Weird Circle 7 - What Was It?

"Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again their immortal tale: What Was It?"

This episode, first broadcast on October 10, 1943, is an adaptation of a short story with the same title by Fitz James O'Brien, first published in 1859. Skimming some summaries, it looks like it's a reasonably close adaptation of the original.

In a first return to the supernatural since The House and the Brain, lodgers at a New York City boarding house encounter a haunting. Their reactions range from incredulity to faith, and their methods of finding out more about it range from a séance to systematic observation.

The haunting turns out to be both more mundane and more fantastic than any of them imagined - but they struggle to spread their knowledge of it further once it has passed on.

I think the creators might have finally managed to get a crowd scene going well - despite the fact that they had five to six participants in the conversation for long periods, it was clear who was talking to whom. The action sequences had, instead, a more limited cast, keeping them focused. This is in contrast to some instances in previous episodes, where over-subscribed fights sounded like a confusion of voices. Narration by the protagonist, Dr. Hammond, provides framing to the story and drives the plot forward where dialogue wouldn't make sense.

An enjoyable adaptation to a story I'm now glad I know about.