The Spectre Of Tappington by The Weird Circle

The Horror! (Old Time Radio)

This episode of The Horror features a radio drama titled 'The Spectre Of Tappington' from the series The Weird Circle. The story follows Lie

Key takeaways

Lieutenant Charles Seaforme arrives at the English manor house after being invalided home from India.
The legend of Sir Giles Inglesby involves a mysterious death in the Oak Room and a missing trunk.

Main topics

The legend of Sir Giles
The disappearance of trousers

Notable quotes

The spectre of Tappington.

Conclusion

A classic radio mystery that resolves supernatural dread through a gro

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:44) Dramatized Speaker 4 (0:45) by Fat Man, here is Frank Frank, to destroy the excite-fighting purge. Speaker 1 (1:02) This is the horror. Welcome back. Thanks for joining me this Saturday for another horror story from the golden Speaker 2 (1:07) age of radio. Speaker 1 (1:08) We'll hear from the weird circle this week, a syndicated series produced from 1943 through 1945, 78 episodes in all. It aired at one time or another over mutual NBC and ABC stations. We'll hear their story from March 24th, 1944, titled The Specter of Tappington. Speaker 2 (1:50) This cave, where the restless sea, we are met to call from out of the past stories, strange and weird. Bellkeeper, toll the bell. All may know we are gathered again in the weird circle. Speaker 4 (2:42) Phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale, The Spectre of Tappington. Speaker 4 (2:59) This house, Tappington Everard, called Tapton for short, is an antiquated but commodious manor house in the English countryside of Kent. It was built by our ancestor, Sir Giles Inglesby, who was High Sheriff to Queen Elizabeth. I myself am Tom Inglesby, fourteenth heir to this forbidding old house. Set on a grove of tall, dark trees, legends have sprung up about it that add gloom to its sinister reputation. One autumn weekend during the grass season, every guest room in the manor house was occupied. That is, every one except the oak chamber. Little did we know that the unexpected arrival of our distant cousin and good friend, Lieutenant Charles Seaforth, would cause the dark mysteries of that oak room to intrude themselves upon us in such a strange way. A telegram that morning had warned us of his arrival, that he was on leave, invalided home from India. So it was with glad surprise and open arms that I welcomed the young lieutenant to Taptan. Speaker 5 (3:57) Well, Charles, old chap, I say it is good to see you. Hello, Tom, how are you? Back from the land of the Rogers, what? Welcome to Taptan. Thanks, Tom. It's good to be back in England, and best of all, to be here with you and... And Carolyn. I know that mine are not the charms that bring you here, but Speaker 4 (4:14) those are my lively, lovely sister. Well, here's your childhood heart's rope almost falling down the stairs in her eagerness to greet you. Speaker 6 (4:20) Charles! Charles, my dear, how wonderful to have you here. Speaker 4 (4:24) Carolyn, you're Speaker 5 (4:25) lovelier than ever. Lovelier than I dreamed. May I kiss you? Of Speaker 6 (4:29) course, Charles. Speaker 6 (4:31) Oh, Charles, it must have been dreadful in India. Speaker 5 (4:34) Well, it was a bit of a show for a while. We heard you were on the wounded list. Oh, just a tap on the old bean, a touch of fever, but I'm fit now. Speaker 6 (4:41) You look wonderfully well, Charles. Thinner, perhaps just a bit older. Speaker 4 (4:46) A broth of a boy has come back to us a man, Carolyn. And what a man. Speaker 6 (4:51) Charles, dear, we've had to put you in the oak room. Speaker 4 (4:54) Yes, as our housekeeper old Bollersby puts it, the house is choked full up. I hope you don't mind, old boy. Why should I mind? Sounds very important, really. Is it an attic nook? Oh, no, it's the