Speaker 1: Hello, this is Robbie, creator of Ghost Wax. If you're here,
Speaker 1: you enjoy tales of mystery and the macabre, and we
Speaker 1: wanted to introduce you to a story we think that
Speaker 1: you'll enjoy. 24 years ago, the town of Cold Sparrow disappeared.
Speaker 1: Not destroyed, not abandoned, its people simply vanished. No bodies,
Speaker 1: no explanation. And after decades of investigations, rumors, and conspiracy theories...
Speaker 1: the mystery remains unsolved, until three private investigators, Mace Rhodes,
Speaker 1: Leon Oates, and Phyllis Chambers, are hired to find out
Speaker 1: what really happened. What begins as an investigation into a
Speaker 1: decades-old disappearance soon leads them through the town's buried history,
Speaker 1: strange artifacts, forgotten cults, and the terrifying legacy of something hellish.
Speaker 1: The Gentleman from Hell is a full-cast cinematic horror audio-drama
Speaker 1: about three investigators descending into a mystery where history, the supernatural,
Speaker 1: and something profoundly infernal begin to collide. Some mysteries should
Speaker 1: stay buried. Cold Sparrow is one of them. And now
Speaker 1: we present episode one of The Gentleman from Hell.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: No, they're.
Speaker 2: Not.
Speaker 4: Jen, are you... Confirmed.
Speaker 2: Decide.
Speaker 3: Tonight, on Call of the Weird.
Speaker 5: The enduring mystery of the Cold Sparrow mass disappearance of 1999.
Speaker 5: In a bizarre and chilling case that has perplexed authorities
Speaker 5: and experts for over two decades, the small country town
Speaker 5: of Cold Sparrow experienced one of the largest mass disappearances
Speaker 5: in modern history, leaving behind only unanswered questions and a
Speaker 5: lingering sense of unease. Cold Sparrow, once a quiet and
Speaker 5: unassuming town, found itself at the center of global attention
Speaker 5: 24 years ago, when every single one of its inhabitants
Speaker 5: vanished without a trace. Among them was its most conspicuous resident,
Speaker 5: billionaire Benjamin Veers, known for his eccentricities and reclusive lifestyle.
Speaker 5: The disappearance of Veers, along with the entire population, turned
Speaker 5: Cold Sparrow from a mere speck on the map to
Speaker 5: the subject of one of the most baffling mysteries the
Speaker 5: world has ever seen. Despite extensive investigations, the authorities remain
Speaker 5: as baffled today as they were on the day the
Speaker 5: town's population disappeared. Over the years, theories have ranged from
Speaker 5: cult activity to mass kidnapping, but none have brought investigators
Speaker 5: any closer to understanding what happened to.
Speaker 2: The residents of Cold Sparrow.
Speaker 6: The case, which has seen numerous leads and tips over
Speaker 6: the years, none of which have panned out, continues to
Speaker 6: be a source of speculation and intrigue.
Speaker 5: Experts in various.
Speaker 6: Fields have tried to piece together the puzzle, but the
Speaker 6: lack of evidence and the sheer implausibility of the situation
Speaker 6: have left even the most seasoned detectives and researchers at
Speaker 6: a loss. As the years have passed, the story of
Speaker 6: Cold Sparrow.
Speaker 5: Has become something of a legend, a modern-day mystery that
Speaker 5: challenges our understanding of what is possible. The disappearance of
Speaker 5: an entire town, especially one with a figure as enigmatic
Speaker 5: as Benjamin Veer's, remains a haunting reminder of the limits
Speaker 5: of our knowledge and the enduring.
Speaker 6: Power of the unknown. The false door was right where
Speaker 6: Phyllis said it would be. The vault it revealed was massive,
Speaker 6: filled with all sorts of books, cassettes, journals, even what
Speaker 6: looked like some sketchbooks. This was exactly the motherlode we
Speaker 6: were looking for. We traveled a long road to get here,
Speaker 6: to V's mansion. Between this moment And the start of
Speaker 6: the whole thing were a ton of false starts and
Speaker 6: dead ends. A weak soldier through it all. Primarily because
Speaker 6: the money was good and the story was compelling. Which,
Speaker 6: for me, is a prerequisite for taking a job. It's
Speaker 6: hard to pay attention to details when the story's a snoozer.
