1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:06,240
Speaker 1: The Valley where dead men live by Harold ward One,

2
00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,480
I have passed through the valley where dead men live.

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,960
My eyes have looked upon sights which God did not

4
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,519
intend that man should see. My life must pay the

5
00:00:18,559 --> 00:00:22,760
forfeit as a man of science. You may be interested

6
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,039
in hearing what I have to say, and I must

7
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,199
unburden myself to someone before I pass out into the

8
00:00:30,239 --> 00:00:35,200
great unknown. But five days have passed since I said

9
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:40,280
good bye to old Sourdough Jamison. It seems as many centuries.

10
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,359
Professor Palmally gave the speaker a quick glance. Did I

11
00:00:46,439 --> 00:00:49,719
understand you to say that you left Jamiesons five days ago?

12
00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,600
Are you sure about that? The man on the cot

13
00:00:54,679 --> 00:01:00,159
nodded on the twentieth of June to be exact. There

14
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:05,760
is no possibility of your being mistaken none whatever My

15
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,879
diary will prove it. I made my last entry the

16
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,239
night before I left Sourdough's place on the nineteenth. The

17
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,879
professor sat silent for a second. There is something wrong

18
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,480
with your story, Blake. The nearest route over the mountains

19
00:01:23,879 --> 00:01:28,799
from here is by way of Chickahoochee Pass, which would

20
00:01:28,799 --> 00:01:32,239
make the distance from this point to sourdough Jamieson's cabin,

21
00:01:32,719 --> 00:01:36,400
a matter of over one hundred and fifty miles. This

22
00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:40,400
is the twenty fifth of June. A well man couldn't

23
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,719
do it. It is impossible for you to have made

24
00:01:43,719 --> 00:01:47,680
it in five days in your weakened condition. Not that

25
00:01:47,799 --> 00:01:52,239
I wish to dispute your word, but the sick man

26
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:57,359
smiled Wanly, don't you see, professor, that your own statement

27
00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,000
helps to support my story. I tell you that I

28
00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,079
wandered into an undiscovered route through the mountains. You say

29
00:02:07,359 --> 00:02:10,560
that you picked me up half an hour ago, lying

30
00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:15,800
exhausted and unconscious, a few rods from your camp. That

31
00:02:16,039 --> 00:02:19,319
being the case, the entrance to the valley where dead

32
00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,159
men live on this side of the range must be

33
00:02:23,319 --> 00:02:27,080
near at hand. You'll say I'm crazy when I tell

34
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,960
you that I have seen living dead men, dead men

35
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,159
who do not know they are dead. Can you imagine it? No?

36
00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,240
Neither could I if I had not seen it myself.

37
00:02:42,319 --> 00:02:45,759
I've been through the Valley of the living dead and

38
00:02:45,879 --> 00:02:51,520
come out alive. I've seen them living dead men by

39
00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:58,400
the millions and millions, fighting, stabbing, shooting, tearing at each

40
00:02:58,439 --> 00:03:03,159
other's throats like me, maddened beasts and beasts. They are

41
00:03:03,759 --> 00:03:08,039
maddened by blood. Blood flows in the rivers in the

42
00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:12,919
valley where the dead men live. It's the rage they

43
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:16,759
were in when they died. They carry it on with

44
00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,719
them beyond the grave, and they're fighting it out in there.

45
00:03:22,879 --> 00:03:27,439
Can you hear the rumble of cannon? Listen? You think

46
00:03:27,479 --> 00:03:32,280
that it is thunder, but it's not. And those flashes

47
00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,159
that you notice just over the brow of the mountain,

48
00:03:36,639 --> 00:03:43,000
the flashes of the big guns man spirit guns. No, no,

49
00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,759
it's not lightning. I'm telling you the truth. I know

50
00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,759
that you think I'm insane. I don't blame you. He

51
00:03:53,919 --> 00:03:59,960
stopped suddenly, his nostrils dilating. Take a whiff of that breeze, professor,

52
00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:06,439
don't you smell anything? Parmally sniffed. The air from the

53
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:11,560
mountains does have a peculiar, acrid odor. It's reminiscent of

54
00:04:11,599 --> 00:04:19,399
something gunpowder, by George, That's what it is. Somebody must

55
00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,560
have fired a weapon close at hand. And yet why

56
00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,040
didn't we hear the report? The scientist gazed out the

57
00:04:28,079 --> 00:04:31,759
tent door. It was none of my party. They are

58
00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,439
all accounted for. Yet I could have sworn that there

59
00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:40,360
is not another human being within fifty miles, Blake smiled again.

