 If you all present the Mysterious Traveler. This is the Mysterious Traveler, inviting you to join me on another journey into the realm of the strange and the terrifying. I hope you will enjoy the trip, that it will thrill you a little and cheer you a little. So settle back, get a good grip on your nerves and be comfortable. If you can. Where are we going? By today we're going to venture into a world fantastic and little-known theme. A human mind. It's a story I call... Mind Over Murder. On a stretch of green lawns at the top of high cliffs looking over the Atlantic Ocean. The great Ricardo, who claims to be the world's greatest mind reader, is practicing his art. He's preparing for the Waterville Tour, he's soon to begin. Assisting him are his lovely young wife, Ellen, and the Carl Garter. That's it, Carl. Tie the handkerchief tightly over my eyes. Now are you sure I can see nothing? Nothing, whatever? You'll post if you can, Mr. Ricardo. I'll bet my month's wages on it. You're quite right, my eyes are in doctrine, but my mind is not. Ellen? Yes, Ricardo? Did you bring out the basket of books I asked you to? Yes, I have them here. All right, Carl, go take a book out of the basket, any book at all. Is it a sure thing, Mr. Ricardo? Now what? Now open it to a taste, any taste. Have you done this? Yeah. Good. Now concentrate on the book. Think about the taste and the number of the taste. Think about it now. Yes, it is coming to me. This taste is murdered by experts. And taste, you have opened it to taste 27. That's right, Mr. Ricardo. Gosh, I don't know how you do it. I just can't recall, with the eyes of my mind, I read your thoughts. Now I want to try something else. Ellen? Yes, Mr. Ricardo? Sit in the wicked chair over here on my right. Turn your back to both me and Carl. You are not going to... Please, to not argue. Do as I say. I just can't. Yesterday, my headache for hours, please. Please don't make me... It would come easier if I sit down. All right. All right. Now make your mind free of all thoughts. Like that. I want you to look with your mind into Carl. And to read there what his eyes see on the page before him. I'm sorry. I have said this too much. All right. I'll try. Now Carl. Yes, Mr. Ricardo? Take another look. Open it to the first page of the story and hum some faith on it. All right. All right. I get you. Now, Ellen, read the page that Carl is looking. I command you by the powers of the mind. Read. My head hurts so. My little gun splits. Read. I... I see something. Words, title, vision, judgment, fire, age, Jesus. Oh. Continue. Read. I can't make it out of this. I can't say anything clearly. My head. Carl, what's the correct way? Yes. Well, that's all I want to know. You can leave now. Okay, Mr. Ricardo. There's a lot of deep watering. I'd better tend to them right away. Yes. Right away. That's the intent. She's afraid of me. How do you feel, Ellen? My head hurts so. There, there, my dear. This will quick with that. And in no time you'll find the whole thing as easy as other than your nose. Ricardo, I can't. I just can't help you when you're acting. When you're telling me to try to read something in Carl's mind, I feel that my brain is going to split. You will help me, my beautiful one. You will see. Now, I'm going into the house. You may sit there and look at the ocean until your head feels better. Oh, you would have company. I see my handsome young fessage has come and gone. You must be nice to him, Ellen. He's really a very good fessage. Oh, there you are, Ricardo. I was looking for you. Oh, it's too bad your mind is one of the few I cannot tend to, but I would have known that. Was it about something special? Oh, it was just about these advanced stories to go out of the box and meditate as I am all written. Oh, yes. I'm going up to the house now, and I read them right away. Say, and keep in company, Tom. I'll see you both first. All right, Ricardo. What's the matter, darling? What's he been doing? It's nothing, Tom. I just have a little headache. They're making you work with them in his act again, hasn't it? Please, Tom. I'm all right. Alan, Alan, listen to me. You know things can't go on the way they are. You've got to leave, Ricardo. Do you hear? Leave him in the box. No, Tom. I can't. I just can't. You're the death of him, but there's no reason to be. He's just a pony. He's not a pony. He can remain mine. Sometimes he tells me that's what I've been thinking. Oh, Tom, I can see. I wish I could read it, but he won't let me. I tried and I knew something. Something terrible. No matter what you say, I'm going to get you away from Ricardo while kidnapped. He was necessary. I'll... Very kind, Dad. Oh, well, Alan. Glad to see you're feeling better, Alan. Is it Tom who put that sparkle in your eye and that brush in your teeth? I have. What not? I would not like it if I thought so. I could be very angry if my beloved had eyes for anyone but me. You haven't? Have you, Alan? No. No, of course not. For you love me, the voted lady, you're not? I love you, the voted lady. The world was willed in this world and in the next. Well, it will. In this world and the next. Well, you'll see, Tom, you'll see why I dare leave my lovely Alan alone with you. I have perfect faith in her. When we start our tour a week after next, I will be quite busy much of the time and I hope you won't mind keeping Alan from being blown away. I'm sure the trip won't bore you. I expect it to be in mode and to take it. Alan, the