Speaker 6: And I was getting up in age, so I needed
Speaker 6: to keep things interesting. When I sorted through the spoils,
Speaker 6: I couldn't help but side-eye the surroundings. The place had
Speaker 6: been abandoned for a while, but not long enough to
Speaker 6: take a look of a right and proper haunted mansion.
Speaker 3: And mansion.
Speaker 6: Was an understatement for the place, which is more on
Speaker 6: the order of a castle than anything else. Yet even
Speaker 6: though the aesthetic wasn't sufficiently morose to compel a belief
Speaker 6: in ghosts, there was something to the sprawl of the interior.
Speaker 6: Behind it, maybe. That despite its size, it was keeping
Speaker 6: a secret even bigger than itself. For the first time
Speaker 6: in a string of Blue Mondays, I was about to
Speaker 6: know something of the mind of the guy I'd gone
Speaker 6: through so much trouble to find. I sifted through stacks
Speaker 6: of media looking for something suitable for a proper introduction.
Speaker 6: It took me a bit, but at least some of
Speaker 6: the stuff was dated. I eventually came to a journal mart,
Speaker 6: a brand new chapter. According to the date, it should
Speaker 6: have been written around the same time Ben inherited his
Speaker 6: father's wealth, which was a blind spot I was looking
Speaker 6: to clear up, so perfect place to start. Diary Entry 1.
Speaker 6: The first of any consequence. Despite embracing risks and leveraging
Speaker 6: what I believed to be my talents, my achievements were
Speaker 6: no greater than those of someone who had spent 35
Speaker 6: years idly lying down.
Speaker 7: The only distinction between such a person and me was
Speaker 7: my persistent illusion of hope. I was certain that with
Speaker 7: enough grit, a fleeting opportunity, or perhaps a stroke of luck,
Speaker 7: my moment would come. But it never did. I was
Speaker 7: a writer without a single published work, a man whose
Speaker 7: name faded from memory before it could ever matter. In
Speaker 7: the end, I was nothing more than static, the white
Speaker 7: noise of flesh, blood, and bone. Thirty years of life,
Speaker 7: and my efforts barely caused a ripple, followed by the
Speaker 7: still waters of a sea I never truly dared to cross.
Speaker 7: The letter had lingered on my counter for some time,
Speaker 7: forgotten in a haze of neglect. I usually tossed my
Speaker 7: mail without a second glance. No news was good news,
Speaker 7: even if it meant erasing the news altogether. This letter, though,
Speaker 7: caught my eye. It came from Charlie Prist, Esquire, which
Speaker 7: almost guaranteed it was a bill. But what finally pushed
Speaker 7: me to open it was the handwritten address, a personal
Speaker 7: touch that hinted at either a crafty or cash-strapped lawyer.
Speaker 7: The letter read, Dear Benjamin, I hope this letter finds
Speaker 7: you well. I'm writing to share some important and unexpected
Speaker 7: news regarding your family, which I understand may be difficult
Speaker 7: to receive. Regrettably, your father, Edward, has recently passed away.
Speaker 7: Time often brings changes we cannot foresee, and in the
Speaker 7: wake of his passing, I must inform you that he
Speaker 7: has named you the sole beneficiary of his estate, which
Speaker 7: includes a considerable fortune. Given the estrangement in your relationship,
Speaker 7: I realize this news may stir a range of emotions.
Speaker 7: You may need time to process not only his death,
Speaker 7: but also this sudden change in your circumstances. It's my
Speaker 7: hope that this inheritance might serve as an opportunity to
Speaker 7: reconnect with a part of your father's legacy and offer
Speaker 7: a chance for reflection or healing. As the executor of
Speaker 7: his will, I'm here to guide you through the legal
Speaker 7: process at a pace that feels right for you. If
Speaker 7: you'd like to discuss the details, we can arrange a
Speaker 7: meeting or a phone call, whichever suits you best. Take
Speaker 7: all the time you need, and know that I'm here
Speaker 7: to support you however I can. Sincerely, Charlie Prist.