60
00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,000
I merely called it to your attention, professor, so that

61
00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,199
you would give more credence to my story. It is

62
00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,680
so strange, this story of the living dead, that it

63
00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:58,399
will stretch your imagination to the utmost. I am a

64
00:04:58,519 --> 00:05:03,959
sick man. I doubt if I survived the day, you,

65
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,639
as a scientific man, may be able to discover the

66
00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,639
solution to the puzzle. Perhaps you may even be able

67
00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,120
to do something to help release those poor devils in

68
00:05:16,199 --> 00:05:19,600
there from the tie of hatred that is binding them

69
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,560
to this earth. At any rate, I would like to

70
00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,279
tell you my yarn. If you care to listen. Just

71
00:05:27,439 --> 00:05:30,199
give me another sip of that moose broth, will you?

72
00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,839
Raising the sick man's head, Professor palmily fed him a

73
00:05:35,879 --> 00:05:40,439
small quantity of the warm soup. Then he sat down

74
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:46,639
again beside the cot in an attitude of attention. Two.

75
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:49,800
You are going to put me down as the greatest

76
00:05:49,879 --> 00:05:54,680
liar since the world began, Blake said wearily. Yet every

77
00:05:54,759 --> 00:05:58,560
word that I tell you is the absolute truth. My

78
00:05:58,759 --> 00:06:02,439
mind was never clearer than at the present time. So

79
00:06:02,639 --> 00:06:05,199
don't think that what I say to you is the

80
00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:10,199
raving of a disordered brain. Either you have heard the

81
00:06:10,199 --> 00:06:14,560
theory advanced by believers in spiritualism that some people who

82
00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,160
die suddenly persist in keeping in touch with the earth,

83
00:06:18,879 --> 00:06:22,839
while others go directly to their reward. I have seen

84
00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:27,240
enough to prove, but I digress. My time is short.

85
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:32,279
Let me start at the beginning. When the war broke out,

86
00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,120
I attempted to enlist, but I was rejected on account

87
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:41,240
of my physical condition nerves. But I finally succeeded in

88
00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,199
hooking up with the Red Cross and got over. I

89
00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,319
was gassed and later got a dose of shell shock.

90
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,399
You know what that means, nerves pure and simple. It

91
00:06:54,519 --> 00:06:57,079
is needless to tell you that I suffered all of

92
00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,839
the torments of hell, so will pass up and go on.

93
00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,399
I landed in the States a physical wreck. The doctor

94
00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,680
sent me to the mountains. I am a wealthy man,

95
00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,759
but it suited my mood to travel light and alone.

96
00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,240
I wandered here and there until I finally reached this

97
00:07:17,399 --> 00:07:22,240
north country. I studied geology once, and while I didn't

98
00:07:22,279 --> 00:07:25,360
need the money, I decided to do a little prospecting.

99
00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:29,720
A week or so ago, I reached the cabin of

100
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,560
Sourdough Jamison, having canoed up the river nearly two hundred miles.

101
00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,759
I remained with the old man three days, rested up,

102
00:07:39,439 --> 00:07:43,480
then announced my intention of striking off directly into the mountains.

103
00:07:44,839 --> 00:07:48,759
Jamison tried his best to dissuade me. He claimed that

104
00:07:48,839 --> 00:07:51,839
the Indians had a legend that there was a valley

105
00:07:51,879 --> 00:07:55,160
located somewhere in the middle of the range which was

106
00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,519
the abiding place of spirits, the valley where dead men lived,

107
00:07:59,519 --> 00:08:02,920
they called it, and that nobody who entered it ever

108
00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:08,120
came back alive. I've been through it and I'm out

109
00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,079
of it. But I'm no better than a dead man.

110
00:08:11,399 --> 00:08:15,000
So the old legend holds good. But I hope when

111
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,879
I do pass out that my soul can rest in peace. God.