train's just coming in the bridge, though. Chicago's still in Medina. Are you ready? Yes, I guess so, sir. Before you know my hat and coat, I didn't pass any of them because you said not to, but... Tom, I'm fighting. Alan, you've got to get hold of yourself. Chicago's not superhuman. Sometimes I think he is, Tom. I'm positive. He knows everything we think. He's just playing with it. He seems so... so moved ever since the tour started. He seems to have been deliberately throwing us together just to see what happened. Stop worrying. In a minute, you'll be with him forever. The bus for Chicago leaving Bridgeville five minutes after we get off. Chicago, you can stay with my mother until you can get a divorce. Then you're going to marry me. I can't believe it! That's the whistle for Bridgeville. We're going to the station. Quick, get your coat. All right, Tom. I'll go with you. Here, I'll give you a hand, dear. Got it on? Hey! I got it! Yes, my dear. I was worrying about your headache, so I left my lunch to come and see how you were. I'm feeling a little better. I was going to take your walk on the platform and get some coffee. Yes, I see you have your coat out. Oh, but alas, we've only stopped for a minute. Hardly long enough for a walk. No, no, I suppose not. So, this is Bridgeville. The pretty town. I'm the main bus route to Chicago, I understand. Is it? Yes. Someday I should show you Chicago in it. You'd like that, wouldn't you? Yes. I would like that. Ricardo, stop torturing. Torturing? Ellen, while Tom was a curious idea, I would give my life for Ellen. And she, for me, wouldn't be darling. Yes. I'd give my life to you. To most people, that is an empty phrase, but Ellen means it. I will prove it to you, Tom. I'm not into it. Oh, but you are. Ellen, my love. Yes, Ricardo. Ellen. I'm taking out a valve from my box. Here, now you take a box. Yes. Ricardo. What are you up to? Point to the valve at your heart, my dear, and pull the trigger. Yes. Ricardo. Ellen, stop! Stop! No, Tom. You shall not interfere. Ellen, pull the trigger. Yes. I'll pull it. Ellen! You! Nothing happened. No, of course not. The gun was empty. But Ellen didn't know that. Did you, my darling? No. I didn't know that. So she would have died just because I asked her to. But the potion is very rare. It is the kind that lasts through all eternity as our history. But we shall always be together then, and I, while we live, and after we die, nothing will ever separate us. Nothing. Whatever. And so the great Ricardo's triumphal tour continues. Newstaper stories told of his amazing feat, and of the feasts almost as marvelous, performed at his direction by his pale and lovely wife. Twice, Tom heard Ellen to flee with him, but both times Ricardo appeared upon the scene smiling, although knowing every word that had been said. So at last Tom changed his tactics, waiting until one evening when Ricardo was in the midst of his performance concentrating on holding a great audience spellbound. And now, ladies and gentlemen, someone among you is thinking of the initial E-N Somebody please move to me. Tom listened for a moment, and he was quite sure that Ricardo's attention was fully stored. Then he left his face in the wings and slipped with the basket to knock on a door marked with a gold staff. Ellen. Oh, yes, Tom. I want to talk to you. You can be here, Tom. Never mind Ricardo. Put on your coat. My coat? His performance won't be over for half an hour. Ellen. Ellen, I've got a plan before Ricardo. Will you trust me? If he catches us, he might kill you. If there's one time he's not going to be clever enough. Just put on your coat and come along without asking any questions. But where are we, Tom? We've been driving for an hour, turning this way and that. I haven't any idea which way we've come. You're not supposed to have Ellen. Don't you see if you don't know where you are, and Ricardo can never know either, even if he can make contact with your mind from this distance. I'm not part of that. But I did. So this time I made my plans without telling you. The hills you in. Oh, what a great little place, Tom. What a lovely view over the hills. Yes, it's a funny little place I found the ad in the paper. I've engaged the room for you and one for me. We'll stay here tonight. Tomorrow Ricardo will be in Buffalo and we'll be heading in the opposite direction. Tom. There's someone standing in the shadow beside the porch. That's probably the manager waiting for us. Is that you, Mr. Adam? No, Tom. It's his eyes. It's Tom. Oh, God. Yes, my beloved. I've been waiting for you. What took you so long, Tom? How did you get here? How did you know we were coming here? Well, I found it was I who told you to bring Ellen here. That's a lie. No one knew we were coming here but myself. Did you think this was your idea on the contrary? I put the fork into your head every bit of it. That's impossible. I even suggested to you to look in the paper where you could find the advertisement for this delightful little kid. I don't believe it. Yes, Tom. Now, after painful efforts, I have succeeded in forcing my thought into your mind. And now, now I have another little matter to tell you. If you're undesired attention to my wife, Ellen isn't your wife anymore. Ricardo, she's left you for good. Ellen, is that true? No, Ricardo. I love you. Ellen, he's making you say that. Ellen, my dear, tell Tom just how you feel toward him. I've been praying with you, Tom, to amuse myself. You can