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Study 063 - The Tower (Patreon)

Published:
2023-10-19 18:00:03
Edited:
2023-10-25 19:31:04
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

What could go wrong on a visit to The Tower of Sacrifice? Let's all find out together as we read The Tower by Marghanita Laski! The transcribed story is available here or here.

Special thanks to our reader, Rachel Lackey of Rachel Watches Star Trek!

Here's that article on Laski from Furrowed Middlebrow.

Comments

Jennifer DeFord

Since I was a relatively early fan, my friends and I have been playing "Four Degrees of Jeff Goldblum" since I was in college in the '90s! (Important linking actors, in my experience: Dan Aykroyd, Emma Thompson, Christopher Guest) I'm delighted to see it spread! All of which serves to take my mind off how deeply uncomfortable I find this story—the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast has a good reading if anyone wants to check that out.

Ben Gilbert

I read this in the Norton Book of Ghost Stories.

TenTimesTeeth

That self-destructive impulse the protagonist experiences at the top of the tower is sometimes called "high place phenomenon," but the French have a special name for it that's particularly apropos for this story: "l'appel du vide" or "the call of the void!"

It's a Ghost.

I wonder what Neville thinks about the Dutch language.

Illegal_Structures

Excellent story and great episode, as always, boys! Glad to hear Dandillo make another appearance too 😹

Emily Reilly

As someone with an strong phobia of falling this story touched a special nerve. I have always wondered if high places phenomenon has to due with a response of the inner ear-it does feel related to vertigo. Thinking about the railing falling away… looks like I’ll be taking the stairs at work on my bum tomorrow.

KateSherrod

This was superb. Laski is an entirely new author to me. Rachel Lackey (possible distant relation by marriage? Only a few phonemes off!) did another wonderful job and gave me the shivers... at least until I realized that this whole episode was just a clever plot to generate a worthy sequel to Michael Shea/Patton Oswalt's cloaca-porn with some Fife/Lackey bat-rotica. Chef's kiss. No notes.

KateSherrod

P.S. Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms...

UltharMeow

Regarding the bat discussion, bat caresses are perfectly acceptable but I draw the line at bat nuzzling.

Jason Thompson

Amazing Jeff goldblum threesome story

Jason Thompson

There’s something terrifying about the idea of being trapped in infinite spaces. There’s a Thomas Disch story where a guy finds himself in an endless stairwell in a department store. I gather the novel “House of Leaves” involves an infinite house like this too.

Michael Cunliffe

Could it have been a British Counsel, rather than Council meeting? Would be a simple error of editing to have used the wrong word.

Jason Thompson

The passing trope of an ‘exotic’, occult language reminds me of how the movie “Hereditary” tried to get around it. First, you don’t actually hear the witchy chant that the protagonists read from the book. Second, one of the protagonists asks (IIRC) “What language is this? Are these even words?”

Eli Wennstrom

Just had to mention that The Third Ghost Book (which is next to me on the bookshelf) was edited by Lady Cynthia Asquith, author of a fun little ghost story called The Corner Shop (collected in Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories).

Doc Singles

This is a classic Faerie story. Against her own intuition she wanders into Faerie, most likely never to be seen again. Those who enter the Fey Realm are rarely seen again, and those who return are forever changed. Time flows differently in that strange place, and I can imagine that she could spend a lifetime descending those stairs before our moon even rises, thus she suffers a torment not unlike Sisyphus's. Does she descend the stairs forever, or does she eventually give in to the beckoning abyss and hurl herself into it? Would her torment then end, or would she plummet forever?

Alan Ricks

The Tower is in the very cheap Penguin Book of Ghost Stories edited by J A Cuddon.

Brittany King

Looking forward to Berenice! I recently finished The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix (highly recommended) and because I’ve listened to all the Poe episodes, I felt especially clever that I noticed all the Easter eggs!

Darth Pseudonym

You were confused about the mention of the "British Council". I did a couple of internet searches and found that the British Council is an organization founded in 1934 to improve " international cultural education and educational opportunities". It was originally meant to push back against the rise of fascist nationalist groups in europe; this was right after the Nazis had taken over Germany's government. During the Cold War it was part of the ideological conflict between East and West, and since then it's been criticized as a british propaganda engine

Steve

The Spanish and Holy Roman Empire besieged Florence in 1530 so the destruction of the village might be related to that. And in the Renaissance, the West was rediscovering classical works which had been translated into Arabic during the translation movement (C8 to C10) as part of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Steve

470 steps is about 94m, the height of the Elizabeth Tower which houses Big Ben. The Monument in the City of London, which commemorates the Great Fire of London has 311 steps and you get a certificate if you go to top (and back). It takes about 10 minutes to walk up.