112
00:08:19,959 --> 00:08:22,879
I don't want to spend an eternity in that hell

113
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,759
hole back yonder. I will not bore you with the

114
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,199
details of my trip up the mountains, for I started

115
00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:35,639
early next morning in spite of Jamison's objections. That night,

116
00:08:35,759 --> 00:08:38,240
I camped half way up the side of the range.

117
00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,000
The next morning, that would be four days ago, I

118
00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,080
chanced upon a little canyon that wound in and out.

119
00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,919
Among the rocks. There were signs of gold, and I

120
00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:55,919
determined to explore it thoroughly before going further. As I continued,

121
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,639
the air grew colder. From somewhere ahead came a dull,

122
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,919
indescribable roar. I put it down to a waterfall somewhere

123
00:09:04,919 --> 00:09:09,799
in the distance. Suddenly, after a two hours tramp, I

124
00:09:09,919 --> 00:09:13,480
reached the end of the narrow pathway and found myself

125
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,639
on the edge of a steep decline, ice covered, slippery,

126
00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,399
a veritable man trap, which seemed to surround a huge,

127
00:09:22,519 --> 00:09:27,120
deep basin. The entire place was buried under the pall

128
00:09:27,159 --> 00:09:31,840
of smoke, which hid everything from view. On all sides

129
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:36,679
rose the mountains, rugged, their peaks covered with snow, offering

130
00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,799
an impassable barrier. The path by which I had entered

131
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,840
seemed to be the only means of getting in or out.

132
00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,799
Up out of the basin, there came to my ears

133
00:09:49,919 --> 00:09:54,279
a steady, rumbling boom. The air was filled with it.

134
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,720
The earth seemed to tremble under my feet at frequent intervals.

135
00:10:00,159 --> 00:10:03,840
Sometimes the noise would die out for a second, only

136
00:10:03,879 --> 00:10:08,240
to start again with renewed violence. There was nothing to

137
00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,879
be frightened at, yet I confessed that the goose pipples

138
00:10:11,919 --> 00:10:15,320
came to the surface, and I felt the icy chills

139
00:10:15,399 --> 00:10:19,559
running up and down my spine. My hair stood up

140
00:10:19,639 --> 00:10:24,240
like the quills of a porcupine. The very atmosphere seemed

141
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,799
filled with despair, with a vague something the human mind

142
00:10:28,879 --> 00:10:33,799
could not grasp. Suddenly the wind brought to my ears

143
00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:39,440
a shout. Then came a shrill, piercing, agonizing scream of

144
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:44,559
a woman, a shriek that was filled with terror and helplessness.

145
00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:50,120
Again and again it assailed my ears, shouting in answer.

146
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,559
I ran along the edge of the precipice, looking for

147
00:10:53,639 --> 00:10:56,120
the pathway that would lead me to the rescue of her,

148
00:10:56,159 --> 00:11:00,840
who called. As I ran along the narrow shelf of ice,

149
00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,960
I threw off my heavy pack and carried only my rifle.

150
00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:11,159
Then I slipped and lost my footing. My gun flew

151
00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,440
from my grip. I struggled to save myself, but without

152
00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:22,279
avail over the slippery edge, I slid down, down, down.

153
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:27,000
It seemed to me that I rolled for miles. There

154
00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:30,799
was absolutely nothing which I could grasp to stop my

155
00:11:30,919 --> 00:11:38,159
wild plunge, nothing but ice, ice, ice, cold and smooth

156
00:11:38,159 --> 00:11:43,600
as glass. Faster and faster I went, until my speed

157
00:11:43,799 --> 00:11:48,480
was that of an express train. I almost lost consciousness.

158
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:54,279
I could not think. Suddenly I struck the bottom with

159
00:11:54,360 --> 00:12:01,000
a force that knocked me senseless. Three. I was awakened

160
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,679
from my stupor by a peculiar rat tat tat that

161
00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,600
sounded like the rattle of a drum. I opened my eyes.

162
00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:13,000
The air was filled with acrid smoke. It hung over

163
00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:18,440
me like a great gray blanket. Was I dead? I

164
00:12:18,519 --> 00:12:22,120
raised myself on my elbows and looked about me. For

165
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:26,480
an instant I imagined I was back in Flanders. Then

166
00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:31,799
I remembered my fall. But where was I? The ground

167
00:12:31,919 --> 00:12:36,679
was covered with bodies, heaped up in grotesque attitudes, lying

168
00:12:36,799 --> 00:12:41,320
in odd shaped piles. It was a veritable charnel house,

169
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:52,279
a page torn from Dante's Inferno, and such bodies peculiar, transparent, crystalline.

