MADISON ON THE AIR: “THE TELL-TALE HEART” INNER SANCTUM

ADAPTED BY CHRISI TALYN SAJE: JULY 2024

SCENE ONE

HOST
Good evening, friends. This is Edward October here from “OctoberPod AM,” the classic horror podcast. I am your host for this year’s Halloween episode of “Madison on the Air.” Let me welcome you once more to the “Inner Sanctum.” You may recall another episode of this old time radio show we featured in July. The original program was an anthology horror series, and what perfect time to bring it back than at Halloween. One of the show’s first forays into the macabre was an adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe classic short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

MADISON
Short story? I thought it was a poem. “Nevermore.”

HOST
You’re thinking of “The Raven.”

MADISON
No, the one where the guy killed his wife and sealed her in the wall with the black cat?

HOST
That was “The Black Cat.”

MADISON
No! You know, the one where the entire house falls down?

HOST
“Fall of the House of Usher?”

MADISON
Uck, no! With the pit and the pendulum and the guy is in jail because “no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

HOST
Okay, that’s Monty Python.

MADISON
What were we talkin’ about?

HOST
“The Tell-Tale Heart.” Of which you are going to play the central character.

MADISON
Really? Me? But aren’t all of Edgar Allen Poe’s narrators highly flawed, cruel, and near madness?

HOST
And some are alcoholic. I don’t know why they thought of you.

MADISON
Seriously, I mean– Hey.

HOST
We’ll catch up with you in a few moments, Madison, as soon as I finish setting the scene, hmm?

MADISON
You bring a bottle of vodka to one dentist appointment and everyone labels you an alcoholic.

HOST
Now to our story. This version was adapted for radio in 1941. And then we got a hold of it in 2024. So if it isn’t quite the Poe story you remember… good. We still might be able to spook you! This telling is of a woman who could hear not only every sound on earth, but, uh… even things that don’t exist. So, turn down the lights, call in a friend or neighbor to keep you company, and listen to Madison Standish in… “The Tell-Tale Heart.” It’s early evening. The sun is just setting behind a range of low hills. On top of the nearest hill is a huge rambling building surrounded by park like grounds. A road winds from its gates down to the little village below. Down this road comes a woman. She’s tall, gaunt, her hair snow white. She’s so busy with her thoughts, that she doesn’t see the petite, young blonde woman who sits along the roadside. She is just about to pass her…

OLIVE
Oh, good evening.

MADISON
S’up.

OLIVE
Nice evening, isn’t it?

MADISON
Nice? That is a major understatement. It is ah-mazing! Like, Taylor Swift front row tickets sharing a plate of extra cheesy nachos with Selena Gomez ah-may-zing!

OLIVE
You don’t say?

MADISON
Gurl, you have no idea what it’s like to feel as if you’ve come back from the dead. Or can you? You look north of fifty.

OLIVE
I have not come back from the dead.

MADISON
Undead?

OLIVE
I’m very much alive and forty-six years old.

MADISON
Daymn. I forgot how much older everyone looks in the past. Probably ‘cuz kids start smokin’ at like, five.

OLIVE
Good day.

MADISON
W-w-wait! I’m sorry. Totes didn’t mean disrespect. I’m just havin’ a blogworthy day, ya know what I mean?

OLIVE
Indeed? How so?

MADISON
Okay, get this. My name is Madison Standish and I have a podcast. “Madison on the Air.” Ever heard of it?

OLIVE
Can’t say that I have.

MADISON
No biggie. We have a small but loyal following. Hi, everybody, love you!

OLIVE
And?

MADISON
And — watch the attitude — two years ago I went into total deafness. Like, outta nowhere. One day I could hear my phone alerts, the next day all I could feel was the vibrations.

OLIVE
What a pity.

MADISON
I know! A podcaster who can’t hear! It’s like dying — or worse — like dying and knowing that you’re dead. I went to doctors, but they couldn’t do anything for me. HMOs, uck. Finally, one of
them referred me to the doctor up on the hill there.

OLIVE
Dr. Adair?

MADISON
Yeah! I was with him for six months and now, “Hello operator, gimme number nine,” I can hear!

OLIVE
He cured you?

MADISON
Straight up! Listen. Like, take a minute, clear your mind, and listen real hard. Tell me what you hear.

OLIVE
Uh… Nothing very much. The wind. Birds.

