True crimes

I just finished reading a collection criminal cases titled The Pinkerton Case Book, by Alan Hynd. Hynd was apparently given significant access to the archive of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, the book is a paean to the efficacy of the agency in fighting crime. Missing from the book's foreword and cases are anything to do with the union busting for which the agency is most notorious.

It seems like this book is indicative of one historically popular subgenre of True Crime - ones where the investigators are the heroes, and were able to catch the criminal. The more common subgenre I hear about recently is is more critical of past investigations, or attempts to conduct its own investigation - for example the podcast Serial, or the TV documentary The Jinx. A forbearer of these would be Erle Stanley Gardner's Argosy column, The Court of Last Resort (dramatized in the TV show of the same name), which tried to re-investigate for people who were convicted of a crime and have exhausted their chances at appeal.

It's interesting to look Gardner's Perry Mason, the character and TV series, from this perspective. While the district attorneys and police detectives in the series (whether or not they are the iconic Hamilton Burger and Lt. Arthur Tragg) are shown as ultimately motivated by a sense of justice (more-so than in the novels that I have read so far), they are also repeatedly shown to target the wrong person, in a way that would convince a jury of their peers. It makes you wonder how many people in this fictional universe have been imprisoned and even executed wrongfully, because they didn't happen to have a Perry Mason at their side. 

Apocalypse City - an urban variation on Apocalypse World

I've wanted to play and/or run Apocalypse World for a very long time. There were several challenges, however. First, it's not really a game made for one-shots, which is my usual way of experimenting with new systems. Then, there were the Special Moves/Sex Moves which gave me pause. Finally, I found the implied setting difficult to relate to. I've engaged with some of the related media, but something about it just didn't click. I especially couldn't get my head around what the Psychic Maelstrom meant.

Thankfully, several things changed for me. First, Vincent Baker, the co-creator of the system, shared how he ran the game in convention one-shot slots. That gave me some confidence that such an experiment will go better than my attempt at Sorcerer. Second, I kind of understood the purpose of the Sex Moves - to express how having sex can change relationships between people, and this is an attempt to express mechanically how any given playbook's character relates to this kind of intimacy - and also took to heart that it's possible to simply not engage with that subsystem, especially in a one-shot. Finally, I watched cult classic The Warriors. The striking starting premise, the almost absurd theming of the various gangs, and the repeated intervention by the mysterious radio announcer providing a kind of Greek chorus to the events, all in the decrepit landscape of 1980s New York, came together into a premise I thought I could work with. So I took the time to read the rulebook through, spent a few years regaining my courage, and finally, last Wednesday, set up a successful one-shot, although one that has given me a lot of food for thought about how to run the next one better. I will probably go into the details further when I've run it a few more times, but I do want to explain the basic concept now.

The implied setting of AW is a wasteland with a few points of interest. The wasteland is arid, sometimes diseased or mutated. There's some kind of weirdness at the edge of thought and also at the geographical border that is mystical and/or psionic.

In Apocalypse City, I replaced these with the wreckage of a City, a barely concealed stand-in for New York City, specifically how it looked in some media: The Warriors, especially, as well as Streets of Fire, and Escape from New York. I feel like in quite a few films in the 1970s and '80s, cities like New York and Los Angeles were presented not just as victims of an economic downturn and white flight, but as downright post-apocalyptic. The Warriors in their namesake film walk around a ruined urban landscape sparsely populated by gangs. Remnants of the past are shown, and sometimes used, like public buildings, the subways, etc, but will clearly never be rebuilt as they once where. Street of Fire provides a similar perspective. Escape from New York is supposedly futuristic (for the time - 1997 is in the past for us, of course), but the issues and characters who appear in this Big Apple are very much creatures of the 1980s. The Terminator's LA also bears these themes, even if we ignore the more literal apocalypse of the future that the protagonists are trying to avert.

As for replacing the Maelstrom: the radio DJ in The Warriors knows too much, and puts everyone on edge. The idea of spooky radio appeals to me, especially since I've sampled old-time radio dramas teeming with horror and mystery - see, for example, my October 2022 project centering on The Weird Circle. It felt like a much more approachable weirdness than the Psychic Maelstrom. Spooky television could also be a good fit, especially as presented in Stay Tuned. My rationale was that the people who fled to the suburbs, and to whom media in the 70s and 80s often catered, effectively left the City entirely behind, and the radio and television broadcasts they generate are so surreal and disconnected from urban reality that they might as well be some kind of Psychic Maelstrom from beyond.