Speaker 3: Hello, sir.
Speaker 6: Can I help you? Yes.
Speaker 7: My name is Benjamin Viers. I called earlier.
Speaker 2: Yes, of course.
Speaker 6: Please head right through that door.
Speaker 1: Mr.
Speaker 7: Prist is waiting for you. Thank you very much.
Speaker 6: Mr.
Speaker 8: Prist?
Speaker 7: I'm Benjamin Viers. We spoke on the phone.
Speaker 6: Well, hello, Benjamin.
Speaker 2: Benjamin?
Speaker 7: Please, come right in and take a seat, won't you?
Speaker 7: Thank you very much. Please, call me Charlie. You know,
Speaker 7: I hope you don't mind me saying, but you look
Speaker 7: just like your father, right down to the stubble and spectacles.
Speaker 7: I don't mind at all, because I can't say if
Speaker 7: that's a good or bad observation. You see, I didn't
Speaker 7: really know the man, to be quite honest.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 7: To be equally honest, I didn't even know the old
Speaker 7: so-and-so had a son, so we're even. So, what are
Speaker 7: the formalities in a situation like this? Just some signatures,
Speaker 7: here and there. Well, that seems easy enough. There are
Speaker 7: a few things, though. Just stipulations that are odd, but
Speaker 7: by no means troublesome.
Speaker 2: Considering.
Speaker 7: Considering?
Speaker 2: Considering.
Speaker 7: After this, you're damn near the richest man in the county,
Speaker 7: if not the state. Your father was a bit of a, uh, eccentric,
Speaker 7: I guess. He wanted to make sure you stayed in
Speaker 7: the house. You know, lived where he lived. He insisted
Speaker 7: upon it in several places throughout the will. Well, there's
Speaker 7: no problems there. I fully intend on moving into the house.
Speaker 2: Oh, well, that's easy enough then.
Speaker 7: I just thought, well, with the accent and all, I
Speaker 7: left England some time ago. I, um, came here for
Speaker 7: my schooling. Well, there you have it, then. The only
Speaker 7: other thing was that you listened to, um, in private,
Speaker 7: an audio tape that your father left for you. I
Speaker 7: take it that's not customary to the traditional process. Not really,
Speaker 7: but I've heard stranger requests. Anyway, I readied a room
Speaker 7: for you shortly after you phoned, so once we're all
Speaker 7: done with crossing T's and dotting I's, I'll get you
Speaker 7: right in there. That sounds fine. Well then, let's get
Speaker 7: down to business. After you turn the player on, you
Speaker 7: can have a seat right over there on the couch.
Speaker 7: I'll be in my office when you finish. Would you
Speaker 7: like a drink or anything while you listen? No, no,
Speaker 7: that's very kind of you, but would you mind terribly
Speaker 7: if I smoked while I listened?
Speaker 3: Not at all, sir.
Speaker 7: Smoking myself. That's why all the fire detectives have expired batteries.
Speaker 6: Hmm.
Speaker 7: Well, I'll see you shortly then. Yes, sir. It didn't
Speaker 7: take long for the lawyer to start cozying up to me,
Speaker 7: no doubt hoping I'd secure his services as my father had.
Speaker 7: But to be quite honest, I was as ignorant of
Speaker 7: legal formalities as I was of opulence. But I suppose
Speaker 7: I'd learn my way about both in time. There was
Speaker 7: an ominous quality to the moment, waiting to hear my
Speaker 7: father's voice for the first time. I didn't want to
Speaker 7: make a moment out of it, so I simply pushed
Speaker 7: play on the machine and took my seat upon the sofa,
Speaker 7: cigarette in hand.
Speaker 2: My son. You have every right to your apathy and
Speaker 2: or dislike of me. And the fortune I am bequeathing
Speaker 2: to you. All, no doubt, have been well earned. You
Speaker 2: should be aware that, while you know nothing of me,
Speaker 2: I have been watching you. I am aware of your trials.
