The Strange Dr. Weird.
Good evening. Come in, won't you?
You seem a bit nervous.
I'm not.
I'm not.
I'm not.
You seem a bit nervous.
Perhaps the cemetery outside this house has upset you.
But there are things far worse than cemeteries.
Such things as dark, forbidding swamps,
stretching for hundreds of miles,
and inhabited by snakes and mosquitoes,
and alligators,
as in the story I want to tell you tonight.
The story I call
Death in the Everglades.
My story begins in the vast, shadowy wastes of the Florida Everglades.
A small dugout glides through the dark swamp water,
pulled along by a weather-beaten guide.
The guide's passengers, Gerald Drake and his wife Kitty,
sit nervously in the center of the dugout,
subdued by their strange and uncanny surroundings.
Gerald, how much further do we have to go?
It's been two hours now since we left the mainland.
I'll see.
Guide, how much further is it to my uncle's home?
Getting much further, get that small piece.
Gerald, are you sure your Uncle Jason has money?
Well, up until my mother died a year ago,
Uncle Jason was sending her $500 a month,
and he owns thousands of acres of valuable Florida property.
If he has money, why should he choose to live here all alone in these horrible swamps?
Because he's an eccentric.
Oh, Gerald, please let's turn back.
This horrible dark swamp with its alligators and snakes frightens me.
I have a feeling that something dreadful will happen if we don't turn back.
Don't be a fool, Kitty. We can't turn back.
We're broke, do you understand that?
Uncle Jason is our last hope. We must go on.
Why have you come here, Gerald?
Well, after all, Uncle Jason, I am.
You're only living relative, and, well, I wanted to find out how you were getting along.
Gerald worries about your living here alone in the swamps.
I'll always live here in the swamps, always.
It's quite peaceful here, and I have my friends.
Your friends?
Yes. Didn't you see them as you came here, singing in the trees, swimming in the water?
I know them all. They're my friends.
They protect me from harm like true friends do.
Yes, yes, of course. Uncle, I just...
I know why you come here. You want money.
That's why you come here, isn't it?
Well, yes. You see, Uncle Jason, we...
Get out! Get out of here!
I won't give you a cent, not a cent!
But, Uncle Jason, after all, you must remember that I'm your only...
Leave my house at once! Get out!
But we can't. The guide won't be back until four o'clock this afternoon to take us to the mainland.
Eh. Very well, then. You must stay here until he comes.
I'm going out now, and when I come back at sundown, I don't want to find either of you here.
Gerald, what are you doing?
Gerald! Trying to break a lock on this metal cash box.
Cash box?
Yes, my darling. I sure talked when Uncle Jason convinced me that he kept his money someplace in this house.
It wasn't too difficult to find his cash box.
Oh, but Charlie!
If my dear uncle won't part with his money willingly, he's going to have to part with it unwi...
My box! My cash box! What are you doing with it?
Uncle Jason!
You're home a bit early, aren't you, Uncle Jason?
You're trying to rob me. You're like all the others.
I won't let you rob me. Give me my box! Give me my...
I don't like to do this, Uncle Jason, but I must have that money, understand?
Come on, now. You'll kill me, but you'll never get away with my box!
Give me that!
My friend in the swamp! They'll see you don't...
You'll never leave this swamp! Never!
Very well, Uncle. If you insist...
Gerald! Gerald, let go of him! Let go or you'll kill him!
That's exactly what I'm doing.
You're the one who's never going to leave the swamp, Uncle.
You're going to stay here with your friends forever.
While I go back to the mainland with your money...
There!
Gerald! Gerald, you've killed him! You've killed him!
You'll send us to prison for this!
Don't be a fool.
Then once you come looking for Uncle Jason, they won't find that trace of him.
What do you mean?
I'm going to get rid of dear Uncle Jason.
Yes. Give me a hand with his body, Kitty.
We're taking Uncle Jason to his friends.
Gerald, how much further do we have to carry him?
This is far enough, darling. Just set him down here.
Here? Where the water's it?
Yeah. It's a little perfectly.
Let's drop his legs. That's it.
There we are.
Gerald, you aren't just going to leave him here, are you?
Of course, darling.
Uncle Jason's friends will look after him.
I'll take you to the
sea. See him swimming this way?
Alligators. Monster alligators.
Gerald, they're coming up out of the water.
Yes, so they are.
Look. One of them is crawling up to Uncle Jason's body.
He's going to...
Yes. Goodbye, Uncle Jason.
Our mystery will be continued in a moment.
But, Dr. Weird, if you'll come over here,
I have a mystery of my own.
The mystery is my business, young man.
All right. Here's the clue.
The number five.
Five dead men?
No, I'm afraid you're wrong, doctor.
I'm talking about the famous Adam Five,
the quality hat made up all fur-felt,
available at the thousands of Adam Hat stores
and authorized dealers all over the country
for only five dollars.
And it's far from dead.
In fact, it's the liveliest number you've ever seen, mister.
Why not step into an Adam Hat shop
and prove it to yourself?
Try on your size in a famous Adam Five.