Of course, this change in setting would suggest some mechanical adjustments. So far I have not gone as far as to actually hack the game - I simply avoided playbooks that are not a good fit for this different type of weirdness, and made sure to have a starting situation and list of potential threats that were in line with this theme. But if it continues to work well, I might have no choice but to either change some playbooks or downright replace them with my own, and possibly add some more mechanical differences. I am also wondering whether I will manage to garner enough interest for a fully-fledge campaign, where AW is really supposed to shine. Regardless, I am happy to finally be back to running games, and putting some of my role-playing ideas to practice.

Weird Circle 31 - Wuthering Heights

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: Wuthering Heights."

This episode, first broadcast on March 26, 1944, is an adaptation of Emily Brontë's famous novel of the same name, first published in 1847. The adaptation took great liberties with the original, condensing the significant elements of the plot involving Heathcliff and Catherine, and framing it as a gothic tragedy with supernatural elements. Heathcliff's treatment is undersold, so he seems far more of an outright villain. On the whole, though, it was a very compelling adaptation, and makes me want to finally go ahead and read this classic, and see if I can find the horror elements that have been extracted here.

And so ends my spooky project for October 2022. It has been a very different experience than last year's. I'm not sure if The Weird Circle was the best choice of series for this project, but it did introduce me to a variety of authors and their works, and it was interesting to see a breadth of quality, and to try and think of how this speaks to radio as a medium. I might have a bigger summary post later in the week.

Weird Circle 30 - The Strange Judgment

"Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Strange Judgment."

This episode, first broadcast on March 19, 1944, might be an original - although as I was looking for its origin, I found that a previous episode, The 4:15 Express, was actually based on a short story with the same name by Amelia B. Edwards, which can be found in this collection with other authors on Project Gutenberg, or in this scan of Monsieur Maurice and Other Tales, which is where the story was first published in 1873 on the Internet Archive. I should have consulted resources like this more often.

Back to today's story: our protagonist is isolated at the top of a hill overlooking his former home village, barred from speaking to anyone. The tale is of why: of his success at fishing sardines, at him and his wife welcoming a child, and that child's promise and frustration, culminating in a horrifying conclusion which led him to this penance. Moving, although sometimes inexplicable.

Weird Circle 29 - The Spectre of Tappington

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll bell, so that all may know we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Spectre of Tappington."

This episode, first broadcast on March 12, 1944, is an adaptation of the short story with the same name in the collection The Ingoldsby Legends, penned by Richard Harris Barnham under the pen-name "Thomas Ingoldsby", and first published in 1840. The adaptation spreads aspects of the third-person narration of the original more evenly among the active characters while reducing their overall number somewhat, making it much more lively for radio, but the legend of the Spectre, the romance, and the mystery of the stolen pants, as well as its conclusion, remain.

Weird Circle 28 - The Murder of the Little Pig

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll bell, so that all may know we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "We are met in this cave by the restless sea to reveal the horror in Man's mind. Listen to The Weird Circle!" "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Murder of the Little Pig."

This episode, first broadcast on March 5, 1944, is an adaptation of a story starring M. Lecoq, a character created by French author Émile Gaboriau. I was not able to find out where the original was published.

The story is compelling detective story, starting with the crime all but solved, except for some lingering suspicions by our protagonist, Lecoq, who by wit and guile manages to dig down into the truth. Still, a mystery lingers.

A fun story well executed, although a bit didactic at parts. The inspiration for Sherlock Holmes is quite apparent, although this might be the result of a post-Holmes adaptation.

Weird Circle 27 - The Feast of Redgauntlet

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll bell, so that all may know we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Feast of Redgauntlet."

This episode, first broadcast on February 27, 1944, is an adaptation of the Steenie Steenson story from Letter XI - Same to the Same, in Redgauntlet, by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1824. The adaptation is pretty much one-to-one, with the Scots replaced with English in a Scottish accent, presumably to make it more accessible to the American listeners.

Being composed as or adapted from a folktale, it makes a great transition to radio.

Weird Circle 26 - Frankenstein

"Listen to the waves, listen to the bells, listen to The Weird Circle!" "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: Frankenstein.".

This episode, first broadcast on February 20, 1944, is an adaptation of the famous novel with the same name, by Mary Shelley, first published in 1818 (although the 1831 revision was more widely published and read). The adaptation cuts a lot of the framing to leave us with an abridged narrative of Victor Frankenstein, his creation of the monster, his rejection of it, his escape, its pursuit, and the tragic end of their relationship.