Speaker 2: It has pained me to leave you to them. Unfortified
Speaker 2: by the good fortune I have known my entire life.
Speaker 2: But I believe wealth is no healthy means by which
Speaker 2: to come into the world. I speak from experience, certainly.
Speaker 2: No good has come from my fortune. Only the cloistered
Speaker 2: obsessions of the idle rich. The doldrums of a will unchallenged.
Speaker 2: But you, my boy... You have vision, and the will
Speaker 2: to see it done. And now you have the means.
Speaker 2: There are no more limitations, Benjamin, save this. You must
Speaker 2: stay in the house for at least one year. There
Speaker 2: are secrets you must learn, so that, in time, you
Speaker 2: will understand.
Speaker 7: As I listened to the voice of my dead father,
Speaker 7: I began to feel strange, mildly dizzy. And there was
Speaker 7: something else, too, in the background of the recording. A murmuring,
Speaker 7: even a chanting, barely perceptible. I assumed it to be
Speaker 7: an artifact of vintage technology.
Speaker 2: But, on this point, we share an experience... A clinical
Speaker 2: desire to understand it all, if only to dispel the
Speaker 2: dread of not knowing. Your most recent manuscript, beneath it all,
Speaker 2: a search for answers, reads as if a page torn
Speaker 2: from my very mind. Though, after inspecting it, I can
Speaker 2: see that your mind is by far the keener between us. Still,
Speaker 2: I can see that my obsessions have become you as well.
Speaker 2: But perhaps, unlike myself, you will acquire some peace with
Speaker 2: them by satisfying them once and for all. This... my
Speaker 2: lost son, is my gift to you, the possibility of
Speaker 2: final clarity. I wish you well on the rest of
Speaker 2: your journey, for if you are listening to this, mine
Speaker 2: has at last come to an end. Farewell, Benjamin. Perhaps
Speaker 2: we will meet again in a world more welcoming than
Speaker 2: this one.
Speaker 7: The first time I'd ever heard my father's voice... And
Speaker 7: all he really had to say to me was, goodbye.
Speaker 4: You gonna keep me in suspense, or you gonna tell
Speaker 4: me what you found?
Speaker 6: About a metric ton of Ben's personal journals, all sorts
Speaker 6: of cassettes and whatnot. Just what Phyllis said they'd be.
Speaker 6: Going through all this stuff's gonna take forever. How's the
Speaker 6: city look?
Speaker 4: You know, you've seen one ghost town, you've seen them all. Though,
Speaker 4: the place does look pretty good for being abandoned as
Speaker 4: long as it has. By the way, I found the
Speaker 4: spot where the FBI set up shop while they collected evidence.
Speaker 4: Probably been gone through by every thrill-seeker and legend-tripper within
Speaker 4: a hundred miles of here. I doubt there's anything left
Speaker 4: to find.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but it does need to check. You never know.
Speaker 6: Not like someone couldn't drop evidence on their way out
Speaker 6: of a crime scene.
Speaker 2: Jesus, Mace. Am I ever going to hear the end
Speaker 2: of that?
Speaker 4: And I wonder who it was that caught Laszlo.
Speaker 2: You or me?
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. I never doubted your business acumen for a second. Anyway,
Speaker 6: I'm going to head out and set up the generator.
Speaker 6: Keep an eye out for Phyllis. I told her to
Speaker 6: meet us at the mansion, but the city's set up
Speaker 6: like a maze. I might have even had to consult
Speaker 6: the map a few times myself to find the place.
Speaker 2: Well, she is a psychic, so I'm thinking she'll manage.
Speaker 9: Come on, pick up. Pick up.
Speaker 8: Hello, you've reached Leon Oates of Apex Intelligence Solutions. I'm
Speaker 8: currently unavailable, but please leave a callback number and a
Speaker 8: brief message and I'll be sure to return your call.
Speaker 8: Thank you.
Speaker 7: It's me, Phyllis.
Speaker 9: I must have turned down the wrong road. I can't
Speaker 9: be more than a few minutes away from you two.
