WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>Unsolved mysteries. Out of deference to people who may still

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<v Speaker 1>be living. Character names in some of these true unsolved

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<v Speaker 1>mysteries have been changed. Make mad the guilty, and appalled

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<v Speaker 1>the free, confound the ignorant, and amaze, indeed, the very faculties.

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<v Speaker 2>Of eyes and ears.

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<v Speaker 1>This quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet could well have been written

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<v Speaker 1>about tonight's unsolved mystery, the Mystery of the Chinaman's Cells.

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<v Speaker 3>P M.

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<v Speaker 1>The scene is a wide flung plantation bungalow high up

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<v Speaker 1>on the slopes of Monarchaia in Hawaii. Far below the

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<v Speaker 1>rolling slopes.

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<v Speaker 2>The blue Pacific sparkles through.

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<v Speaker 1>The green of the palm trees above. The volcano tints

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<v Speaker 1>the cloudless sky in the reflected red from the crater

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<v Speaker 1>hale Momo Haley's House of Everlasting Fire. On the line

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<v Speaker 1>of the bungalow, facing the tennis courts, the guests are

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<v Speaker 1>sitting watching the play. Their host, Jim Ferguson, turns to

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<v Speaker 1>face them as their laughter dives down.

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<v Speaker 4>Oh, you fellows don't believe in hanted houses.

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<v Speaker 1>Well I don't, Jim, I believe that there's an explanation

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<v Speaker 1>for everything. Well, isn't a ghosts an explanation for a

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<v Speaker 1>haunted house.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, you have a champion, Jim. Are you really serious, Betty?

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, I'm serious to see both Jim and I have

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<v Speaker 1>reason to believe in ghosts and haunted houses, haven't we, Jim, not.

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<v Speaker 4>Only reason to believe in them, but reason to thank

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<v Speaker 4>them or him or it, depending upon on how one

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<v Speaker 4>feels inclined to refer to a goot. Well, why have

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<v Speaker 4>we never heard of this before?

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<v Speaker 5>Betty?

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<v Speaker 1>Been keeping secrets from your school day?

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<v Speaker 2>Joms?

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<v Speaker 4>Have you?

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<v Speaker 3>Well?

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<v Speaker 4>I never mentioned it in the company because I don't

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<v Speaker 4>like to remind Jim of it, and I avoid the

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<v Speaker 4>subject because I don't like to have Betty thinking too

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<v Speaker 4>much about it. You see some of our Japanese help

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<v Speaker 4>and the hulldoo for them to realize that their boss

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<v Speaker 4>is a believer in the same sort of thing. Stupid reasoning,

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<v Speaker 4>isn't it, But it seems to work that way.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, don't go into a lengthy talk on keeping up appearances.

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<v Speaker 2>Just the sidetrack air inquiries about this haunted house.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, but it isn't a haunted house.

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<v Speaker 4>Well, what is it?

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<v Speaker 1>Then? I suppose i'd better tell them.

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<v Speaker 2>You might as well, since you've managed to get yourself

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<v Speaker 2>in as deeply as you have.

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<v Speaker 4>Well, when I first came out to the islands, things

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<v Speaker 4>were a good bit different. No electric lights in the

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<v Speaker 4>plantation houses, no automobiles. Everyone rode horseback, and going visiting

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<v Speaker 4>was an adventure. I was auditor at one of the

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<v Speaker 4>bigger plantations and Betty was teaching school. We well, we

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<v Speaker 4>were rather fond of one another, even at that early

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<v Speaker 4>stage in the proceeding. One Monday morning I arrived down

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<v Speaker 4>at the mill to find an excited group Japanese Portuguese.

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<v Speaker 1>The bye, everybody's.

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<v Speaker 5>Now?

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<v Speaker 3>What's up?

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<v Speaker 1>What's the matter?

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<v Speaker 4>To much?

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<v Speaker 1>A pretty key are twenty touble got someone right into

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<v Speaker 1>store on stealing money.

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<v Speaker 4>The dickens, you say, he William there, Where are you going?

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<v Speaker 4>I'm the auditor. Oh hello, by mister Watkins.

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<v Speaker 2>The manager. Mister Watkins here tells me that you're the

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<v Speaker 2>only man who has access to the safe. But I'm not.

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<v Speaker 4>Mister Watkins has access to the safe.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh jare you what do you mean by implying that

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<v Speaker 1>I stole the money?