MADISON
Birds? The wind? Laaaame. Do you know what I can hear? I can hear the grass growing. The sap rising in the trees. I can hear the stars farting high above the earth!

OLIVE
Farting?

MADISON
Okay, maybe not the scientific term but stars are giant balls of hot gas.

OLIVE
Riiiight…

MADISON
Point being, I can hear things that no one has ever heard before. So, circling back to OG question, most ah-mazing evening ever.

OLIVE
Yes, Madison, but I already knew why it was amazing.

MADISON
Ah-mazing.

OLIVE
Ah-mazing. I knew before you told me. You see, I just left the place up on the hill myself.

MADISON
For reals?

OLIVE
My name is Olive Sheridan. When I was taken there, I was blind.

MADISON
Ohhh. I noticed your eyes were jacked, but I just thought that was old-lady eye or somethin.’

OLIVE
I’m only forty-six!

MADISON
Hey! My generation will be blind by thirty with our entire formative years staring at screens.

OLIVE
In any case, we’ve both left the doctor’s care today. With night approaching, where do you plan to go?

MADISON
Well, I’ve been thinkin’ about that for the last coupla weeks, actually. I figure I should go someplace sorta quiet until I get acclimated to hearing again? Like, all I can handle right now is star farts.

OLIVE
Did you have a place in mind?

MADISON
From my hospital window, I could see an old sawmill.

OLIVE
Yes, it’s deep in the woods. Deserted. There’s moss on the water wheel. And the door hangs open by one hinge.

MADISON
Dude! You can see it from here?!

OLIVE
My eyes have become as good as your hearing. You’re thinking of living there?

MADISON
Well, if it’s deserted, squatters rights, ya know? You wanna come with?

OLIVE
Yes. Yes, I could do that.

MADISON
Great! It should be just up this road. Come on! Ya know, between my super hearing and your super vision, we could help people like superheroes!

OLIVE
Superheroes?

MADISON
Or destroy people like supervillains. I could go either way.

SCENE TWO

MADISON
This way, Olive. Up this path. I can hear the water that runs past the sawmill! Oh. And apparently it’s frog mating season. Eh. Get a room you horny toads.

FARMER
Bossie! Bossie! Oh, Bossie!

OLIVE
Someone’s coming.

MADISON
Looks like he’s lookin’ for somethin’.

FARMER
Good evening. I’m trying to find my cow. Have you seen her?

MADISON
Man. I hate it when you accidentally leave the front door open and your cow runs out.

OLIVE
What kind of a cow is she?

FARMER
A brown and a white one with a crooked horn.

MADISON
Have you checked the local animal shelters for stray cows?

FARMER
No… I, uh– my field is just up the road. I thought she might’ve come this way.

MADISON
Hang on, hang on! I hear her. Nope, that’s still the frogs.

FARMER
Frogs?

MADISON
Wait! I got her! She’s grazing in a field on the other side of the woods.

FARMER
How can you hear her? That’s almost a mile from here.

MADISON
I have good ears. I’m like the Bionic Woman.

FARMER
That field belongs to the Squire. How did she get there?

OLIVE
You think someone took her?

FARMER
It’s the Squire’s land, but he’s the richest man around here. Why should he have taken my cow?

MADISON
Rich people stay rich by never spending their own money on anything.

OLIVE
Wait a minute! Ah, let me see… Yes! Yes, I do see someone with your cow. He’s just leaving her.

FARMER
You can see that? Right through the woods?

OLIVE
I have good eyes.

MADISON
She’s got eyesight like the Six Million Dollar man.

OLIVE
Why do you keep making those odd noises?

MADISON
When talking about the Six Million Dollar Man or the Bionic Woman, you do the sound effects. This is common knowledge.

FARMER
Who’s with Bossie? What’s he like? Is he tall, wearing a brown jacket?

OLIVE
Yes.

FARMER
I knew it! It’s the Squire! He’s trying to steal my cow. I’d better go get her. Thank you very much!

MADISON
Teamwork! Oh, I love it! You and me workin’ together can totes help people!

OLIVE
Meh. I saw what he wanted me to see.

MADISON
What do you mean?

OLIVE
He hates the Squire because the Squire’s rich and he’s poor.

MADISON
Then you didn’t see the Squire with his cow?

OLIVE
He wanted to believe it, so I confirmed it for him.

MADISON
So instead of him taking responsibility for his own part in his cow getting lost, you gave him someone else to blame for it?

OLIVE
Sure.