Speaker 9: I'm just outside of Cold Sparrow, somewhere in the Pitch
Speaker 9: Pot Woods. Call me back as soon as you get this.
Speaker 9: I don't care if I quit. If I'm going to
Speaker 9: be lost in the woods, I'm at least going to
Speaker 9: have a cigarette. Hurry up, boys. Call me back, won't you?
Speaker 9: What the.
Speaker 6: Is.
Speaker 2: someone.
Speaker 7: out there?
Speaker 2: Jesus! Jesus! Hey, Phyllis.
Speaker 8: Called you as soon as I got the message. Reception
Speaker 8: is garbage out here.
Speaker 9: So I'm realizing that, and once you turn on to
Speaker 9: Pitchpoint Drive, there's no online maps of these other roads. Thus,
Speaker 9: I'm afraid I have no idea where I am.
Speaker 8: Don't sweat it, Phil. I'll find you soon enough. And
Speaker 8: is that a cig I hear you puffing on? I
Speaker 8: thought you'd quit.
Speaker 9: I'm very particular about how I choose to quit things. Now, please,
Speaker 9: just hurry up and come get me, won't you?
Speaker 2: Sure thing.
Speaker 1: I'll be there in a.
Speaker 8: Leon?
Speaker 9: Damn lousy service.
Speaker 2: Phyllis, my dear.
Speaker 9: I have a feeling you're not going to enjoy this one.
Speaker 6: Come on, you.
Speaker 3: That should do it. Hello, water and power.
Speaker 4: Phyllis got herself lost in the woods. Apparently he zigged
Speaker 4: when she should have zagged.
Speaker 2: Headed out to bring her in now.
Speaker 6: So much for being psychic. I got the journey up
Speaker 6: and running, so I'll be inside when you get back.
Speaker 2: Sure thing.
Speaker 4: Be back in just a few.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 6: The three of us have worked a lot of cases together,
Speaker 6: but nothing like this one. You generally don't see an
Speaker 6: entire ton of people go missing. Not since the lost
Speaker 6: colony of Roanoke, at any rate. Anyway, we were only
Speaker 6: being paid to hunt for the one guy. The rich one.
Speaker 6: Ben Viers. And after the snippet I'd read from one
Speaker 6: of his hidden journals, it was about time I heard
Speaker 6: the guy's actual voice. The mini-cassettes were no particular order,
Speaker 6: so I just swiped the first one that caught my eye.
Speaker 6: It was titled... Existential obsessive.
Speaker 7: Loneliness is the inordinate sum of absences one experiences as
Speaker 7: an outlier. The loss of faith, trust, camaraderie, or even truth.
Speaker 7: I am alone because I cannot make peace with my
Speaker 7: own ignorance. The ignorance that all of us must reckon
Speaker 7: and eventually yield to. I have not, because I cannot.
Speaker 7: My stubbornness is inscribed upon my very genes, or so
Speaker 7: current science would have us all believe. Disorder, they say.
Speaker 7: My need to know more than anyone could, or probably should,
Speaker 7: for that matter. One medicine after the next, and still
Speaker 7: that yawning vacancy. I must know.
Speaker 2: Why? Where do we come from? Why are we even here?
Speaker 2: Where will we go when the sun ceases to rise?
Speaker 2: Is there a heaven? Or, God forbid, a hell?
Speaker 7: The Gentleman from Hell is a Maltopia production. Today's episode
Speaker 7: was written by Mark Anzalone and performed by Stephen Zivick,
Speaker 7: Sam Stark, Aubrey Akers, and Mark Anzalone. Sound editing was
Speaker 7: completed by Stephen Anzalone and script editing was conducted by
Speaker 7: Walker Kornfeld. Be sure to rate and review us on iTunes, Spotify,
Speaker 7: or your favorite podcast platform. And follow us on Facebook, Instagram,
Speaker 7: and Twitter at Meltopia. If you want unique art and
Speaker 7: animations of Meltopia's stories, visit our YouTube page at or
Speaker 7: click on the link in the show notes. And for
Speaker 7: more exclusive content such as additional lore, stories, and
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