170
00:12:52,519 --> 00:12:54,720
I could see through them as one looks through a

171
00:12:54,759 --> 00:13:02,000
heavy plate glass. Heavens, it was horrible, hideous. The blood,

172
00:13:02,639 --> 00:13:08,120
the blood everywhere. The air rang with shrieks and groans

173
00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:13,000
and laughter, wild haunting laughter that froze the marrow in

174
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:18,039
my bones. Close beside me, a machine gun was rattling,

175
00:13:18,519 --> 00:13:22,120
served by a sergeant and two privates wearing the olive drab.

176
00:13:23,639 --> 00:13:28,639
All three were of the same peculiar grayish cast of pellucidness,

177
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,639
as were the bodies lying around on all sides. Guns

178
00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:38,879
were booming, the ground rocked beneath them. Was I dreaming?

179
00:13:39,279 --> 00:13:42,200
Was I the victim of a horrible nightmare in which

180
00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,799
my subconscious mind was again living the scenes I had

181
00:13:45,879 --> 00:13:50,519
gone through across the seas. I pinched myself to make sure.

182
00:13:51,279 --> 00:13:54,840
I was at a loss for an explanation. I shook

183
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,120
like an aspen leaf. I was filled with supernatural terror.

184
00:14:00,639 --> 00:14:03,679
Then something happened that gave me a better light on

185
00:14:03,759 --> 00:14:07,639
the matter. Just at my right was a small knoll,

186
00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:13,080
scarred and pitted with machine gun nests. Through the drab,

187
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,320
smoky haze, I could see the ill fitting German uniforms

188
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,000
on the men who manned them. Across the gap which

189
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,639
separated them from me, a man was crawling, dragging himself

190
00:14:25,679 --> 00:14:30,000
along on hands and knees. He turned his head toward me.

191
00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:34,759
For an instant I recognized Howard Preston, an old friend,

192
00:14:35,519 --> 00:14:38,399
a captain of infantry, who had been killed at the

193
00:14:38,559 --> 00:14:42,559
Argonne after silencing a number of German guns which had

194
00:14:42,559 --> 00:14:47,679
stopped the American advance. Did he still live? But no?

195
00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,960
I had seen his body the day it was buried.

196
00:14:52,159 --> 00:14:57,080
Was I crazy? My head whirled. I was unable to move,

197
00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,879
so transfixed was I by what was going on around me.

198
00:15:02,519 --> 00:15:07,480
Suddenly I saw Preston leap forward. A dozen guns opened

199
00:15:07,519 --> 00:15:11,279
on him, yet they failed to stop him. I saw

200
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,720
him fire from the hip. Then he leapt among the

201
00:15:14,759 --> 00:15:18,600
Germans with the butt end of his rifle. A second

202
00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:22,759
later he hurled the weapon aside, and drawing his automatic

203
00:15:22,799 --> 00:15:27,519
from its hulster, he sprang into a second nest. The

204
00:15:27,679 --> 00:15:31,799
man seemed to bear a charmed life. The Germans swarmed

205
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:36,200
over him time after time, but after each effort he

206
00:15:36,279 --> 00:15:40,960
emerged triumphant. His clothes hung on him in tatters. He

207
00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,519
was bleeding from a dozen moons. His face was a

208
00:15:44,559 --> 00:15:48,080
red smear through which his eyes gleamed like burning coals.

209
00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:54,039
A German officer, a great, hulking blonde man, fired a

210
00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,240
pistol point blank at him. It failed to stop his rush.

211
00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:03,679
Both reached for their trench knives. They came together, locked

212
00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:08,840
in a death struggle, their weapons plying like mad. Slowly,

213
00:16:09,159 --> 00:16:12,879
the German dropped to the ground, a peculiar dazed look

214
00:16:12,919 --> 00:16:18,600
on his flat, round face. Preston turned wearily away and beckoned,

215
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,159
as if waving for his men to move forward. Then

216
00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,919
he crumbled up and fell forward across his victim's body.

