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Episode 445 - The Floor Above (Patreon)

Published:
2019-03-29 23:24:42
Imported:
2021-07

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Content

Yet another mysterious author makes a debut: it's The Floor Above by M.L. Humphries!

Special thanks to reader Mike Cuellar, host of The Weird Tales Podcast!

Tune in on April 5th to BBC America!! THE LACKEYS WILL BE HOSTING STAR TREKS!!!!

Next up: A Comments Show and In Amundsen's Tent by John Martin Leahy.

Comments

Anonymous

I also totally thought the story would go The Whisperer in Darkness route, but then thought it shouldn't based on Lovecraft's shiver. I agree he was probably thinking of that. When did Whisperer come out after this story?

Richard Horsman

I have no answers for what was going on, but I will say I found this story genuinely unsettling in the same way I do David Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE, with which it shares some elements: the fractured sense of time, the character that may or may not have been a corpse for most of the piece (who was walking around up there if all there was was Arthur's decade old corpse?), the unresolving tension of the worst kinds of dreams...I really dug it.

Anonymous

I have found a good source for some of the stories, like " The floors above" and "In Amundsen's Tent"; But Not all stories. The search box at the right end , below the logo of <a href="https://www.sffaudio.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.sffaudio.com</a>

Anonymous

Could the story that Lovecraft was thinking of be Cool Air? I haven't read the story, but based on your synopsis I can see some similarities between the two. A man in an upstairs room who turns out to have been dead all along. At least that was my first thought.

Christopher Hawkins

I got really excited because I thought we were dealing with a predatory plant (the infirmed lady) who preys on humanity and generates ailing doppelgangers to lure their family back to her. Now I suspect that having died, a ghostly Arthur wanted to pull one last mad prank on his boon companion and decided to Mrs. Doubtfire the good fellow, taking on the personage of the old lady.

feedergoldfish

Excellent website! Thanks for posting. Almost immediately, I stumbled into an interesting article on Nefertiti and Akhenaten in Fate Magazine. Another source for pulps is the Internet Archive’s Pulp Magazine Archive: <a href="https://archive.org/details/pulpmagazinearchive." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/pulpmagazinearchive.</a> There aren't as many interesting titles, but it's pretty cool.

Anonymous

That was a lovely little tale - thanks for introducing it to us. There are quite a few Lovecraft stories that include a mysterious letter summoning the protagonist to a wonky house, so it really could have been any of them that he was thinking of. Or he might have given up on the idea completely after reading The Floor Above and the world was robbed of a certain cyclopean, lightning-haunted, faint-inducing story. Whist I would love to be a boon companion, I am hoping that with a slightly higher monthly contribution, I can become a boom companion. Do take it under consideration, gents.

Anonymous

Obviously the old tenant lady is Arthur in disguise and the body is the former tenant that he kept imprisoned upstairs. Its a frame job to fake his own death because he had overdue botany books from the library.

Anonymous

I got the Cool Air vibe as well.

Anonymous

I always assumed Indian Summer was analagous to or derived from the derogatory (and racist) term "Indian giver" meaning someone who gives you something and then takes it back. Likewise an Indian summer is a false, temporary burst of heat that soon recedes into colder weather.

Anonymous

Really enjoyed this one, guys! Though I admit that when Chad said the elderly woman didn't bring the food upstairs because she was lame, I assumed it wasn't due to a physical limitation but because she was, you know, not cool.

Anonymous
>>21288910

That would be a good explanation as to why she won't go upstairs and he won't go... anywhere.

Anonymous

Congrats on the BBC America work. This story was very Weird Tales style stuff. I liked the weird elements, but it perhaps left a little too much up in the air all at once.

Anonymous
>>21282056

I agree. And Lovecraft did mention being "chilled" at the thought...

Anonymous

I'm listening to this podcast mainly when I'm cooking/preparing meals so I was happy to get all the culinary references in that story! Plus, I really want a spin off podcast named "Some good Dracula chicken" which is all about weird recipes.

Anonymous

There's something supernaturally sinister going on with the house itself. It seems like something has drained Arthur's life away, and eventually even the protagonist begins to experience the deleterious effects during his stay with his boon companion. I'm not sure, but I get the feeling that Arthur may have died as a result of whatever dwells in the house, and his spirit is stuck there, being drained and oppressed. Arthur's letter could've been either an SOS from Arthur seeking help from his purgatory, or a way to lure new prey to the house. Arthur was never able to send the letter in life, but he finally managed to send it in the afterlife (think about the cost of the postage!). We see brief glimpses of Arthur's real self, but he's kept under control by that other presence. It prevents Arthur from being able to ask for help outright and from guiding the protagonist to find his body on the third floor. It seems like when the third floor is finally opened and Arthur's body is finally discovered, his spirit is free from the house. The old woman downstairs seems to also be weakened and influenced by the entity. The reason why she looks similar to Arthur when she smiles near the end is not so much due to a familial resemblance, but rather due to some sinister energy that is slowly sucking her life away (if she's not dead already herself). In that way, she looks like Arthur.

Anonymous

If, like Chad, you are a library junkie here are some shots of the old Cincinnati Library that was (insanely) demolished in 1955 <a href="https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/the-old-cincinnati-library-demolition-1874-1955/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/the-old-cincinnati-library-demolition-1874-1955/</a> <a href="https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/06/17/seriously-though-how-did-the-most-beautiful-library-in-america-get-demolished/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/06/17/seriously-though-how-did-the-most-beautiful-library-in-america-get-demolished/</a> <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/15-gorgeous-photos-of-the-old-cincinnati-library" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/15-gorgeous-photos-of-the-old-cincinnati-library</a> However in the mid 19th Century a group of young Cincinnati businessmen decided to start a book lending and discussion forum to better themselves and established The Mercantile Library which operates today as one of the twenty or so private or subscription libraries left in the US. It's right across the street from my office and I have lunch there a few times a week. <a href="https://mercantilelibrary.com/about-us/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://mercantilelibrary.com/about-us/</a> Full of very old bookcases jammed with very old musty books...I love it!

Anonymous
>>21404086

Yes! I couldn't agree more! I love that the weirdness of what was going on is left up to our imaginations. The best weird tales are the ones that can't be wrapped-up nicely and neatly in the end :D

Anonymous

In Swedish we have imported the term Indian Summer, where the stress indicates it refers to North American native Americans. To us it simply means unseasonably warm autumn weather. We also have the term Bridget Summer (brittsommar), which means unseasonably warm weather around St Bridget's Day, October seven. In everyday use the terms are interchangeable.

Anonymous

I don't know why, but this story managed to creep me out. Not because of the big reveal at the end, but the general eeriness of the situation. I can imagine going to visit a friend and his house and the place just feels odd and creepy, but you can't say anything, because after all he is your friend and you don't want to offend them or their family. Especially if you were good BOOM companions in the past :P I might also be looking at the story through my XXI century glasses, but it reads to me more than just a ghost story. Maybe some spacetime shenanigans or some other beings impersonating the friend and the lady downstairs (and she looked a bit like the friend, because the being only knew the friend's physique). Really enjoyed this one! Oh, also - in Poland Indian Summer is a color (kinda warm orange) and pertains to India, not Native American / First Nations cultures.