Episode 446 - In Amundsen's Tent

I just found some biographical information on John Martin Leahy on the dustjacket of his novel Drome: "John Martin Leahy was born in New Castle, Washington. When he was a year old his family moved to a log-cabin in the great forest which at that time covered virtually the whole Puget Sound country. His first job was at the age of twelve years, carrying mail to a mine that was being opened up not far off in the forest primeval. Soon after he obtained his second job, water-boy for a railroad construction gang at a pay of seventy-five cents for a ten hour day. "Schools did not amount to much out in the woods, and one year in a town in which he lived in the Coos Bay country, there was no school at all. But Leahy wanted to be an illustrator and painter, and in his words, "a struggle for knowledge began that was to be long, at times wellnigh hopeless and heartbreaking. I do not even like to think of those years." "Mr. Leahy has written three science fiction novels: "Draconda" and "Drome" both of which appeared in Weird Tales, and "Zandara" published in Science and Invention. His short-story "In Amundsen's Tent" has appeared in Weird Tales, in the anthology The Sleeping and the Dead, and in Avon Fantasy Reader. His work and drawings have appeared in Recreation, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life and The Westerner."

Dan Pratt

Who did you see at the drag show?

There were also teachers named Machen and Bierce and Jackson. And of course introducing them was Father Blackwood.

They knew the alien in the tent wasn't alone because it was wearing a sweatshirt that said #3.

Sebastian Tonewo

Polar horror stories are the best. And especially in the case of those turn of the last century polar expeditions, you don't even need to add much to make them terrifying. They're already full of polar bears, starvation, scurvy, mutiny, madness and cannibalism. The result is that any fictional terror you add on has to be really awful and bizarre to even register.

Great story guys. It was scary, creepy and atmospheric without actually showing anything gory, violent or grotesque.

Steven Vincent

Actually, I'm pretty sure that's high praise.

This and the fact that the British expedition was apparently tragically unprepared for the trip itself - e.g. their stubbornness in relying on ponies instead of dogs and the fatal miscalculation of the distance between supply stacks on the way to the pole and back. There is a fantastic book about that by Roland Huntford called 'The Last Place on Earth' which is one of the best things I've read in a long time.

With apologies to Mr. French, at times I thought the readings were being done by lying Vincent Price.

A fantastic reading, wonderfully atmospheric. Regarding Scott, there's a fair likelihood that what killed the team was scurvy, leaving them far too weak to push ahead as the weather deteriorated. A diet of pemmican, biscuit and butter, with some horsemeat, fell critically short in calories and vitamins.

Granted it was 11:30 pm after coming home from a drag show.

This was the first time listening to the pod where I was literally too spooked to get out of my car when the story ended. Mr. French is too much!

What a great reader. Second only to the magical Leman himself. This story had me breaking out my old 1972 edition of The Book of Knowledge encyclopedia. Yeah, I don’t know why it’s still taking up valuable shelf space, but I’m glad I still have it. It was fun finding Amundsen in there. I LOVE polar exploration stories. Great episode guys!

That you have not launched a formalwear collection for dogs is disappointing me right now.

French was fantastic, and perfect for these old timey tales.

Tara Murphy

Loved seeing you two onscreen. I agree that you should’ve been on screen more and that since this audience have seen those episodes before MORE of the your banter and observations (that make the podcast so much fun) would make the broadcast more enjoyable for the nerds.

Donny Bliss

Interesting coincidence that Chris and Rachel will soon be viewing “Is There in Truth No Beauty” which could be considered another variation of this theme.

Edward French is brilliant! I’ve listened to lots of his recordings. I’d be very happy if you got him back on future episodes.

Neil de Carteret

I wonder if they’ve done the rest of the King in yellow tales?

Rick Hound

The AMC adaptation of The Terror is very well done and works the great: 'IS there a monster, or is one the the crew just insane?' tropes brilliantly, until revealing in gristly fashion, 'YES, there is a monster.'

If you like stories of people compelled to look at unspeakable things, definitely check out "The Visible Filth" by Nathan Ballingrud. I may have mentioned it here recently, but it fits this trope so well it deserves another citation. It was very creepy and stuck with me! <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24791985-the-visible-filth?from_search=true" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24791985-the-visible-filth?from_search=true</a>

Christine M

Had a great time with this one. One trope bothers me and I'm curious what others think: the expositional "Don't look in there!" I'd much rather the character's body language communicate exactly that. Saying it in words rather takes away from the power of the moment. Having a character look into the tent, freeze, go limp, fall outside the tent, eyes rolling, tongue lolling, body twitching, a sudden and unmistakable stench of death on their breath... Heck, that would tell me to not look in there...

I'm sure you can find examples throughout history. It seems to me this is just art responding to a sudden leap forward in scientific (or medical or even agricultural) understanding. Those often leave people suddenly wondering what happened to the ground beneath their feet. You peer into that microscope and glimpse a world with implications too terrible to fully grasp. My god - they're everywhere; they're in everything; I cannot bring myself to say it - they are in me!

I thought it was fun and scary, wasn't really bored by over-used tropes or such. Maybe like mentioned above I do think Antartica is just about perfect for a good horror story and always room for more. The story just kind of fits perfectly with The White Vault horror drama podcast I listen to, though that's in the Artic. By the way Chad, have you started watching season 2 of Sabrina? If so did you catch the name of one of the teachers at the Academy? a certain Brother Lovecraft. No word yet on what he teaches. Any guesses?

Damn, Orson Welles did a great job reading in this episode!

Watching some Raquel watches Star Trek BBC.I wished they let them go full MST3K and live voice commentary but the bubbles are cool.Some of them disappear too quickly but very funny.

What was in Amundsen’s Tent? The secret can now be revealed: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_Playing_Poker" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_Playing_Poker</a>

Darren Hennessey

Perhaps the most awesome moment in this story -- and the most Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game moment -- is when they unload all their guns into the monster to kill it and IT JUST WAKES IT UP.

Jason Thompson

No wonder Lovecraft liked this story! It's fascinating how the idea of "things alien enough to drive you insane by looking at them" was something that seems to have emerged at this particular historical period, in the works of Lovecraft and this other guy from the same generation (who, for all I know, may have been imitating Lovecraft?). Now, of course, it's almost common, take "Bird Box" for example. DID this idea exist much earlier, or did it only develop in the early 20th century? And if so, why then? There's probably a TVTropes page or something about this, but this would be an interesting topic for the Topics Show.

Jason Thompson

I've actually partied with Unicorn Men in Rio quite a few times. But we won't discuss that further.

I liked this story more than the guys did. I thought the latter part of the account, with its increasingly fragmented nature and effective short-hand use of imagery, was evocative and involving. This section reminded me more than anything of the Dan Simmons novel The Terror, with the malevolent, glimpsed form toying with the wretched, fleeing survivors. This one really worked for me.

I just love Antarctica as a setting for stories, this one was no exception! By the way, go to the German wikipedia page of Amundsen for a picture of the most ancient looking 48-year-old you'll ever see. I guess the polar climate will do that to you.

Edward French is fantastic!