217
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:33,120
Then I knew the truth, the horrible truth. The legend

218
00:16:33,159 --> 00:16:36,879
of the Indians was not fiction. This was the valley

219
00:16:36,919 --> 00:16:41,320
where dead men lived. Here, men who could not break

220
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,879
their earthly ties came back to fight on and on

221
00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:51,080
until their berserker rage had expended itself. Here they were enacting,

222
00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:56,759
over and over again the final tragedy of their lives. God,

223
00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,279
it was the most diabolical thing that a human mind

224
00:17:00,279 --> 00:17:05,240
could imagine. Think of it. All Over that vast plain,

225
00:17:05,799 --> 00:17:09,799
in the midst of that ice bound valley, similar tragedies

226
00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:16,680
were being enacted by men. Dead men, raiths were grappling here, there,

227
00:17:17,039 --> 00:17:21,519
and everywhere. The peculiar feature of it all was that

228
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,720
I seemed to be able to see each individual feet

229
00:17:24,759 --> 00:17:29,319
of valor at the same time, although they had transpired

230
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,920
over miles of territory. It was like looking at an

231
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:39,440
immense moving picture which unreeled itself before me. I can

232
00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,440
liken it to nothing better than one of the huge,

233
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,519
old fashioned panoramas that were in vogue a few years

234
00:17:46,559 --> 00:17:49,960
after the Civil War, some few of which still remain

235
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,960
in southern cities. I seemed to be floating over the

236
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,640
entire basin. The guns seemed to be real guns, shooting

237
00:17:58,759 --> 00:18:03,079
real bullets. The cannons were monsters of steel that I

238
00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,319
had seen in France. Yet I swear that several times

239
00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:12,880
I passed directly through barrages unscathed. The weapons, like the

240
00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:17,599
men who served them, were only phantoms God in heaven.

241
00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,599
It was the most horrible scene of carnage I have

242
00:18:20,759 --> 00:18:25,480
ever witnessed, more awful than the hell of France and Belgium,

243
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,559
for every detail was the result of the terrible ire

244
00:18:30,079 --> 00:18:33,240
under which the combatants labored. When they met their death,

245
00:18:35,079 --> 00:18:38,200
as fast as they had played their parts, they started

246
00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,920
in at the beginning and went through it again and again,

247
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:47,480
over and over, like automatons, held to their posts by

248
00:18:47,519 --> 00:18:52,599
a divine decree of some kind. Words fail me. It

249
00:18:52,759 --> 00:18:59,160
was so unspeakably ghastly weird, a futuristic nightmare, a bedlam

250
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:04,680
of noise and infusion, a kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria of light and color.

251
00:19:05,839 --> 00:19:11,519
Death walked everywhere. Remember, Professor, on a battlefield, the men

252
00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,519
do not die in great numbers and lie around in

253
00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:22,480
heaps hours, days, sometimes weeks pass without carnage. Even in

254
00:19:22,559 --> 00:19:25,799
the heat of conflict, only a small percentage of those

255
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:31,160
engaged meet death. Here it was different for miles. In

256
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:37,039
every direction there was death, death, death, nothing but cold,

257
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:43,279
stark death. Explain, I can't. My idea is as I

258
00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:47,200
stated before, that man must work out his own salvation,

259
00:19:48,319 --> 00:19:51,400
That those who die and the heat of anger must

260
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,799
work that hatred off before their spirits can quit this earth. God,

261
00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,920
in his infinite wisdom, did not care to inflict the

262
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,559
horror upon the entire world, So he set aside this

263
00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:06,279
barren hole as a place where dead men might sever

264
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:11,519
the ties which bind them here, and, with their passion cooled,

265
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:17,039
pass on to a better life. No, the man never

266
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:21,559
lived who could describe it, that cold, ice bound hell,

267
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:27,119
the air tingled with madness, and the look of awful

268
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,319
malignancy on the faces of those poor souls as they

269
00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:35,960
went on and on and on through the same monotonous

270
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:41,799
performance of killing and being killed. It was butchery. The

271
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:46,279
place was a slaughter house. Ah, the deeds of valor

272
00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:51,799
that I saw performed wonderful, magnificent. History will never be

273
00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:56,079
able to record the actual happenings, The cold blooded bravery

274
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:02,039
through the hazy heavens. Phantom airplane manned by ghostly pilots

275
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:07,480
dipped and maneuvered, dodging, falling to earth in tangled masses,

276
00:21:08,079 --> 00:21:14,559
often burning gigantic balloons in flames tossed across the clouds.

