[needed]  (CBC)

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There's more than poetic justice when a New England farmer mistakenly hires a psychotic killer out of the goodness of his heart.  (NPR)

Alfred Bane, in an effort to prove himself sane to the listener, narrates the tale of his methodical murder of a kindly old farmer.  (N25)

Old man Weatherby encounters a wandering stranger, Alfred Bane, at the well on his farm and, after giving him water and offering him a meal, accepts the stranger's offer of help with the day's chores. Weatherby, his wife having died the previous winter and his children all grown and gone, is in need of a man to help around the farm. Bane eventually stays on, having grown very fond of the old man.

Not long afterward, however, Bane finds himself becoming disturbed by Weatherby's left eye, which is pale blue with a misty flim. Whenever this eye lands on him, Bane is filled with a terrible dread such that he comes to reason that the eye is evil and that, in order to save himself from it, he must kill the old man.

Bane sets about his work, distracting Weatherby -- and, perhaps, easing his own conscience? -- during the week prior to the murder by showing him even greater kindness than before. Each night for seven nights, at precisely midnight, Bane enters the old man's chamber and allows a thin ray of light from a dark lantern to fall upon the evil eye, only to find it closed. Without the dread imposed on him by the eye, Bane finds himself unable to take Weatherby's life.

Then, on the eighth night, the old man awakens suddenly, unable to see in the total darkness. Bane  continues to push his way through the door until Weatherby's frightened cry of "Who's there?", then remains completely still. For nearly an hour he stands there, until the old man groans with terror and the realization that it is Death that has come for him. He pleads with Death that it is not the right time to take him, but Bane presses on, opening the dark lantern a fraction and releasing the thin beam of light exactly onto Weatherby's evil eye, this time wide open. As Bane's anger increases, he becomes aware of the muffled thumping of the old man's heart, growing louder and quicker, and his fury swells. In a moment of fear that a neighbor might hear Weatherby's cries of terror, Bane throws open the lantern and proceeds with the murder, smothering Weatherby under the bed's mattress, dimming the eye and silencing the disturbing tattoo of his heart.

Bane methodically dismembers the corpse, burying it beneath the floorboards of Weatherby's bedchamber. After he has finished, Bane congratulates himself on the good deed he has done for Weatherby. After all, has he not saved him from the curse of that evil eye? The evil eye that caused such disturbing ideas to enter into Bane's head unbidden and unwelcome?

But Bane's moment of satisfaction is disturbed by a ring of the bell. Two officers of the town's Night Watch have been sent to investigate a shriek heard by a neighbour and ask to see Mr. Weatherby. Bane reacts quickly, telling them that the old man has gone away for the weekend with some friends and that the shriek had come from himself, upon waking from a nightmare. The officers have been ordered to search the house, so Bane allows them in, showing them -- with growing confidence -- all of Weatherby's treasures and guiding them through every room. He even has the audacity to ask them to stay for a while, pulling up chairs and settling them down in Weathery's bedchamber, right over the old man's unholy burial spot.

As the conversation drags on, Bane starts to become anxious and wishes the officers would leave. But when the topic turns to Mr. Weatherby and Bane learns that the old man was blind in his left eye, he begins to hear the low, muffled sound of a heartbeat again. Bane tries to master his fear, but becomes agitated. The sound grows louder and quicker and Bane starts to argue with them. Finally, in a moment of fear, guilt and terror brought on my the hellish beat of the old man's heart, Bane confesses his crime to the officers. The heartbeat ceases and Bane is relieved, but the officers set about removing the planks.  (Neil Marsh)

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This is a re-make of Len Peterson's original script adaptation used on CBC Mystery Theatre, which was broadcast 11/4/1967, and produced by Esse W. Ljungh. Peterson also adapted this story for CBC Stage, which aired 5/19/1963, and was produced by J. Frank Willis, but it is not known whether this is the same script.  (Neil Marsh)

Was the CBC Stage version of Peterson's script the same as the CBC Mystery Theatre and Nightfall productions?

The NPR Quarterly Listings use the title "The Tell-Tale Heart" (as the original short story is titled). All other sources call it "The Telltale Heart".

*The LENGTH is taken from this episode's entry in the NPR Quarterly Listings.

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Content ©2006  The Nightfall-25 Project
Nightfall was created by Bill Howell and is property of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Nightfall-25 Project is not affiliated with the CBC

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