

13:03

now electric sparks, radiating an

13:05

infinity of luminous needles. The

13:08

man had an ashy pallor. Again,

13:11

he took a step forward and

13:14

another. The man

13:16

groaned. The snake made

13:18

neither sound nor motion, but

13:20

its eyes were two dazzling

13:22

suns. The

13:25

reptile itself was wholly concealed by them.

13:28

They gave off enlarging rings of rich

13:30

and vivid colors, which at

13:33

their greatest expansion successively vanished like

13:35

soap bubbles. They seemed

13:37

to approach his very face, and

13:39

anon were an immeasurable distance away.

13:43

He heard somewhere the continuous throbbing

13:45

of a great drum, with

13:48

desultory bursts of far

13:50

music, inconceivably sweet, like

13:52

the tones of an alien harp. He

13:56

knew it for the sunrise melody of

13:58

Memnon's statue, and thought he's stood in

14:00

the Nile side reeds, hearing with

14:02

exalted sense that immortal anthem

14:04

through the silence of the centuries.

14:10

The music ceased. Rather,

14:12

it became by insensible degrees

14:14

the distant roll of a

14:17

retreating thunderstorm. A

14:20

landscape glittering with sun and rain stretched

14:22

before him, arched with

14:24

a vivid rainbow framing in its

14:26

giant curve a hundred visible cities.

14:30

In the middle distance, a vast

14:32

serpent, wearing a crown, reared

14:35

its head out of its voluminous

14:37

convolutions and looked at him

14:39

with his dead mother's eyes. Suddenly,

14:43

this enchanting landscape seemed to rise swiftly

14:45

upward like the drop seen at a

14:47

theater and vanished in a bling. Wearing

14:55

struck him a hard blow upon the face and

14:57

breast. He had fallen to the floor.

14:59

The blood ran from

15:01

his broken nose and his bruised lips. For

15:04

a time he was dazed and stunned and

15:06

lay with closed eyes his face against the

15:09

floor. In

15:11

a few moments he had recovered and

15:13

then knew that this fall, by withdrawing

15:15

his eyes, had broken the spell that

15:17

held him. He felt

15:19

that now, by keeping his gaze averted, he

15:22

would be able to retreat. But

15:24

the thought of the serpent within a

15:26

few feet of his head, yet unseen,

15:28

perhaps in the very act of springing

15:30

upon him and throwing its coils about

15:33

his throat, was too horrible.

15:36

He lifted his head, stared

15:38

again into those baleful eyes, and

15:41

was again in bondage. The

15:44

snake had not moved and appeared somewhat

15:47

to have lost its power upon the

15:49

imagination. The gorgeous illusions

15:51

of a few moments before were not

15:53

repeated. Beneath that

15:55

flat and brainless brow its black

15:58

beady eyes simply glittered. as

16:01

at first with an expression

16:03

unspeakably malignant. It

16:05

was as if the creature assured of

16:07

its triumph had determined to practice no

16:10

more alluring wiles. Now

16:13

ensued a fearful scene. The

16:16

man, prone upon the floor within the yard of

16:18

his enemy, raised the upper part

16:20

of his body upon his elbows, his

16:23

head thrown back, his legs

16:25

extended to their full length, his

16:27

face was white between its stains of blood,

16:30

his eyes were strained open to their

16:32

uttermost expansion. There

16:34

was froth upon his lips, it

16:36

dropped off and flakes. Strong

16:39

convulsions ran through his body

16:41

making almost serpentile undulations.

16:44

He bent himself at the waist, shifting

16:46

his legs from side to side, and

16:49

every movement left him a little nearer

16:51

to the snake. He

16:54

thrust his hands forward to brace himself back,

16:57

yet constantly advanced upon

16:59

his elbows. Part

17:09

Four Dr.

17:12

Druehring and his wife sat in the library.

17:15

The scientist was in a rare good humor.