277
00:21:15,759 --> 00:21:19,000
Among a heap of stones, the remains of what had

278
00:21:19,079 --> 00:21:21,839
once been a tiny church located in the center of

279
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:27,079
an ancient graveyard, a sniper carried on his nefarious trade,

280
00:21:27,799 --> 00:21:30,799
his hiding place, a tomb from which the bodies had

281
00:21:30,839 --> 00:21:35,160
been hurled aside, I saw a group approach the place,

282
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,759
grim determination written on their faces. Their beloved colonel had

283
00:21:40,799 --> 00:21:44,799
been the victim of the sniper's bullets. They found him

284
00:21:44,839 --> 00:21:49,279
after a long search. A youngster he had been the

285
00:21:49,319 --> 00:21:59,200
colonel's orderly leapt upon him. A knife plunged up, down, up, down, slowly, monotonously,

286
00:22:00,079 --> 00:22:03,920
while the screams of him, into whose body it was sinking,

287
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:09,160
made the night hideous. And when he had completed his

288
00:22:09,279 --> 00:22:12,319
work on the dead thing with the glassy eyes that

289
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:17,759
gazed upward unseeingly, the youngster calmly wiped his weapon on

290
00:22:17,839 --> 00:22:22,400
the tunic of the vanquished foe. Oh the look of

291
00:22:22,559 --> 00:22:26,319
vengeance that was upon the countenances of that little group.

292
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:32,000
A shell came screaming through the heavens. They attempted to dodge,

293
00:22:32,039 --> 00:22:36,400
to cover, but too late, and so the awful drama

294
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:42,400
went on and on and on. There is no rest

295
00:22:42,519 --> 00:22:45,359
for those who dwell in the valley where dead men live.

296
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,640
Men fought with the ferocity of wild beasts. They were

297
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:57,000
blood mad, frenzied. A little detachment of Englishmen were laboring

298
00:22:57,079 --> 00:23:00,359
with automatic rifles. Just at the edge of the wood hoods.

299
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,480
In front of them was a tiny veil through which

300
00:23:04,599 --> 00:23:08,559
wound a sunken road. On the opposite side of the

301
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,880
valley was another thicket, in which were a seemingly equal

302
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,519
number of Germans. It was a duel to the death

303
00:23:16,599 --> 00:23:21,039
between the two groups. Both seemed to exhaust their ammunition

304
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,160
at the same time. By what appeared to be mutual consent,

305
00:23:25,759 --> 00:23:29,720
they left their guns and charged at each other. Meeting

306
00:23:29,759 --> 00:23:32,000
in the middle of what had once been a peaceful

307
00:23:32,079 --> 00:23:36,079
little dell. There were not over twenty men on either

308
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:43,319
side grappling. They fought hand to hand, using knives, clubs, stones,

309
00:23:43,799 --> 00:23:48,920
their revolvers, their bare hands. They were like cave dwellers,

310
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:54,680
giving no quarter and asking none At the end, there

311
00:23:54,759 --> 00:23:58,319
was no one left on either side, only a heap

312
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,359
of dead and dying. When it was all over, the

313
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:09,000
dead arose and again went through the monotonous performance. Four.

314
00:24:10,039 --> 00:24:14,240
I was hypnotized, held by a spell I could not break,

315
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,920
try as I would, I seemed unable to drag myself

316
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,440
away from the ghastly sights. I don't know how long

317
00:24:23,519 --> 00:24:27,160
I remained in the Valley of horrors. You say it

318
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:32,799
was four days. Look at my hair snow white. When

319
00:24:32,839 --> 00:24:37,880
I left Sourdough's cabin. My locks were dark. I am

320
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,240
just past thirty years of age, yet from my appearance

321
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,119
one would swear that I had passed threescore years and

322
00:24:46,319 --> 00:24:51,640
ten allotted to men. I have not slept for the

323
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:57,640
hellish panorama continued on and on and on. Only at

324
00:24:57,759 --> 00:25:01,960
night a different group of actors filled the stage. The

325
00:25:02,079 --> 00:25:05,519
darkness was hideous, with the roar of the big guns,

326
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:12,519
the screeching of shells. Signal rockets filled the air, as

327
00:25:12,559 --> 00:25:17,519
if by magic. Trenches appeared here and there, little sectors,

328
00:25:17,759 --> 00:25:20,960
each with its own melancholy drama of life and death.