Examine its snappy style, its lively color,
the look of distinction.
You don't have to be a master detective
to see that in quality and style,
an Adam is America's top hat.
Now, Dr. Weird.
And now I'll finish my story,
Death in the Everglades.
An hour after Uncle Jason's death,
Gerald and Kitty sat on Jason's dock
waiting for the guide to arrive.
While they waited,
Gerald tried to break open the metal cash box,
but without success.
Suddenly, they heard a shout.
Hello there!
Sorry if I kept you folks waiting.
You'd hop in the dugout,
we're bound our way back to the mainland.
We're getting dark in a few hours.
You don't want to be caught in the...
What are you staring at?
That box you got there.
That's the box your uncle keeps his money in.
I've seen it when he's given me money for provisions.
What are you doing with it?
That's my business,
and I don't have to explain it to you.
You do if you want me to take you in my dugout
to the mainland.
Perhaps this will help you change your mind about that.
A gun?
Yeah.
Now, if you value your life,
you'll have us on the mainland within two hours.
You understand?
If two hours are almost up,
why haven't we reached the mainland?
It's already dark.
It's just a small piece beyond this island we're passing.
Hey, that kitty.
In a few minutes, we'll be on the mainland.
But, Cheryl, the guide will go to the local sheriff
and tell him everything.
Don't you worry about the guide.
I'll take care of him.
That fool!
Why has he gone so close to the island?
There's a growl if he doesn't watch...
Cheryl! Cheryl, he's gone!
He's not in the boat.
Gone?
Hey, you're right.
He must have swung on an overhead branch
as we were passing the island.
Cheryl!
Cheryl, there he is!
You see, standing in that small clearing on the island.
Find your own way to the mainland, you thieving murderers!
I'll never take you there!
Oh, Cheryl, what will we do without him?
Kitty, get hold of yourself.
We're going to reach the mainland safely.
Oh, but how can we find our way?
The sun's setting.
It's already dark here in the swamp.
We may be miles from safety.
Miles of these tiny winding streams.
These horrible cypress trees growing together over our heads
so we can't see where we're going.
Stop it, Kitty!
Listen to me.
We're not in any danger, do you hear me?
I admit that we can't get out of the swamp tonight.
All we have to do is stay right here in the dugout until morning.
When it's light again...
No, no, we'll never find our way out.
Even the guides get lost in the Everglades sometimes.
Anyway, anyway, they won't let us go.
They'll stop us just like you said.
Who'll stop us?
Uncle Jason's friends.
Listen to them.
All around us.
Waiting for us.
Look there in the water.
They're coming for us.
The other kids!
Kitty, you mustn't say that!
We're going to make it, do you hear me?
And we'll be rich.
There's a fortune in this cash box.
Here, I'll open it, boy.
Then you'll see how rich we are.
Here!
It's...
It's a hard lock to break off.
Maybe I can shoot it open.
Kitty, the lock's broken.
Kitty, look!
Money!
Money?
Yeah, it's 50, 100, 150, 200...
210.
You mean there's only $210 in that box?
Yeah, but look, look.
There's a paper in the box.
It'll probably tell us where the rest of the money's hidden.
Come on, let's...
Let's see.
Ah, it's real estate deed.
20,000 acres.
Assessed value...
Assessed value...
$1,000.
No, it can't be!
Your uncle was a wealthy man.
He had money and land.
He has $210 and 20,000 acres of worthless swamp.
There must be more than this.
There's gotta be.
Stand up, Gerald.
Look around you.
20,000 acres of worthless swamp.
It's all yours, Gerald.
And we committed murder to get it.
Kitty, sit down!
Sit down!
You hear me?
He'll turn his egg out over.
At last in your vast kingdom full of snakes and alligators.
Why don't you ask one of your loyal subjects
how to get to the mainland?
Go ahead, Gerald, ask!
To leave the house!
We'll turn it all around!
Ah!
Kitty?
Kitty, are you all right?
Where are you?
There I am, hanging on the dugout.
Swim over this way.
Kitty?
Kitty, listen, church bells.
They're ringing in the village church in the mainland.
We can't be more than a few hundred yards from the mainland.
Gerald, that means we'll be able to reach the mainland.
Yeah.
All we have to do is write the dugout and...
Gerald!
Something's about to get me!
Ah!
Kitty!
Kitty, where are you?
What?
No!
No!
Too bad about poor Gerald and Kitty, isn't it?
Such a nice young couple.
It's so unlucky.
How were they to know that Uncle Jason's cash box
contained only a few hundred dollars
and the deed to some worthless swamp land?
And then to die in such a horrible way,
only a few hundred yards from safety
in the jaws of Uncle Jason's friends, the alligators?
You know, it occurs to me that perhaps Uncle Jason
buried his fortune someplace in the swamps.
Perhaps you'll be interested in going with me
to the Everglades to search for it.
Oh, you have to go now.
Too bad.
But perhaps you'll drop in on me again soon.
I'm always home.
Just look for the house on the other side of the cemetery.
The house of Dr. Weird.