Thankfully bereft of a lot of aspects made almost canon by the famous Universal adaptation from 1931, both the action and the characterization are very good, and it seems like the gist was preserved despite the short length.

Weird Circle 25 - The Heart of Ethan Brand

"Who are the outstanding writers of weird and uncanny stories?" "Poe, de Maupassant, Bulwer-Lytton, Wilkie Collins!" "Where can I hear these stories?" "Listen to The Weird Circle!" "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Heart of Ethan Brand.".

This episode, first broadcast on February 13, 1944, is an adaptation of the short story Ethan Brand,  by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1852. The adaptation is very loose, reducing the cast of characters (the absence of the Wandering Jew was not felt), and following closely after the eponymous Brand as he leaves honest living to manipulate the people around him through their weaknesses, in his search for the unpardonable sin. His dialogues with his eviler inner voice and with his victims push the plot forward very effectively.

I don't know that I can say more without spoiling the experience - I would recommend listening to this one yourselves. A solid character study well done in radio.

Weird Circle 24 - The Niche of Doom

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll the bell, so that all may know we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Niche of Doom.".

This episode, first broadcast on February 5, 1944, is an adaptation of La Grande Bretèche by Honoré de Balzac, first published in 1831. The adaptation decides to dispense with the frame story of the doctor curious about the abandoned manor - instead we are at the end of the action, with the narrator continuing the theme of the previous episode by complaining about an incessant noise, in this case a tapping, before taking us with narration to the start of what she has gone through. A woman married too young to a very old husband, a judge, she is easy prey to the affections of the young, pushy neighbor. Faith perverts truth, and tragedy results.

Weird Circle 23 - The Tell-Tale Heart

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll the bell, that all may know we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Tell-Tale Heart.".

This episode, first broadcast on January 30, 1944, is an adaptation of the short story with the same name by Edgar Alan Poe, first published in 1843. Like the original, the adaptation centers on the narrator who does the horrible deed, but to his narration is added a choir of internal voices goading him on. Outside of his mind, the old man is made explicitly into his uncle, and another character, a long-winded friend and neighbor, is added, both to provide commentary early on, and to be the one bringing in the police towards the end.

Weird Circle 22 - A Terrible Night

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll the bell, that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: A Terrible Night.".

This episode, first broadcast on January 23, 1944, is an adaptation of the short story with the same name by Fitz-James O'Brien, first published in 1856. (This is a link to a reading, as I was unable to find the text online. Another reading with more background as part of a podcast can be found here) As in many previous episodes, we start towards the end - the protagonist, Charles Costa. is on trial, and is asked to tell his story in his own words, which leads us to the bulk of the plot. This is different from the original, that started mid-action. This action is in the woods - in the original, Upstate New York, in the adaptation, even farther north, in Canada. Costa and his brother in law are on a hunting trip. They get lost, and find shelter, but can they trust their taciturn host? Throughout there is a sense of dread as we wonder what the crime is until we reach the deeply tragic ending.

The original was very short and had little characterization beyond impressions from the protagonist and some bravado from his there future and here brother-in-law, Dick Linton. Bertha, there the fiancée and here the wife, and the host, Joel, are given more to say. The small amount of active characters made this easy listening, despite the backwards and sometimes outlandish statements ("that's the way writers are - so sure of themselves"). There is a real sense of the isolation and danger in the woods, and then at the cabin.

Weird Circle 21 - The 4:15 Express

"An ill wind blows away the present and returns Man's mind to the horror of a world gone by... listen to The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The 4:15 Express.".

This episode, first broadcast on January 17, 1944, might be an original - although it is very similar to Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Lady Vanishes, from 1938. An investigator boards a train, trying to keep a light veneer over his very important mission, and wondering what to think of the story of the ghost that haunts his compartment, 42A, and whether it has anything to do with the man he saw there, and who very quickly disappeared on him.

The limitations of the medium for a story such as this are clear here: it is very important to know who is speaking where during tense scenes of action and suspense involving multiple characters, but the voice actors are not sufficiently distinguishable, leading to some confusion at critical moments. The brevity of the show, meanwhile, makes the revelations a bit too bunched together for comfort.

Weird Circle 20 - The Lifted Veil

"By what token can man live after death?" "By his works! Poe, de Maupassant, Balzac - these great writers of horror stories live on! Listen to The Weird Circle." "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Lifted Veil.".