MADISON
That’s very… right wing politics of you. Guess we’re goin’ supervillains then, huh?

SCENE THREE

MADISON
Okay, okay. Not exactly a five star hotel… or even a motel off a two lane highway a hundred miles from anything that could call itself a city… but it’s quiet.

OLIVE
The waterfall dulls any outside noise.

MADISON
Like a sound machine. Or one of those meditation videos on YouTube that you get all relaxed to then suddenly it bursts in with an ad for “Dodge trucks, Ram tough!”

OLIVE
I like it. It’s just the way I knew it would be, too. Dark, dank — the home of rats and spiders. We’ll be happy living here with
them.

MADISON
Okay, I am not one of those girls who gets all wigged out over rats or spiders. But then, I usually have a cat around to make sure they keep to their side of the house.

OLIVE
I like them because they’re like me. Rats see in the dark, and spiders spin webs.

MADISON
I get the rat-vision thing. But gonna need some clarification on you spinning webs?

OLIVE
They trap and destroy life!

MADISON
All right, sounds like you got some plans movin’ forward from your hospital stay.

OLIVE
You think I’m evil, don’t you?

MADISON
I am not judging. You’re talkin’ to a girl who once got a report card that said, “Average performance on assignments, could participate more in class, probably evil.”

OLIVE
Well, I don’t think it’s a good world. I was blind! And did anyone care that I was? No! I could never love people. In fact, I hate them!

MADISON
Yikes. Maybe enroll in some anger management classes? Or cooking classes. Gets out your anger and you go home with cupcakes.

OLIVE
What’s that thumping sound?

MADISON
I think it’s a bird. Yeah, look, a sparrow flapping it’s wings. Awww… he got himself stuck inside. Poor little thing looks scared tryin’ to get outta the glass window.

OLIVE
Is it hurt?

MADISON
I think so. I’m gonna try and catch him so he doesn’t hurt himself any worse. Come on, birdie, birdie, I’m not gonna hurt ya.

OLIVE
You’re scaring it more!

MADISON
Well, I’m not a cat! Catching a bird isn’t exactly in my wheelhouse! Ah! Got it! Looks like he injured one of his wings.

OLIVE
Here, let’s see. Perhaps we can put a splint on it and heal it.

MADISON
You know how to put a splint on a tiny sparrow wing? You moonlight as an avian vet?

OLIVE
Hand him to me and find a small twig I can use.

MADISON
Okay. But be gentle. He’s still really scared.

OLIVE
I will.

MADISON
Olive! What the actual F are you doing?!

OLIVE
Doing?

MADISON
Blood! You– you just crushed the sparrow!

OLIVE
Why, so I have.

MADISON
You killed it on purpose! The Audubon Society is gonna have your ass for breakfast. Do you think the Audubon Society eats eggs?

OLIVE
You think I did it deliberately? We all have some badness deep inside us. Even you. Here you are, ready to believe the worst of me, that I’d wantonly crush a harmless little sparrow to death.

MADISON
Well, ya did!

OLIVE
Hmmm. There is something in your face. Something that wasn’t there before.

MADISON
Utter shock and horror?

OLIVE
Maybe we should both retire to bed.

MADISON
Yeah… okay, but… I’m goin’ upstairs. You stay down here.

OLIVE
Fine by me.

MADISON
Geez! I gotta do a better job of vetting my roommates.

SCENE FOUR

MADISON
It isn’t that she’d been blind, ya know. I don’t have any prejudice against differently-abled people.

HOST
Of course. Why, I once saw you help a woman with her groceries… and she had brunette hair.

MADISON
She really coulda used some highlights.

HOST
So, you’re upset that Olive killed the sparrow?

MADISON
Well, let’s just say I’m not gonna bring home any pets.

HOST
What did she mean, do you think, when she said she saw something in your face that wasn’t there before?

MADISON
I dunno. Her eyes are kinda creepy with that blue film over ’em. Like some sorta vulture or something.

HOST
How distressing it must be for you. After you were in such a good mood earlier when you left the hospital.

MADISON
I know, right?

HOST
So now you have to kill her.

MADISON
Uh, wha–

HOST
She’s evil. You said it yourself.

MADISON
No, I didn’t! She said, “You think I’m evil, don’t you?” I never called her evil.

HOST
Then she killed that helpless bird.

MADISON
Yeah, but… with a broken wing it probably woulda died anyway, so maybe she saved it from suffering?