very stupid not realize this. I'm not impressed by your tricks, Ricardo. Ellen is leaving here with me now. Ellen is not leaving. But you are. You see that railing behind you? Beyond it is a 50-foot drop to a rocky ledge. What of it? In a moment you are going to fall accidentally over the railing and be killed. You see, there are only the two of us. Far stronger than you. Now, I will show you a trick of oriental wrestling. Tom, look out! He's walking down the ledge. Maybe I know some trick there. Ricardo! Now how do you like this one? He's lying down there on the ledge. His body's all twisted. Yeah. I'm afraid he's dead. No. No, he isn't. He's alive. He's in pain. He's making me feel pain too. No, Ricardo! No! Stop it! Oh, the great Ricardo, mind reader extraordinary, was not dead. A week afterwards, he hovered on the borderline between life and death. And then as it's pulling himself back to life by the sheer strength of his will, he slowly won his fight. But though he lived, his fall had paralyzed his body, leaving only his mind fully alive. He lay in a hospital bed, ill-freezing, but unable to move, to speak, or even to open his eyes. So, so he's definitely going to live. He's no longer in need out of it. It's almost a miracle. I didn't think any man could survive such an injury. He wouldn't let himself die. Most of us want to live, I've discovered. I mean, he deliberately refused to die. He kept saying to himself, I will not die. I will not die. You could hear him, but he paralyzed. He can't speak. I could hear his voice in my mind. I see. Yes, he's going to live. But he'll never move, nor speak, nor see again. Yes, he knows that. I take your pardon? Ricardo knows if he'll ever recover. He wants to go home. I have to take him there. I will work after him. Helen, you can't... I have to. I'm his prisoner again. His prisoner is now. From this time on, he'll never escape. So the great Ricardo returned home. A living dead man. There in the house on the cliff, aided only by a nurse who relieved her at night, Helen cared for him. Tom stayed close by to help her in any way he could, and it is best to persuade her to turn Ricardo's care over to professional nurses. Helen, listen to me. You can't ruin your life like this just to care for a man you hate. I have to. I can't go away. He won't let me leave the house. I do. I find myself turning back about knowing what I'm doing. But Helen, you can't... I'm in his bed in that room there. Never moving. Ricardo controlled my mom. Oh, Helen, I'm sure that's just a delusion that a psychiatrist could prove it till your Ricardo was injured. Help me. But his mind isn't. It's more powerful than ever. All his faith is concentrated in him. He went for the power of his will, he died. He doesn't want to die. Finally, something. Finally what? I don't know. But he said he'd see one once again. You are living your imaginations run away from Ricardo's condition. I don't know, but he had something in his mind. Helen, you're overwrought. You need to sleep. You... Look, darling, why not take a sedatives and go to bed? In the morning, we can talk again. I have to wait until the night comes. I'll stay with him until then. I'm not going. Go on. Get to bed. All right, Tom. I do need rest. But you better wait in the room with him. I'll go now. Good night, Helen. Good night, Tom. There you are. A great blue car. A man who was better than anyone else in the world. Now you're a living dead man. I wish you were a dead one. Then why don't you kiss me? What? Why don't you go for my mouth? Can't they talk in a parallel? I can speak, boys. No, I... I don't believe it. I'm going to free her from you somehow. Do you hear, Ricardo? I think I'll stand. It makes me sorry, do you? Coming with you. I thought you could hurt Helen. I'd kill you myself. No. No, that's impossible. You can't force me to hurt Helen. That's one thing you can't do. First, I'll make sure that you die too, Richard. But I shot you. I thought I killed you. Yes, but I... I didn't. I only wanted you. I don't understand, Tony. It's Ricardo. They just seem to be gone. He is gone. He is gone. Oh, I see it all now. I thought I'd kill you. Because I thought so. Ricardo thought so too. But I was wrong. And because I was wrong, he was wrong, too. No. He's dead? Yes. I'm free of him. I'm free of him forever. Ricardo made a mistake and let himself die believing that you were already dead. Oh, yes, my darling. This time he's gone for good. Ricardo was clever. But in the end, he outwitted himself. Did you enjoy our little trip? What became of Carmen Helen? Why, Helen's wound was serious, but far from fatal. Not nearly as fatal as Ricardo's mistake. Carmen Helen are very happy now. But I wonder if they're as safe as they think they are. When you're dealing with a mind like Ricardo, can you ever be quite sure even though he is dead? I knew a man once everybody thought was dead. And he? Oh, you have to get off here. I'm sorry. But I'm sure we'll meet again. You see, I take the same train every week at this time. You've just heard the Mysterious Traveler, a series of dramas of the strange and terrifying. In today's cast were Maurice Copland, James Van Dyke, Jan Miner, Ian Martin, and Rod Hendrickson. Original music was played by Charles Paul. Mysterious Traveler is written, produced and directed by Bob Arthur and David Cogan. Listen next week to a tale titled, Dance and the Devil, another strange and terrifying tale of the Mysterious Traveler.