This episode, first broadcast on January 9, 1944, is an adaptation of the novella of the same name by George Eliot (ironic, considering the maleness of the introduction), first published in 1879. The adaptation starts with a narration by the articulator of the ending section of the introduction. It cut down on the characters and sped up the pacing, which results in a crowding of weird issues - the protagonist's premonitions and his doctor friend's life-giving serum. To that was added a police matter to tie the whole thing together.

Weird Circle 19 - The Murders in the Rue Morgue

"Incredible! Unvelievable!" "Yes, truth is often incredible, but you must believe! Listen to The Weird Circle!" "Out of the past, phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

This episode, first broadcast on January 2, 1944, is an adaptation of the short story with the same name by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1841. The adaptation cuts right to the detective (a term that did not exist when the original story came out), Dupin, stating to a bemused audience that the murderer will arrive at his apartment shortly. His narration of the case becomes a lot of dialogue between the active participants in the story - and the conclusion is arrived at chronologically. Unlike the original, we are not really presented with a clear logical path to it.

Weird Circle 18 - Jane Eyre

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out the past stories strange and weird." (abrupt cut) "Phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: Jane Eyre."

This episode, first broadcast on December 26, 1943, is an adaptation of the Thornfield Hall section of the novel with the same name by Charlotte Brontë, first published in 1847. The adaptation retains Jane as the viewpoint character and narrator, while cutting down on characters and subplots, and making the ending much more explicitly painful to all involved. This particular recording has a significant amount of background noise, which occasionally made it hard for me to follow what was going on (especially during a melée).

The outro again integrates a credit to the United States Armed Services Radio and Television service.

Weird Circle 17 - The Hand

"The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call from out the past stories strange and weird." (abrupt cut) "Phantoms of a world gone be speak again the immortal tale: The Hand."

This episode, first broadcast on December 19, 1943, is an adaptation of a story with the same title by Guy de Maupassant, first published in 1883. The adaptation took the basic premise of the original story - an English peer on a long sojourn to France, deathly afraid of a severed human hand - removed ambiguity, the framing story, and its narrator, and added more characters to interact with Sir John Rowell, including a daughter, a family friend turned suitor to same (also the new narrator), and a neighboring doctor. The original was somewhat unsatisfactory, but this one ties things together much too cleanly for my taste.

The outro again integrates a credit to the United States Armed Services Television and Radio, not heard since Episode 4.

Weird Circle 16 - Expectations of an Heir

"Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: Expectations of an Heir."

This episode, first broadcast on December 12, 1943, is an adaptation of an essay, The Lingering Expectation of an Heir by Samuel Johnson, first published in 1750. The adaptation took the minor element of the original narrator's resentment of his aunts longevity and turned that into the emotional center of the story, adding romance, crime, and punishment.

A lot of narration takes us into the mind of the protagonist, and otherwise there are very few characters around for the minor bits of dialogue. Repetition seems to be used as an expression of evil or emotional extreme, reminding me of their The Horla.

Weird Circle 15 - The Great Plague

(New voice, now with some reverb) "The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle!" (Bell tolling) (Old voice) "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: The Great Plague."

This episode, first broadcast on December 5, 1943, is an adaptation of A Tale of the Great Plague by Thomas Hood, first published in 1840. To the original was added a sympathetic protagonist - a poor transient pulled into a monstrous crime through the company he keeps - who drives some of the transitions with his monologues, while the Great Plague of London itself as background is not properly established until later. A bit of humor mixed with the gruesomeness of the planned deeds makes for an entertaining twenty minutes of radio.

Weird Circle 14 - Dr. Manette's Manuscript

(New voice) "The Weird Circle. In this cave by the restless sea we are met to call out of the past stories strange and weird. Bell-keeper - toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle!" (Bell tolling) (Old voice) "Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again their immortal tale: Dr. Manette's Manuscript."

This episode, first broadcast on November 28, 1943, is a very loose adaptation of incidents from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, first published in 1859. The original was a wide-ranging condemnation of both the French aristocracy and the horrors of the Revolution. This is merely a tale of violence and comeuppance, focusing on the ills resulting from the privileges of the ancien regime.

In this story we are promised a happy end from the start, which reduces the tension dramatically. The repeated abductions, the cruelty, and the wild chase don't make up for it. There just isn't a sense of stakes. Can't say that the added framing by a much goofier voice actor helped much, either. Another one to skip.