HOST
You have to kill her. Not because you want to, but in order to keep Olive from spreading hate and evil.

MADISON
I could just move out–

HOST
She saw it. Saw it in your face.

MADISON
Saw what?

HOST
Death.

MADISON
Maybe I just need to exfoliate.

HOST
Yes. Killing her is the only solution.

MADISON
Uh… okay. Maybe in a coupla days–

HOST
Now.

MADISON
Now?

HOST
With her amazing eye sight, don’t you think it would be easier in the dark?

MADISON
I guess.

HOST
Go on then. Go murder her in cold blood.

MADISON
All right. Man, this Poe stuff is dark.

HOST
Well, friends, you still want me to go on with the story of “The Tell-Tale Heart?” Very well. But first, please indulge me by listening to a promo about my own show, “OctoberPod AM.”

SCENE FIVE

HOST
Horror is a great deal of fun, isn’t it? Especially in October. Now, back to Madison Standish in her version of the “Inner Sanctum” adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic short story… “The Tell- Tale Heart.” It’s a little later that same evening. Madison is sitting in the upper story of the old deserted sawmill, waiting and listening…

MADISON
Now I can hear her downstairs getting undressed… Oh! Pulled a button off her shirt. Crossing the room… sitting on the bed… wait– standing up again. Dammit it, woman, would you just go to sleep! Okay… lying down. Not asleep yet… I’ll be able to tell when I hear her heartbeat slow down. This is not the capacity for which I expected to use my super hearing powers. But if I do kill her, I might still be able to get into the Justice League. Batman kills people, like, all the time. Oh! There she goes. She’s asleep. All right… let’s do this. Geez! Why is it when you try to walk quietly, that’s when your footsteps sound like an elephant is stomping across the room! Although, fun fact, elephants have padding on their feet so they actually walk with near silence. Why am I telling myself that? I need to shut up and concentrate. Let’s hope you’re a sound sleeper there, Olive. Wait a sec. I haven’t thought about how I’m gonna kill her. Most women prefer to kill with poison. But they cleaned me out of all my good stuff when I checked into that hospital. I guess we’re gonna have to go with weapon of opportunity. Okay, here’s her bedroom. Ooo, she’s using an old sack for a pillow. I can smother her with that. There we go, problem solved.

OLIVE
Who’s that? Who’s there? There is someone there. I can see you! It’s Madison!

MADISON
Daymn. You really can see in the dark like rats.

OLIVE
I know you’ve come to kill me.

MADISON
Yeah, I kinda have to. Hey, since you’re up, could you hand me your pillow so I can smother you with it?

OLIVE
No!

MADISON
See? It’s this unhelpful attitude of yours that makes me have to kill you.

OLIVE
No! Please!

MADISON
Aw, c’mon! Don’t struggle like that. I’m stronger than you.

OLIVE
Stop! Stop!!

MADISON
Why does this feel familiar? You ever get Deja Vu? Hmm. Can’t place it.

HOST
Oh! That noise. Do you hear it, friends? It’s her heart! Beating, pounding– driving the blood through her veins!

MADISON
Eh. You’re enjoying this.

HOST
I host a horror podcast. I die for this stuff!

MADISON
Speaking of dying, could you shut it for a sec. I’m losin’ my concentration over here.

OLIVE
Stop…!

HOST
You know, if you’re going to smother someone, you have to keep the pillow over their face for at least three to four minutes.

MADISON
Do you want to do this?!

HOST
They won’t let me.

OLIVE
Please…!

MADISON
This would go a lot smoother if you’d stop squirming!

HOST
Ah! Her heart is beating more slowly now. Slower and fainter. Running down like a tired clock. Yes… you can hardly hear it now. Just a faint throbbing murmur.

MADISON
Is she dead yet?

HOST
Yes, the beating heart has stopped. She’s dead.

MADISON
Olive, listen, I didn’t wanna do it, but I had to. Right, Ed? It was inevitable?

HOST
She was only interested in hurting people. That’s why you had to do it.

MADISON
There ya go. Justifiable homicide. And that’s why I’m not gonna give myself up or confess or anything. Because I can still help people with my super hearing. Which I’ll start doing in the morning.

HOST
Where are you going?

MADISON Back to bed.

HOST
What about the body?

MADISON
It’s not goin’ anywhere.

HOST
Don’t you think you should at least hide it? What if someone were to come by?

