Pseudopod 300: The Step

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 300: The Step

by E.F. Benson

“The Step” was originally published in 1925 and later collected in MORE SPOOK STORIES (1930)

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and member of a distinguished and eccentric family. After attending Marlborough and King’s College, Cambridge where he studied classics and archaeology, he worked at the British School of Archaeology in Athens. One of our greatest humorists, he achieved great success at an early age with his first novel, DODO (1893). He was a prolific author writing over a hundred books: serious novels, ghost stories, plays and biographies. But he is best remembered for his MAPP & LUCIA comedies written between 1920 and 1939 and other comic novels such as PAYING GUESTS and MRS. AMES. He became mayor of Rye, the Sussex town that provided the model for his fictional Tilling, from 1934 to 1937.

Benson was also known as a writer of (mainly grisly, though occasionally humorous) ghost stories, which frequently appear in collections. Not as scholarly as M.R. James, Benson captures life in a rapidly modernizing Edwardian age, but one still prey to spirits and monsters. H. P. Lovecraft spoke highly of Benson’s works in his SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE most notably of his story “The Man Who Went Too Far.” A critical essay on Benson’s ghost stories appears in S.T. Joshi’s book THE EVOLUTION OF THE WEIRD TALE (2004).

Your reader this week is the Frank Key who was last heard here reading Pseudopod 261: Widdershins. You really should give his community radio show Hooting Yard On The Air a listen!


“”Nice night, let’s walk,” said John. “Nothing like a walk when there’s liquid on board. Clears the brain for you and I must have a final powwow tonight, if you’re off to-morrow. There are some bits of things still to go through.”

Bill acquiesced. The cafes were all dosed, there was nothing very promising.

“Night life here ain’t a patch on Cairo,” he observed. “Everyone seems to go to bed here just about when we begin to get going. Not but what I haven’t enjoyed my stay with you. Capital good fellows at your dub and brandy to match.”

He stopped and ruefully scanned the quiet and emptiness of the street .

“Not a soul anywhere,” he said. “Shutters up, all gone to bed. Nothing for it but a powwow, I guess.”

They walked on in silence for a while. Then behind them, firm and distinct to John’s ears, there sprang up the sound of the footsteps, for which now he knew that he waited and listened. He wheeled round.

“What’s up?” asked Bill.

“Curious thing,” said John. “Night after night now, though not every night, when I walk home, 1 hear a step following me. 1 heard it then.”

Bill gave a vinous giggle.

“No such luck for me,” he said. “I like to hear a step following me about one of a morning. Something agreeable may come of it. Wish I could hear it. “

They walked on, and again, clearer than before, John heard what was inaudible to the other. He told himself, as he often did now, that it was an echo. But it was odd that the echo only repeated the footfalls of one of them. As he recognized this, he felt for the first time, when he was fully awake, some sudden chill of fear. It was as if a cold hand closed for a moment on his heart, just pressing it softly, almost tenderly. But they were now close to his own gate, and presently it clanged behind them.”


Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[Bdoomed]

Also...
300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300! 300!

[Pirvonen]

Is this perhaps the origin of this trope? I seem to recall having met the final scene in less well-crafted, less thoroughly fleshed story somewhere.

Edit: Not the origin. I now have confirmed that the trope is extant in at least Chinese and Japanese folklore of more ancient times.

[scarcrow]

A huge congratulations on breaking 300 episodes!  And what an epic story to be presented as well!

I've been quite curious as to what would make the cut for the 300th episode.  An olde story, narrated by someone with a voice that (as far as my western ears could tell) held the perfect accent to go along with the dialect of the time, it blew my mind.  Here's to you, PseudoPod, in the hopes of celebrating another 300 episodes!






Cheers!

[yaksox]

Congratz on the 300.

And a great story to hit it with. Yes, interesting to note at the top of this page that it was from 1925. Maybe it was mentioned at the start of the podcast but I missed it. While listening I was sometimes thinking it sounded old school, but then there were phrases or whatever that made me think it was more current but written by someone who was emulating an older narrative style.

Overall very nice. Nice kink in the end. But the bit I really loved hearing described was how his "brain was brooding about something" while he slept. Mine does that too! It's a strange, beautiful and now I see not entirely uncommon thing. It's as if I awake and find my brain slowly turning over some small remark someone made, or some puzzle-like piece of life, trying to grok it, if you will.