guest chamber, or always was until some rather weird stories began... Oh, Charles, not Speaker 6 (5:08) now. What we mean, Charles, is simply that the oak room is very old. Speaker 5 (5:12) Oh, but I love old rooms and old houses. Oh, what a magnificent hall. This tapton of yours is a baronial beauty. A perfect setting for good old Queen Bess. I can almost see her ghost moving along up there on the gallery and wafting majestically down the stairs. Speaker 4 (5:26) Charles! Speaker 6 (5:27) Please, we don't like to think about ghosts here. Speaker 5 (5:29) Oh? Is Taptan haunted? Speaker 6 (5:31) Well, I'm afraid we've had our moment. Speaker 4 (5:32) No, as soon as I've shown you off to some of my guests, Charles, Carol and I will conduct you on a special tour of the premises. I'd like that nowhere. Good. Well, come along then into the library. I think Speaker 5 (5:42) you'll remember Jack Overton and Fanny Simpkins Speaker 4 (5:44) and... Speaker 4 (5:47) Charles was fascinated by the old manor. We showed him every nook and cranny from gallery to scullery. Then, that evening after a good and jovial dinner, some of us were gathered around the library fire when the legendary spectre of Taptan became the theme of the conversation. Speaker 6 (6:02) Did they show you the bloodstain? Yes, Speaker 4 (6:04) it didn't look like blood to me, Fanny. Speaker 6 (6:05) But it is blood, Charles, human blood. And for 300 years, no sandstone or soap has budged it. Oh, Speaker 5 (6:11) cheerful little antique. Speaker 3 (6:12) Did you take him into the glen, frowning darkly as if you're... Not yet, Speaker 6 (6:16) Jack. Oh, Speaker 3 (6:17) it's gruesome. Let's go there tomorrow before Speaker 6 (6:19) breakfast. All right. You know, they say the keeper's daughter was seen to enter it, but nothing... was ever seen again. Stop, Speaker 5 (6:26) Fanny. You're breaking my heart. My nerves can't stand it. She never was seen by mortal eyes again. Speaker 3 (6:32) Oh, never. How did you like the ancestral portraits? Nightmarish old codgers. Mr. Rogan, Speaker 4 (6:38) consider, you speak of the ancestors. Speaker 3 (6:40) Oh, sorry, old fellow, but you must admit, Sir Giles, there's no Rose. Speaker 4 (6:43) I've seen his like in horror films. What's his history, Tom? Well, dark and dismal tradition has it that his wicked licentiousness was above the average even for those days. What Speaker 6 (6:52) was his special life? Murder. Oh, how thrilling. Who Speaker 4 (6:56) did he kill? Yes, tell us the story, Carolyn. Shall Speaker 6 (6:58) I, Tom? Speaker 4 (6:59) Go ahead. I'll turn off some of the lights. Tell the gory legend, sis. Scaram. Speaker 6 (7:04) Well, you asked for it, my friends. Here it is. One night, long, long ago, a stranger guest came to Taptan. Though he and Sir Giles met in apparent friendship, the scowl on the squire's brow showed the visitor to be unwelcome. Nevertheless... The banquet was not spared. The wine circulated freely. Too freely, perhaps, for the servants heard loud and angry quarrelling. The stranger, cold menace in his voice, was heard to say that there were documents within his pocket which could disprove Sir Giles' right to Taptan. Documents that proved his inheritance? Oh, don't interrupt, Jack. Go on, Carolyn. Who was the stranger? Rumour was right. It seems the old retainers had heard talk in their youth that an heir who disappeared in early life had left a son in foreign lands. Speaker 5 (7:47) So? So you and Tom may not be the rightful owners of Taptan after all. Speaker 4 (7:51) That's right. Some long-lost cousin from far off lands may come to clear it. Joe! You're our distant cousin, Charles. And Speaker 6 (7:58) from a foreign land. Speaker 4 (7:59) Oh, now, Speaker 5 (7:59) I assure you I have no documents in my trousers. Speaker 6 (8:03) But Speaker 5 (8:03) go on, go on with the legend. What happened?