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Transmissions. Anyway,

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no pressure, it's all up

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to you. Thank

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you for your time. Now,

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back, well, at least in

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part. to

2:01

the show. It's

2:07

time to disseminate some dread.

2:11

This episode will be sharing

2:13

a tale from the great Ambrose

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Bierce. It's certainly

2:18

been a red-hot minute since we

2:20

celebrated one of his offerings. 2018, if memory

2:23

serves. Long

2:28

overdue, I'd

2:30

say. So,

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let's get to it. Nocturnal

2:36

Transmissions is proud

2:38

to present... The

2:42

Middle Toe of

2:44

the Right Foot. By...

2:49

Ambrose Bierce.

3:01

Part 1. It is well known that the Old Manton

3:05

House is haunted.

3:10

In all the rural district

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near about, and even in the town of Marshall a mile away, not

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one person of unbiased mind entertains a

3:19

doubt of it. Incredulity

3:22

is confined to those opinionated persons

3:24

who will be called cranks, as

3:28

soon as the useful word shall have penetrated

3:30

the intellectual domain of the Marshall advance. The

3:34

evidence that the House is haunted is of

3:36

two kinds. It

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is of the same kind,

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as it is, of the old

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man. It is haunted as of

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two kinds. The

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testimony of disinterested witnesses who have had ocular

3:50

proof, and that of

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the House itself. The

3:55

former may be disregarded and ruled out

3:57

on any of the various grounds of

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objection. which may be urged against it

4:02

by the ingenious, but

4:04

facts within the observation

4:06

of all are material

4:10

and controlling. In

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the first place, the Manton House has

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been unoccupied by mortals for more than

4:18

ten years, and with

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its outbuildings is slowly falling into

4:22

decay, a circumstance

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which in itself the judicious will

4:26

hardly venture to ignore. It

4:29

stands a little way off the loneliest reach

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of the Marshall and Harriston Road, in

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an opening which was once a farm and

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is still disfigured with strips of rotting fence

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and half covered with brambles overrunning

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a stony and sterile

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soil, long unacquainted with the

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plough. The

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house itself is in tolerably good

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condition, though badly weather-stained and

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in dire need of attention from

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the glazier. The smaller

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male population of the region having attested

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in the manner of its kind its

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disapproval of dwellings

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without dwellers.

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It is two stories in height, nearly square, its

5:11

front pierced by a single doorway flanked on

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each side by a window boarded up to

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the very top. Corresponding

5:18

windows above, not protected, serve to

5:20

admit light and rain to the

5:22

rooms of the upper floor. Grass

5:25

and weeds grow pretty rankly all about,

5:28

and a few shade trees, somewhat the

5:31

worse for wind and leaning all in

5:33

one direction, seem to be

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making a concerted effort to run away.

5:39

In short, as the Marshall Town

5:42

Humorous explained in the columns of

5:44

The Advance, the proposition

5:46

that the mountain house is badly haunted

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is the only logical conclusion

5:51

from the premises. The

5:56

fact that in this dwelling Mr.

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Manton thought it exp... One

6:00

night, some ten years ago, to

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rise and cut

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the throats of

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his wife and two small

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children, removing at

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once to another part of the country,

6:15

has no doubt done its share

6:17

in directing public attention to the

6:19

fitness of the place for supernatural

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phenomena. To

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this house, one summer evening, came

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four men in a wagon. Three

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of them promptly alighted, and the one who

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had been driving hitched the team to the

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only remaining post of what had been a

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fence. The fourth

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remained seated in the wagon. Come,

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said one of his companions approaching him,

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while the others moved away in the

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direction of the dwelling. This

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is the place. The

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man at rest did not move. By

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God, he said harshly,

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this is a trick, and it looks to me as if you were in

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it. Perhaps I

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am, the other said, looking

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him straight in the face, and speaking in a

7:15

tone which had something of contempt in

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it. You will remember,

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however, that the choice of place was

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with your own assent left to

7:24

the other side. Of

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course, if you are afraid of spooks, I

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am afraid of nothing. The

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man interrupted with another oath and sprang

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to the ground. The

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two then joined the others at the

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door, which one of them had already

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opened with some difficulty caused by rust

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of lock and hinge. All

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entered. Inside,

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it was dark. But the

7:52

man who had unlocked the door produced a candle

7:54

and matches and made a light. He

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then unlocked a door on their right as they stood in

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the middle.