[John_in_Calgary]

I liked the story, as it is a classic.
The ending was a clearly a trope but it also seemed out of left field. Not suggested at all in the build up.

I wasn't here for the first 50 pseudopod stories, but I have been a follower since I found it. I hope we have enough offerings to see escape pod it 1000... or 2000.

[Scattercat]

I've never quite understood why the blank-face thing is scary.  It shows up a lot, and it's usually supposed to be shocking and terrifying, but I dunno.  I don't find it frightening at all.

Overall, the story was good.  I enjoyed it.  I don't quite get the no-face thing or why it's there - I was figuring based on the constant emphasis on how it was one step at a time he heard that it would be the monk's lone, abandoned sandal that was mentioned in the throwaway flashback, haunting him reproachfully - but it was a good old-fashioned inevitable-comeuppance tale.  Laid it on a little thick betimes, but not so badly that I wasn't able to empathize with the guy.  Solidly enjoyable.

[DKT]

Listened to this story this morning in the dark on the way to work. That line about inviting the spirit inside for a drink was awesome. Fantastic episode, and a great way to bring in 300! It was great to hear Frank again.

One of the things I've always loved about Pseudopod, but which Shawn seems to have pushed even more, is the incredible amount of variety in the horror genre. And not just the new stuff, but all these great old stories I'd never heard of before.

So Happy 300, Pseudopod! Thanks so much to Shawn, Al, and Graeme for all the hard work. And I'm raising a glass (er, coffee mug) to Mur and Ben as well!

[Sgarre1]

Thanks everyone for the positive comments - I was wondering how this would go over.

A little background.  Obviously, I wanted something special for 300 and, honestly, my original intention was Ray Bradbury.  I would have loved to do "The October Game" - not only is it a great story and fits the season but it has, hands down, one of the best last lines of a horror story ever, and I especially wanted to hear Ben reading that line!  Alas, it was not to be as Don Congden Associates made it very apparent to me in their reply that they do not support the idea of Creative Commons (so, double whammy as there goes Richard Matheson as well, unless I somehow run into the man somewhere and can summon up a good line of patter instead of just groveling like a fool).

So, I started to weigh various classics of an older vintage.  In truth, I need to do some serious re-reading before I can nail down our specific/eventual A. Blackwood and A. Machen stories (both "The Willows" and "The White People", respectively, are excellent stories but both a little too long).  There are other irons in the fire there as well, but Benson seemed like a given, as he would make a nice contrast with our recent M.R. James.  I looked over my notes and considered a few possibilities like "The Cat" and "The Room In The Tower".  "Where No Bird Sings" (http://www.strangeark.com/cryptofiction/and-no-bird-sings.html) was a strong contender until I decided the expositional explanation was a bit too clunky.  It was very nearly going to be "The Horror Horn" (http://moonlightstories.magick7.com/1/0648.htm) read by Alasdair - which is a cracking good monster story - but I decided I wanted something a little more supernatural.  I'm happy it entertained.  More to come!

[eytanz]

I'm about halfway through the story so far, and enjoying it. But I feel rather deceived, as when I saw the title, I was expecting a story about a staircase, or maybe a doorway.

[Scattercat]

I'm about halfway through the story so far, and enjoying it. But I feel rather deceived, as when I saw the title, I was expecting a story about a staircase, or maybe a doorway.

That was the week before.  ;-)

[eytanz]

Yeah, but there was no step in that doorway.

[Unblinking]

I enjoy a good bit of classic fiction from time to time.  Well done.  Though I was expecting a stairway from the title, not footsteps.  Good stuff!  And congrats on 300!

I've never quite understood why the blank-face thing is scary.  It shows up a lot, and it's usually supposed to be shocking and terrifying, but I dunno.  I don't find it frightening at all.

Two ideas:
1.  This is from an older, less jaded, less oversaturated horror audience, so things that were scary then may not be to a modern perspective.
2.  I think that the blank-faced thing is scary to most people because it's an uncanny valley in the human perception.  When a person turns around who has heretofore appeared to be normal from other angles, turns around and it turns out they are not human, just mostly-human.  Also, with the eyes being the metaphorical windows to the soul, no eyes can be scary.  And so much of our brains are wired specifically into recognizing human faces, something without a face messes with what our psychology is expecting to see.  Even if you've seen faceless people often enough in horror to be jaded, I think that if you saw one in real life you'd be freaked out.