MADISON
At this time of night? To what everyone in town presumes is an abandoned sawmill?

HOST
I’m not trying to tell you how to do your murder, but I think body disposal should be handled sooner than later.

MADISON
Fine. Toss her in the river?

HOST
She’ll be found at first light. Don’t forget, the farmer saw you two together.

MADISON
Oh, yeah. Bury her then, huh?

HOST
Mmm. The ground is pretty hard this time of year.

MADISON
Well, what then?

HOST
Don’t ask me. That’s your responsibility.

MADISON
You were all about me murdering her, and now you can’t even help me with the body dump?!

HOST
Sorry. I’m just the host.

MADISON
This how you treat people on your show?

HOST
No. This is how I treat you on your show.

MADISON
Real nice.

HOST
Well… look around. What options do you have in this room?

MADISON
It’s too dark. Could you at least help me by turning on the light?

HOST
There’s no electricity. It’s an abandoned sawmill. And 1843.

MADISON
A candle then?

HOST
How about this lantern?

MADISON
If it’s not too much trouble. It’s just a big empty room! There’s no way I can hide a body in here. What, are you getting impatient? I’m trying to think of something. Dude! You’re making this harder by jumping and making noise on these old wooden floorboards! What is your problem?!

HOST
The floor! Pull up the floorboards and bury her under the floor!

MADISON
Under the floorboards?

HOST
Yes!!

MADISON
Nah, that’ll never work.

HOST
There’s a crowbar right over here.

MADISON
I don’t need a crowbar. I already killed her.

HOST
To pull up the floorboards! Like this!

MADISON
Hey, those boards are comin’ up pretty easy.

HOST
Now, throw her body in there.

MADISON
She’s kinda heavy.

HOST
Fine! Hold the crowbar. There. Now put the boards back.

MADISON
But those are rusty nails. What if I cut myself and get tetanus?

HOST
You’re not gonna get–! All right! I’ll put the boards back.

MADISON
Ooo, that one’s crooked. I dunno. It’s not very convincing. The floor looks like it’s been disturbed.

HOST
I’ll kick some dirt over it. There.

MADISON
Perfect! You do good work.

HOST
Thank you.

MADISON
Who could that be? There’s somebody outside with a lantern! What should we– Host-Guy? Way to bail on me, Edward! Yeah? What?

TRENT
I’m sorry, am I interrupting something? I thought I heard yelling.

MADISON
Nothing a new host couldn’t fix.

TRENT
Ah, I see. May I, um, come in?

MADISON
No! Who the hell are you?

TRENT
I apologize, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Trent. I’m the town constable.

MADISON
A cop? What do you want? Unless you can show documented ownership of this property and a legally filed eviction notice, I am not trespassing.

TRENT
Oh, no, it’s nothing like that. I just thought I’d drop in and say hello.

MADISON
At midnight?

TRENT
It’s a weird a time of night to be visiting, but I saw your light on and I’d heard there were some… strangers living out here. So I thought I might… well…

MADISON
See if I was running a meth lab?

TRENT
Just… investigate the new arrivals. May I come in?

MADISON
Okay. But make it quick, I want to get back to bed. Not that I “need my beauty sleep.” All of this gorgeousness was created from three hours a night and a combination of Starbucks and Red Bull.

TRENT
I promise I won’t keep you long. I’d heard in town there were strangers living here. But you’re not a stranger.

MADISON I’m not?

TRENT
You’ve been around here for some time, haven’t you? Up at Dr. Adair’s place on the hill, I mean.

MADISON
Somebody’s done his homework.

TRENT
Yes. And your friend, where is she? Sleeping?

MADISON
Friend? I don’t have any friends. I mean, I have friends, just not here. In the 1800s. I got a ton of friends in the 2020s. They’re just not born yet.

TRENT
Indeed?

MADISON
What I mean to say is… I’m alone here.

TRENT
You mind if I look around?

MADISON
Knock yourself out.

TRENT
Not that I should I doubt your word or anything like that.

MADISON
Hey, cops aren’t supposed to trust anyone. That’s part of the job description, right? Suspicious until proven unsuspicious?

TRENT
Something like that. Well, certainly no sign of anyone else.

MADISON
Told ya.

TRENT
Yes, you did. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll just sit down here for a minute and smoke a pipe.

MADISON
I absolutely do mind! You’re just gonna come into somebody’s house and light up?

TRENT
Why not?