17:19

I have just obtained by exchange with

17:21

another collector, he said, a splendid

17:23

specimen of the Ophiophagus. And

17:27

what may that be? the lady inquired with

17:29

a somewhat languid interest. Why

17:32

bless my soul, what profound ignorance! My

17:34

dear, a man who ascertains after marriage that

17:37

his wife does not know Greek is entitled

17:39

to a divorce. The

17:41

Ophiophagus is a snake that eats other

17:43

snakes. I hope

17:45

it will eat all yours, she said, absently

17:47

shifting the lamp. But how does

17:50

it get the other snakes? By charming them,

17:52

I suppose. That

17:54

is just like you, dear, said the doctor

17:56

with an affectation of petulance. You

17:59

know how irritating to be. is any allusion

18:01

to that vulgar superstition about a snake's

18:03

power fascination. The conversation

18:07

was interrupted by a mighty cry, which

18:09

rang through the silent house like the voice of

18:11

a demon shouting in a tomb. They

18:15

sprang to their feet, the man confused,

18:17

the lady pale and speechless with fright.

18:20

Almost before the echoes of the last cry had

18:22

died away, the doctor was out of the room,

18:25

springing up the stairs two steps at a time.

18:28

In the corridor in front of Brayton's chamber, he

18:30

met some servants who had come from the upper floor. Together

18:33

they rushed at the door without knocking. It

18:36

was unfastened and gave way. Brayton

18:39

lay upon his stomach on the floor,

18:42

dead. His head and

18:44

arms were partly concealed under the foot rail of the

18:46

bed. They pulled

18:48

the body away, turning it upon the back.

18:52

The face was a daubed with blood and

18:54

froth. The eyes were wide

18:56

open, staring. A

18:59

dreadful sight. Died

19:01

in a fit, said the scientist, bending his knee

19:03

and placing his hand upon the heart. While

19:06

in that position, he chanced to look under the

19:09

bed. Good God,

19:11

he added, how did this thing get in here? He

19:14

reached under the bed, pulled out the snake and flung

19:16

it, still coiled to the center of the room.

19:19

Wentz with a harsh shuffling sound,

19:22

it slid across the polished floor

19:24

till stopped by the wall where

19:26

it lay without motion. It

19:29

was a stuffed snake. Its

19:31

eyes were two shoe buttons. But

19:39

wait, there's more to the story.

19:47

The author of the man and the snake, Ambrose

19:49

Bierce, is one we have met before on our

19:51

scary journey. In our earlier Bierce

19:53

story, an occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge, we

19:55

heard the tale of a soldier who believed

19:58

he had miraculously survived his own. execution,

20:01

only to learn in the end that he was in fact

20:03

narrating from beyond the grave. This

20:06

writer's love of the twist ending was

20:08

legendary, and served to shape and inspire

20:10

horror stories from his day on. H.P.

20:13

Lovecraft would follow Bierce's lead in

20:15

giving readers a shock at the very end,

20:17

and even tipped his cap to

20:20

this piece 35 years later by

20:22

referencing Morister's Marvels of Science,

20:24

the book that Harker-Brayton is reading

20:26

when the story opens, in his

20:28

own piece, The Festival. Another

20:31

writing device that Ambrose Bierce seems to

20:33

have mastered was a sort of winking at

20:36

the reader over a shared inside joke. We

20:38

spend several passages getting drawn into the fear

20:41

Harker-Brayton is experiencing, in the

20:43

same way he's being drawn into it by the

20:45

powerfully hypnotic stare of the snake. We

20:47

are never told outright that this snake

20:49

is a King Cobra, that most terrifying

20:51

of venomous serpents, but in the

20:54

moment right before the strike we are told

20:56

it appears to have a crown. Bierce

20:58

pulls us further into the realm

21:00

of tongue-in-cheek cliche as he describes

21:02

the enlarging rings of rich and

21:04

vivid colors, an image we can

21:07

all surely conjure up in our mind's eye from

21:09

childhood cartoons. Of course, Ambrose

21:11

Bierce wrote this story more than half

21:13

a century before Ka, the python, would display

21:15

this hypnotic trick in Disney's adaptation

21:17

of the Jungle Book, but Rudyard

21:20

Kipling had published the original just a year

21:22

before the man and the snake came out.