William Tank

About the time you were declaring this episode off the rails, I was giggling. Thanks for the smiles.

Patrick W

One of my favorite dumb jokes. Bats hunt using sound. Bat -“Sweeeeet Caroline” Moth- Bum bum bu- Crap!”

It's a Ghost.

This story reminds me a lot of the short story “The Face” by E.F. Benson, namely because it features a wife that is drawn to something that dooms her and portraits of oldy-timey wizard guys.

Jim Cannon

As she began her descent I thought, "Oh, she's going to make it, shaken but essentially sound. More conventional and ending than I expected" but when you said "503" I could not repress a legit, aloud "Oh, shit."

Cacodaemoniacal

We are doing Berenice? My favorite Poe story! I like the slow reveal for one. It's such a compact little creature. BTW: In this holiday season, may I suggest the movie "The Raven" with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. It has little to do with the original story, but is a sweet, cheesy movie made up on the fly after a serious movie wrapped.

Ben A

Though it is not quite 470 steps (I think it's around 400), the description of the lost railing for the tower reminds me of the Malwiya Minaret in Samarra, Iraq. I've never been there, but I imagine walking up its steps without an outside railing is as harrowing (or faith-inducing) as what Caroline experiences. I also think the most terrifying element to the tale is the lack of a period at the end. It feels like the tale just floats off into infinity, or the abyss... Great choice for this week!

Beanz

So many thoughts for this one: - she is every cat who correctly thought they could climb that tree - i can't imagine surviving that descent. I forget how to go down stairs after ~2 flights - Your discussion of bats and your goth backgrounds reminded me of that "someone filmed bats upside downand it looks like a goth nightclub" video 😆

Beanz

A thought- thinking about the way doors are used in "The Spook House" makes me wonder if there's anything to take away from her passing through that doorway and back. And the bat and her bloody hands add to my mind's question mark.

Tyler

The phrase for having an urge to jump from heights is named “The call of the void”

Oleh R

Great episode! Reminds me of an experience when I was living in Washington DC. I had to descend into a red line metro station, and the escalator was broken. Escalators never break, only become stairs so I just took it down. Being winter, the steps were slick with water and salt from everyone’s boots. It was the equivalent of maybe 4-5 flights of stairs, but being confined in a narrow tube made it dizzying. I got tunnel vision, and was extremely nervous I’d slip. I’ve never been so happy to reach the end of a climb down.

The Spider Incident

I don't mind ambiguous endings in principle, but it's difficult to do it well. This story has the sort of ambiguous ending that I don't like. I'll read the number of steps she counted at the end and think "wait, I don't think that number is right. Did I miss something?" And then I go back and re-read sections looking for some hidden meaning somewhere or some detail that didn't sink in and finally realize that no, I didn't miss anything, and it just takes me entirely out of the story. Then I just get annoyed. Perhaps this is an unfair criticism brought on by my annoyance, but it leaves me feeling like the author was just trying sooooo hard to be clever or something and it didn't work at all.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

This story brought to mind something that many survivors of suicide attempts have said; that the act was impulsive - not at all planned out. I wonder if our protagonist might have been deeper in despair than she let on.

Jason of the K

I've not listened to the ep yet so maybe this was ya'lls theory, but to me this tower probably summoned up the entire town, all of whom threw themselves off the top i some sort of eldritch ritual. So our protagonist can never walk out, and I suspect if she turned around, no matter how many steps she descended, that door is still RIGHT BEHIND HER. Or maybe the tower represents being trapped in a bad marriage?

KateSherrod

Slightly off topic and lesser beings than we would say the season for this has passed but... if PBM are ever in the mood to do a cover or two, I must insist that the below be given serious consideration. Maybe in March? Soul Dracula - Hot Blood https://youtu.be/wHG0fzxwg3E?si=SFKxwwvaU8xovSVv

Strength24

Guys, I don’t know if I missed it on a previous episode if you made the connection but… You realize the Disney Legend of sleepy Hollow is narrated by… Bing Crosby, right?

Pam Winkler

This story was very reminiscent of The Magnus Archives for me, a podcast featuring horror that tends to the nightmarish.