MADISON
Because I don’t want to breathe your secondhand smoke, 1840s!

TRENT
Oh, I apologize. Is it all right if I just sit for a while? I’ve been walking my beat all night.

MADISON
Yeah, but… maybe not right there.

TRENT
You don’t want me to sit here?

MADISON
The, uh, floor looks a little unstable there. Ya know, this is an old abandoned sawmill. Floor might give out from under you and I don’t want a lawsuit.

TRENT
Seems strong enough to hold me.

MADISON
Okay. Swim at your own risk.

TRENT
So… do you plan to stay here long?

MADISON
Dude. The bouncing leg thing is super annoying.

TRENT
Bouncing leg?

MADISON
I can’t stand it when people sit down and start bouncing their leg like that. I broke up with a guy in the middle of his cousin’s wedding because he wouldn’t stop bouncing his leg.

TRENT
Bothers you that much, does it?

MADISON
As it would any normal person! Yet, I’m the one who ruined the ceremony. What’s that?

TRENT What’s what?

MADISON
It’s like a throbbing or something. Like a club beat.

TRENT
I don’t hear any noise like that.

MADISON
How can you not? It sounds like when you live in an apartment and your neighbors start blasting music at three A.M. and all you get is the bass line.

TRENT
Aside from the waterfall outside, I really don’t hear anything unusual.

MADISON
You seriously don’t hear that beat?

TRENT
It is late. Perhaps you’re tired.

MADISON
Don’t condescend me! Maybe I am tired. Tired of your face!

MADISON
Gah!

TRENT
Maybe if you just sit down–

MADISON
I don’t want to sit! I wanna walk.

TRENT
You have gotten yourself into a state. Is there anything the matter?

MADISON
Um, maybe that I have a cop in my living room at midnight?

TRENT
Look, look, look, there’s no need to get so excited–

MADISON
I’m not excited! I’m perfectly calm and quiet!

TRENT
I would say you’re the opposite of perfectly calm and quiet.

MADISON
I know what you’re doing!

TRENT
Doing?

MADISON
Yeah, sitting there. Pretending you haven’t heard. Making me listen to it! Getting louder and louder.

TRENT
I really don’t–

MADISON
All right. I admit the deed! I killed her. I killed her! Tear up the planks! Her body is right underneath you, under the floor. And that noise you hear is her heart. It is the beating of her hideous heart!

SCENE SIX

TRENT
Hello, Dr. Adair.

DR. ADAIR
Oh, Constable, hello. Well, did you find them?

TRENT
Yes, Doctor.

DR. ADAIR
I’m glad.

TRENT
Some of my boys will be bringing the other one, Olive, along in a little while.

DR. ADAIR
Bringing her? Something the matter with her?

TRENT
Well, sort of. They were in the old sawmill by the river. Madison had evidently tried to kill Olive, but she hadn’t done a good job of it. She nailed her up underneath the floor. And, uh, when we got Olive out, she was unconscious. She’s still pretty weak.

DR. ADAIR
I see.

TRENT
Here comes one of my officers with Madison now. Over here, Roberts!

ROBERTS
Yes, sir!

DR. ADAIR
This is most distressing.

TRENT
I understand.

ROBERTS
Here she is, Doc.

DR. ADAIR
Now, uh, turn her around so that she’s facing me. That’s it. Well, hello, Madison.

MADISON
Oh, hey, Doc. I didn’t think they’d bring me back here.

ROBERTS
Uh, Constable Trent?

TRENT
Not now, Roberts.

DR. ADAIR
Madison, why did you run away from here yesterday afternoon?

MADISON
I didn’t run away. I left. I was cured.

DR. ADAIR
Cured?

MADISON
Well, cured or not, I was over my allotted days for inpatient hospital stays. So– –Hit the the road, Jack, and don’t you come back till next year, next year when your benefits reset. Hit the road, Jack–

DR. ADAIR
And tell me what happened to Olive.

ROBERTS
Constable Trent!

TRENT
Whatever you have to say, Roberts, it can wait!

MADISON
Uh, that was wrong. I know it was wrong, but… I had to do it.

DR. ADAIR
You had to do it?

MADISON
The host made me!

DR. ADAIR
“Host”? What “host” is this?

MADISON
Edward October! From “OctoberPod AM”! He said Olive was evil and was gonna hurt people and I had to stop her.