21:25

Many of Kipling's books and many

21:27

of his contemporary authors in England

21:29

have heavily featured the stereotype of

21:31

the mysterious East imagined by so

21:33

many Brits during the Raj period, but

21:36

Ambrose Bierce, a man who embodied what

21:38

we now think of as the old American West,

21:40

was likely poking a bit of fun at

21:42

his fellow writers across the pond. He

21:45

also offers up some respect at

21:47

Kipling as Dr. Ruring scoffs about

21:49

ridiculous notions of snakes hypnotizing their victims

21:51

in order to kill them at the very

21:53

moment that just an event is

21:55

taking place under his own roof. And

21:58

while we certainly don't believe that Pyke's and cobras

22:00

can cast spells with their eyes or

22:02

disguise themselves as toys, Ambrose

22:05

Bierce was not too far off base

22:07

in warning of the dangers in keeping

22:09

wild animals as pets, especially snakes. Two

22:12

years ago, a Maryland man was found dead from

22:14

a snake bite, though it was unclear

22:16

which of the 124 snakes he

22:18

had living with him had given him the fatal bite.

22:21

A teenager was killed in Indonesia in

22:23

2016 when he was trying to send

22:26

selfies with his king cobra to friends

22:28

on WhatsApp, and two little

22:30

boys were killed by an African rock python

22:32

in Canada after it escaped

22:34

its enclosure in a nearby pet store

22:37

and found the brothers sleeping in their

22:39

apartment. But perhaps the

22:41

wildest of these stories took place in

22:44

1953 when the entire city

22:46

of Springfield, Missouri was essentially held hostage

22:48

for two months by a crate

22:51

full of cobras. As police

22:53

responded to snake call after snake call

22:55

from August to October of that year,

22:57

they used guns, garden tools, and even tear

22:59

gas to kill the things that just kept

23:01

turning up all over town. The

23:03

last of them was captured that fall, but

23:06

it would be 35 years before a man confessed

23:08

that he, at the age of 14, had been angry

23:11

at the owner of a pet store who swindled him

23:14

and had set the snakes free from their

23:16

shipping crate sitting behind the store to get

23:18

the owner in trouble. It

23:20

worked. Until the pet store

23:22

owner's death, he denied having loosed

23:24

the cobras out into the town, but

23:27

no one believed him. Nighty

23:32

Night is co-produced and distributed by

23:34

Podcast One. It's also executive produced

23:36

by Paul Anderson and Nick Pinella

23:38

for Workhouse Media, editing and

23:40

sound design by Steve Delimater, and

23:43

a big thanks to my executive producer

23:45

Stacey Parra, and finally a thank you

23:47

to Sarah Kalin, my researcher for the

23:49

extra little tidbits at the end of

23:51

every story. Thank you guys for listening.

23:53

Until next time, Nighty Night. Time

24:10

for a quick break to talk about McDonald's.

24:12

Mornings are for mixing and matching at McDonald's.

24:14

For just $3, mix and match two of

24:16

your favorite breakfast items, including a sausage

24:19

McMuffin. Price

24:28

and participation may vary, cannot be combined with

24:30

any other offer or combo meal. Single

24:32

item at regular price. Some

24:35

people just know the best rate for you is

24:37

a rate based on you with all states. Not

24:40

one based on the driver who treats the highway

24:42

like a racetrack and the shoulder

24:44

like a passing lane. Why

24:46

pay a rate based on anyone else? Get

24:48

one based on you with DriveWise from Austin.

24:51

Not available in Alaska or California, subject to terms and conditions,

24:53

rates are determined by several factors which vary by state and

24:55

some states, participation in DriveWise allows all states to use your

24:57

driving data for purposes of rating. While in some states your

24:59

rate could increase with high risk driving, generally safer drivers will

25:01

stay with DriveWise. All states bear in casualty insurance coming to

25:03

the Philly, North Park, Illinois.