329
00:25:21,839 --> 00:25:24,759
Here was a stretch of no man's land, with its

330
00:25:24,839 --> 00:25:31,000
grisly tenants. Men hung on barbed wire entanglements, their clothes

331
00:25:31,319 --> 00:25:35,599
in tatters, swaying to and fro in the breeze like

332
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:42,640
scarecrows in a farmer's field. Once I lost consciousness fainted.

333
00:25:42,759 --> 00:25:46,519
I suppose much of the time I wandered about in

334
00:25:46,599 --> 00:25:51,359
a daze. I knew not which way to turn. Dead

335
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:57,799
men living dead men everywhere. I dragged myself into a

336
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,839
tiny house that seemed to stand in the center of

337
00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:05,839
the valley. It was empty. I threw myself on the floor,

338
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,960
thinking to gain a minute's respite from the horrors around me.

339
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,920
I dropped into a deep sleep. I was awakened by

340
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,640
the sound of voices. I crouched further back in the

341
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:24,640
darkness of the corner, frightened, not daring to make a move.

342
00:26:25,839 --> 00:26:31,000
What was I frightened of? I do not know. One

343
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:35,880
need not fear specters, need he There was a sound

344
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,640
of a match being scratched, and then a candle flared up.

345
00:26:41,039 --> 00:26:44,039
By its uncertain light. I made out the figures of

346
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:49,640
two men wearing the German uniform. They groped about until

347
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,599
they found a trap door cut in the floor. Raising it,

348
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:58,480
they lowered themselves through the opening, Seized by some impulse

349
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:03,279
which Even now I am unable to explain. I determined

350
00:27:03,319 --> 00:27:08,720
to follow them. The events that transpired are inexplicable to me.

351
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,359
The only solution that I have for the puzzle is that,

352
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,440
for the time being, I was someone else, some poor

353
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,279
devil who lost his life in the attempt to avert

354
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,359
a German surprise on ver Dunn. For I swear that

355
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,319
I was propelled by some force stronger than my own will.

356
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,559
Cautiously I waited until I heard their voices trailing off

357
00:27:34,559 --> 00:27:38,680
in the distance. Then I sprang to the trap, and

358
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,440
a second later dropped through into the darkness of the cellar.

359
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,319
I stumbled about until I found the wall, Following it

360
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,559
with my hands, I came to an opening far ahead.

361
00:27:52,599 --> 00:27:55,480
In the darkness, I saw a tiny speck of light

362
00:27:55,559 --> 00:27:59,519
bobbing up and down. It was the candle carried by

363
00:27:59,519 --> 00:28:03,519
the man I was following. Without thought of the future,

364
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:09,559
I followed in their wake. On on on they went.

365
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,880
Then suddenly the passageway widened out into a huge cavern.

366
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,839
Relying on the darkness, I crept closer until I was

367
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,720
only a few yards away from them, Hiding behind a

368
00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:28,799
huge pile of boxes and barrels heaped up at one side.

369
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:34,200
I listened to their conversation. At first I was unable

370
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:38,000
to understand what they were about to do. Then, with

371
00:28:38,079 --> 00:28:42,200
a murmured shh, one of them cautiously drew aside a

372
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,079
small block of what appeared to be solid rock and

373
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,079
peeping out over my hiding place, I gazed through the

374
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:55,319
little opening into a brilliantly lighted passageway. I caught a

375
00:28:55,359 --> 00:28:59,559
glimpse of uniforms. Through the opening came scraps of conversation

376
00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:04,960
in French. The truth flashed over me. I was looking

377
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,440
into the underground defenses of their dune. The Germans had

378
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,720
tunneled up to them and were waiting only for the

379
00:29:12,839 --> 00:29:16,759
minute that the defenders were the fewest to break down