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<v Speaker 4>Didn't you imply that I stole it when you told

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<v Speaker 4>the sheriff that I was the only one who had

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<v Speaker 4>access to the safe. You got keys to the safe too,

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<v Speaker 4>but my keys are in the safe.

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<v Speaker 2>I think you better come on me, mister Jim Ferguson,

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<v Speaker 2>All right, come along, see you later, mister Watkins off

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<v Speaker 2>to jail. March's Jim Ferguson.

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<v Speaker 1>A preliminary hearing decides that he must stand trial. Time

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<v Speaker 1>drags by on leaden feet, and time is passing is

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<v Speaker 1>made less bearable by the knowledge that everyone on the

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<v Speaker 1>plantation believes Jim Ferguson guilty, everyone that is, but Betty.

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<v Speaker 1>And one night, quite late, Jim hears the clanging of

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<v Speaker 1>the after deep and hollowing of footsteps approaching down the

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<v Speaker 1>long stone flagged corridor leading to his cells. Why bet he,

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<v Speaker 1>sheriff wants to talk to you.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, yes, sheriff, young fellow. I don't know whether or

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<v Speaker 2>not you're guilly. I know he's not. Thanks, Betty, Well,

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<v Speaker 2>it's as I say, I don't know. Well, I have

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<v Speaker 2>my doubts. I want you to do something for me.

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<v Speaker 2>I'll do anything, anything at all. All right. I want

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<v Speaker 2>you to change cells. I want to put you in

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<v Speaker 2>the old cell block. It's damp and it's uncomfortable, but

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<v Speaker 2>it'll only be for one night.

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<v Speaker 1>But what's the idea please do.

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<v Speaker 2>With the sheriff oxygen all right? And one other thing.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't want you to open your mouth to I

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<v Speaker 2>don't say a word.

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<v Speaker 4>Oh I'm not likely to. There isn't anyone to talk.

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<v Speaker 2>To when I'm having some guests visit the prison in

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<v Speaker 2>a few moments. Frendy yours, And that's why I'm warning you.

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<v Speaker 2>No matter what happens, don't you say one word, I

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<v Speaker 2>won't come on. Then we gotta hurry in here. Well,

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<v Speaker 2>it is cold and damp here.

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<v Speaker 5>Goodbye, finalogy, goodbye here.

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<v Speaker 2>Come on, that's better. They will be here any moment.

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<v Speaker 1>Puzzled as to what the Sheriff has in mind, Jim

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<v Speaker 1>Ferguson stands in his cell, gripping the bars and staring

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<v Speaker 1>out into the moon flooded jail yard. Beyond behind jailed

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<v Speaker 1>wall a group of Hawaiians from their ukuleles, while the

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<v Speaker 1>Sheriff and Betty stand on the jail steps awaiting the

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<v Speaker 1>arrival of their guests.

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<v Speaker 4>Well there we are, Sheriff.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm right into the jail. It's gotta be the first

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<v Speaker 2>time for everything.

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<v Speaker 3>You know.

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<v Speaker 2>How many prisoners. We don't have much crime. We only

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<v Speaker 2>built this new block because the old one is uncomfortable,

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<v Speaker 2>not because we needed more room. How old is the

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<v Speaker 2>old block? About seventy years? It's built a block, shallava.

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<v Speaker 2>Now here's where we go through the lock? All clear?

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, all the doors open at one time.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, now step inside.

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<v Speaker 4>I thought you were coming with me with us.

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<v Speaker 1>I hate you go back with me.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, he is really quite a comfortable jail jails. Go

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<v Speaker 2>now we go through this way the old cell.

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<v Speaker 1>Block or anyone in there now, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Jim Ferguson, go in and see him. There he is

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<v Speaker 2>in that cell next to the Chinaman's cell. Chinaman's cell. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>it's haunted.

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<v Speaker 4>Who ever heard of a cell being haunted?

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<v Speaker 2>This one is what's fun?

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<v Speaker 1>Haunted seal, What a rubbish.

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<v Speaker 4>I'm surprised that you, shriff, believing in that stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>Perhaps no one yet has been able to stay a

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<v Speaker 2>night in it. Imagination? Your imagination.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeare you to go in?

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, there you too, and let you take me to

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<v Speaker 2>the downstairs to day.

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<v Speaker 1>If you do, that's a bargain.