DR. ADAIR
You know, it’s strange, Constable. Two women, both mental cases because of a sudden affliction. But, while Olive’s blindness made her hate, Madison’s deafness filled her with love for all mankind.

TRENT
Deafness? You mean she’s deaf? But, but when you talk to her, she answers you.

DR. ADAIR
Yes, she reads lips. That’s why I had you turn her around so she was facing me. But she’s stone deaf. She will never hear again.

MADISON
Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.

DR. ADAIR
Now, don’t get agitated, Madison.

MADISON
I’m not deaf! I can hear better than everyone! I can hear the grass growing, frogs humping, stars farting!

DR. ADAIR
Come along now, we should get you inside.

MADISON
I even heard the beating of Olive’s heart after I’d killed her!

DR. ADAIR
Madison, Olive is not dead. You did not kill her.

MADISON
What? I didn’t?

DR. ADAIR
No. You only thought you did.

MADISON
Are you sure? I mean… I took extra care to make sure she was dead.

DR. ADAIR
She’s going to recover and be just fine.

MADISON
Seriously?

DR. ADAIR
Now, let’s go inside and–

ROBERTS
Constable! Madison cannot be permitted to stay here!

TRENT
Why not? She’ll get the care here she needs.

ROBERTS
But Olive Sheridan is dead.

MADISON
What’d he say?

TRENT
No, she’s not. I pulled her out from under the floorboards myself.

ROBERTS
Yes, sir, but then you went to town to report finding the women.

TRENT
After I secured Madison with rope, yes.

ROBERTS
Not that secure, sir.

TRENT
What are you saying, Roberts?

ROBERTS
She got outta the ropes, sir.

DR. ADAIR
So… what happened to Olive?

SCENE SEVEN

HOST
You dismembered the corpse?! You cut off the head and the arms and the legs?!

MADISON
That’s what he did in the original Edgar Allen Poe story!

HOST
But–! But–! How did you even manage that?!

MADISON
We were in a sawmill.

HOST
I… I can’t believe you did that.

MADISON
I could still hear her heart beating and figured I had to finish the job.

HOST
Not for this episode for “Inner Sanctum”! No one was supposed to actually die! Oh… the censors are gonna have a field day.

MADISON
Well, what kind of horror anthology does Edgar Allen Poe and then ends it without a bloody murder? I’m sure that would’ve totally let the audience down.

HOST
But no one had to die! “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story of a person’s guilty conscience getting the better of them. The point could still be conveyed if you just thought you’d murdered her.

MADISON
But I don’t feel guilty.

HOST
You killed someone!

MADISON
You laid out a very rational reasoning for why she had to die.

HOST
I was just trying to keep the story moving along!

MADISON
You’re gonna need to tell that to the cops.

TRENT
Edward October! We know you’re in there!

HOST
I can’t go back to prison.

MADISON
I won’t have to. Pleading insanity.

TRENT
October! We’ll give you one last chance to open this door, and then we’re coming in!

HOST
I gotta get back to my own podcast! I’ll be safe there.

MADISON
He’s making a break for the back door!

TRENT
Roberts! Take your men around the back!

ROBERTS
Yes, sir!

MADISON
Well, looks like we’re ending this Halloween episode without a host. I hope you enjoyed our version of the “Inner Sanctum’s” adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” I wasn’t exactly Boris Karloff, but Sharon Grünwald got to die on our show again. Hey, Sharon! How many times does that make now?

SHARON
Uh… five. Three I was murdered, two I was the killer and put to death.

MADISON
Always great killing you, Sharon.

SHARON
Well, you write killer scripts.

MADISON
Thank you, everybody for listening, a big thanks to Edward October from “OctoberPod AM” — you should definitely check out his show if you love horror — and Happy Halloween!

EPILOGUE

MADISON
“Inner Sanctum,” also known as “Inner Sanctum Mystery” is a horror anthology show which ran on the NBC Blue Network from 1941-1952. The original series had five hundred and twenty-seven episodes, but less than two hundred of those have survived to today. You may remember our other “Inner Sanctum” episode from earlier this year, “Till Death Do Us Part,” which featured a Host alongside the Lipton spokeswoman, Mary. This pairing started after 1945 when the original host left to serve in the Army. Our “Tell-Tale Heart” episode was from the show’s first year in 1941. “Inner Sanctum” boasts a myriad of amazing guest starts including Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Burgess Meredith, Agnes Moorehead, Bela Lugosi, Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles just to name a few.