380
00:29:16,799 --> 00:29:20,319
the tiny barrier which held them back and throw their

381
00:29:20,359 --> 00:29:25,480
hordes into the very vitals of the French defense. Even

382
00:29:25,519 --> 00:29:28,359
as the thought came to me, a watcher closed the

383
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,960
opening softly, and with a muttered word to his companion,

384
00:29:32,559 --> 00:29:35,799
lighted a lander and waved it across his body like

385
00:29:35,839 --> 00:29:40,319
a signal. Torch and a signal it was for Instantly,

386
00:29:40,759 --> 00:29:45,119
a distant whistle sounded. Then lights leapt up as far

387
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,640
as the eye could see, and from the distance came

388
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,920
the tramp, tramp, tramp of marching feet. I forgot that

389
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,200
I was dealing with phantoms. The thing was too horribly real.

390
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,240
I searched about me for a weapon, for some way

391
00:30:02,319 --> 00:30:05,319
to warn the unsuspecting men on the other side of

392
00:30:05,359 --> 00:30:09,319
that frail partition. In the semi darkness to which I

393
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,480
was rapidly growing accustomed, my eyes fell upon an open box.

394
00:30:14,839 --> 00:30:18,400
It was heaped up with hand grenades. I made out

395
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:23,240
the markings of other boxes. I almost shouted for joy,

396
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,839
for the pile was a huge ammunition dump, placed there

397
00:30:28,079 --> 00:30:33,240
by the invaders in readiness for the crucial moment. Seizing

398
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,960
a grenade in either hand, I pulled the pins with

399
00:30:36,079 --> 00:30:41,119
my teeth and held them in readiness. Closer and closer

400
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:46,480
came the German hordes. The whole cavern and passageway was

401
00:30:46,559 --> 00:30:51,039
filled with them. There were thousands, it seemed. The air

402
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:55,119
was thick and heavy with the odor of their sweat. Then,

403
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,359
just as the head of the column reached me, I

404
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:02,599
hurled the bombs, not at the advancing enemy, but straight

405
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,519
into the big pile of ammunition. Though leaders heard me

406
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,400
saw me, they came at me with a rush. The

407
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:16,319
ground trembled a concussion. I felt myself being hurled through

408
00:31:16,319 --> 00:31:21,960
the air. Around me rang screams and cries of mortal agony.

409
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,160
Then came oblivion. There is nothing more that I can

410
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,759
tell you how I came here. I have no recollection.

411
00:31:31,839 --> 00:31:35,440
Evidently my mind a blank. I found some exit on

412
00:31:35,599 --> 00:31:38,680
this side of the valley. I only know that you

413
00:31:38,799 --> 00:31:44,240
found me here outside. My secret is yours. As a

414
00:31:44,279 --> 00:31:46,799
man of science, you will probably try and find the

415
00:31:46,839 --> 00:31:51,160
way into the place from which I have come. Take

416
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:56,799
my advice and stay away. Now. I am tired. Professor,

417
00:31:57,759 --> 00:32:04,799
I must rest. Five extract from the report of Professor

418
00:32:04,839 --> 00:32:11,160
Phineas Parmally A B. L. L. D. Et cetera. Mister

419
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,839
Blake passed away shortly after completing his strange narrative. The

420
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,799
members of the Parmly Scientific Expedition spent nearly a week

421
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,319
searching the vicinity in the hope of discovering the opening

422
00:32:23,599 --> 00:32:27,160
through which he came from the valley, but our efforts

423
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,279
were fruitless. I would be tempted to put his story

424
00:32:31,359 --> 00:32:35,319
of the Valley where Dead Men Live down as an

425
00:32:35,319 --> 00:32:40,279
hallucination resulting from his terrible experiences during the war, But

426
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,160
for one thing, I sent a courier by way of

427
00:32:44,359 --> 00:32:49,519
Chickahoochee Pass to interview Jamieson. The letter says that the

428
00:32:49,599 --> 00:32:53,799
date given by Blake was correct. He crossed the mountains,

429
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:59,559
as he stated, in five days. I confessed myself puzzled.

430
00:33:00,759 --> 00:33:07,599
We buried poor Blake where we found him, Rescayot in Pas,

431
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,119
the end of the valley where dead men live. By

432
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:12,960
Harald Ward