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<v Speaker 4>All right, Eruff open her up.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not afraid of your ghosts.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm warning it.

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<v Speaker 4>Rot open up.

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<v Speaker 1>Watkin steps into the Chinaman's cell. The guests turn and leave.

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<v Speaker 1>The moon sinks until only a slender beam of ghostly

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<v Speaker 1>light shines over the empty jail yard. In a moment,

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<v Speaker 1>that too is gone. Blackness, walls, cell bars, passageway all

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<v Speaker 1>merge into one black, yawning void which was there. Watkins

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<v Speaker 1>starts and peers into the darkness. A light, a bluish

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<v Speaker 1>phosphorescent light, moving slowly across the front of the cell.

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<v Speaker 1>A lantern, yes, a lantern carried by a yellowed, wrinkled hand.

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<v Speaker 1>But there's nothing else, no arm, no body, only a hand,

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<v Speaker 1>a hand that lays the lantern down. Twisted, gnarled, crooked fingers,

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<v Speaker 1>yellow fingers, ghostly fingers, reaching out out.

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<v Speaker 4>Let me out, Let me out, Thank God, let me alone,

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<v Speaker 4>help leve me out.

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<v Speaker 2>It's coming closer, twisting, groping, let me out, let me out.

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<v Speaker 2>I'll confess I did it, I took the money. I'll

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<v Speaker 2>admit anything. Only let me out, let me out, let

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<v Speaker 2>me out.

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<v Speaker 1>In just a moment, you will hear a solution to

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<v Speaker 1>the mystery of the Chinaman's cell.

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<v Speaker 6>At one time time.

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<v Speaker 5>Prisms at, say, ladies and gentlemen.

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<v Speaker 1>Inasmuch as any solution must have necessity, be supposition. Liberties

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<v Speaker 1>of time, place, and character exist in the solution for

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<v Speaker 1>which you've been waiting. We returned to the Lanai before

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<v Speaker 1>Jim Ferguson's house, where the guests await an explanation that

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<v Speaker 1>certainly wasn't experience.

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<v Speaker 2>You see, the sheriff didn't really believe Jim guilty, not

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<v Speaker 2>after I told him that Watkins had been paying attention

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<v Speaker 2>to me, and Betty.

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<v Speaker 4>Was certain that Watkins took the money to get me

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<v Speaker 4>sent to jail and out of the way.

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<v Speaker 1>But the chinaman's cell, I don't understand it.

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<v Speaker 4>The sheriff told us that a chinaman guilty of murder

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<v Speaker 4>and waiting execution hanged himself in that cell.

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<v Speaker 2>What of it?

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<v Speaker 4>Well, anytime the sheriff wanted to get a confession, he

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<v Speaker 4>placed his suspect in that cell, and before long they

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<v Speaker 4>were shrieking to get out. Oh so yours wasn't the

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<v Speaker 4>only experience, Oh.

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<v Speaker 2>By no means all?

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<v Speaker 4>In all, the sheriff has obtained over seventy confessions that way.

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<v Speaker 4>Even if the person put into the cell doesn't know

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<v Speaker 4>about the chinaman's suicide, it makes no difference, apparently. Oh,

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<v Speaker 4>but there must be a logical explanation let me read

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<v Speaker 4>you extracts from the papers of the Society for Psychical Research,

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<v Speaker 4>Volume fifteen, page sixty four. While inquirers believe that the

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<v Speaker 4>appearances are due to the agency of spirits of the dead,

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<v Speaker 4>they usually suppose the method to be a telepathic impact

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<v Speaker 4>on the mind of the living by some automatic projection

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<v Speaker 4>from a consciousness which has its center elsewhere.

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<v Speaker 2>I end the quotation.

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<v Speaker 4>But here's an interesting remark in the Encyclopedia Britannica. The

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<v Speaker 4>cases abundantly offered in the proceedings of the Society for

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<v Speaker 4>Psychical Research suggest that certain localities, more than others, are

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<v Speaker 4>centers of permanent possibilities of being hallucinated in a manner

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<v Speaker 4>more or less uniform. So by Joe, even science admits

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<v Speaker 4>the so called ghosts. Yes, and even if science didn't,

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<v Speaker 4>I do. I saw it working on Watkins, and that's

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<v Speaker 4>all the proof I need.

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<v Speaker 6>The co f fan compare

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<v Speaker 3>A po