Blackstone Detective - Ghost That Wasn't

The Magic Detective, starring the world's greatest magician, Blackstone. He tells you the inside story of the ghost that wasn't.

And right after the story, Blackstone will explain quicks that you yourself can perform, reveal the guarded secrets of the world's greatest living magician.

And now stand by for Blackstone, the Magic Detective.

Well, Rhoda, I thought you weren't going to get here.

Me, I'm never late.

Then you're the only girl in the world who isn't.

I'm exceptional, I am.

But your boss is late, where's he?

Sorry to be held up, but even magicians get caught in traffic gaps.

Well, it's only a couple of minutes.

A couple of minutes, you shouldn't say that.

Remember, Rhoda?

Oh, I certainly do.

Hey, this sounds like double talk. Remember what?

I guess we've never told you the story of what two minutes meant to Mortimer Weldon.

It meant a great deal to him, his life.

If it hadn't been for those two minutes, we might still believe in his grandfather's ghost.

Okay, okay.

What's the story?

Well, it all started out of the old mansion that was owned by Mortimer Weldon.

There was a funny old place with tellets and cupolas and great winding stairways.

Rhoda and I got there about nine o'clock on a dark windy day.

What do we all want to see about Blackstone?

Did he say?

No, he didn't.

But I think that Mr. Blackstone?

Yes.

Good evening.

You're Mortimer Weldon.

Want to come in.

Thank you.

Well, this is an interesting place you have here.

Mr. Weldon?

Yes.

I've always liked it.

Until recently.

I've tried to keep it just as it was in my father's time.

I've never put in electricity.

Won't you come into my study?

Certainly.

I'll go ahead if I may, with the candle.

Mr.

Blackstone, it's kind of spooky.

Won't you sit down?

It's funny you said that, Mr.

Weldon, I am sorry.

Mr. Weldon, my assistant, Rhoda Brent.

How do you do?

How do you do?

Funny I said what?

About this place being spooky.

It is, you know.

It's haunted.

Oh, wonderful.

I've always wanted to meet a ghost.

Mr. Weldon, you can't be serious.

Oh, but I am.

Oh, I know it sounds fantastic.

But, well, I want to give you the whole story, if I may.

But no one has ever shown me a haunted house or a ghost that I couldn't explain.

That's why I called you, Mr. Blackstone.

I wondered if perhaps you couldn't explain your ghost.

Well, how try.

Tell me all about it.

We've always known that the house was supposed to be haunted, especially the tower.

But none of us ever gave much thought to it.

It was just a nice family tradition until last week.

Well, what happened last week?

I was having a house party for my brother Clarence.

We started talking about the ghost.

And Clarence was there to spend the night in the tower room.

Don't tell me he saw the ghost, Mr. Weldon.

We will never know.

The next time we saw Clarence, he was dead.

Oh, what happened?

Late that night.

After all of us had been asleep for hours, I was awakened by a scream.

It has been my guess.

It seemed to come from the tower room.

Clarence was found lying in the courtyard with his neck broken.

The door to the tower room was locked from the inside.

Well, Mr. Weldon, what do you want me to do?

I want you to see if you can find an explanation for all this.

May I see the room?

I'm afraid you won't find anything there.

It's been searched again and again.

No, the less I would like to see it.

Very well.

I'll lead the way.

Well, the wall room seemed to be solid enough.

Yeah, it doesn't seem to be a secret door.

Yes, that was my first thought.

But I couldn't find a trace of one.

Well, the next thing for us to do is measure the place.

Sometimes there's a difference in measurement that will show up a secret door where tapping won't.

Oh, ten o'clock.

Is that clock right, Mr. Weldon?

Oh, yes.

It has always kept excellent times.

So many of those old Grandfather clocks do.

This is a very beautiful example.

Yes, yes, I've always been very fond of it.

Yes, it's the right time to the second, according to my watch.

Shall we go down and get a yardstick?

We want to get on with this very unpleasant business.

I've got a tape in the car.

I'll get it.

Oh, I ought to go with him.

These old corridors are tricky sometimes.

He may get lost.

Tell me, Miss Bren.

Nothing.

I'll wait here and see if the ghost will come out and talk to me.

Hello, ghost.

Hello, ghost.

Come out and talk to me.

I'd like that, like an idiot.

You know, a road in my girl, if you weren't known from coast to coast,

is the very spirit of bravery.

I'd say you were a teeny tiny, lengthy bit scared.

Oh, I keep hearing things.

The clock stopped.

And the candle's gone out.

I don't like it here.

Get away!

Roll the door.

Roll the door.

Open the door.

What's the matter?

I heard a scream.

Roll his voice.

And now the door is locked.

Why did you leave it alone?

I went out to you to see if you didn't get lost.

Open the door.

Roll the door.

Are you all right?

I'd like the candle, well done.

Roll the door.

Oh, thank heavens you's alive.

What happened, Rhoda?

Something dark and clammy.

It hit me then.

It hit me.

It dragged me to the window.

The window that my brother was thrown from.

It was the ghost that I'd swear it was.

Where were you standing, Rhoda?

When you arrived.

Over there, right near the clock.

That's funny.

According to my wife's, that clock is two minutes slow.

And yet the last time we checked it, it was exactly right.

Blackstone, just before the ghost grabbed me, the clock stopped.

I remember it.

You're sure?

Basically, I could swear to it.

Mr. Weldon, you and I have a little trip to make to the police.

Blackstone, have you lost your mind?

I'm afraid not.

The police will want to ask you a few questions about your brother's death.

But was he really guilty?

Did Weldon kill his own brother and grab Rhoda?

And was Weldon the ghost?

Yes, to all those questions.

But how did you know?

It was very simple, really.

Once Rhoda pointed away,

I knew that there had to be some exit and entrance to that room.

There had to be.

And there was only one place in that room that we hadn't fixed.

The clock?

Right.

We found later that there was a secret door built into the back of the clock.

There was only one mistake that Weldon made.

You had to take the pendulum off in order to get in and out.

And that stopped the clock.

Weldon was in too much of a hurry to reset the clock after he got through a slugging maze.

What did he slug you, Rhoda?

Well, that part of me for a little while, too.

But we finally figured that it was to bury out his story of the ghost.

The same reason, really, that he called Blackstone in.

Oh, he had heard that I had never found the ghost I couldn't explain.

And he was so confident of himself on his scheme

that he felt if I failed to discover the secret, no one could.

Lucky you know so much about it.

It stayed back, Stone.

We might never have discovered how Clarence Weldon was killed.

And so another mystery was solved by an knowledge of magic.

Well, Blackstone, you got a new trick for us today?

Yes, I have a very deafening one, but I'll have to borrow some money.

It seems to me that all of the tricks start that way when I'm around.

What do you want this time, another quarter?

No, no.

It's time we were playing with bigger money.

I need a dollar this time.

Well, there you are.

Thank you.

Where are I coming on this?

Have you seen those two bottles, Rhoda?

These?

Yes.

And those glasses?

Right.

Okay.

Just pour the contents of the bottles into the glasses.

That sounds interesting.

Let's see, didn't you do a trick with glasses one time before?

Yes, but this time we aren't using the glasses.

We're using the bottle.

That's why Rhoda's emptying.

Oh, there they are.

Now, take Don's dollar bill and set one end of it on top of a bottle.

Hold it there.

There you are.

What do I do next?

Just keep it there when I set the other bottle upside down on top of it.

Oh, I see.

You're going to trap my dollar bill right between the tops of the two bottles.

You mean he's going to try to?

It is needed to balance one bottle on top of another.

Why? It's very easy, Rhoda.

See?

Praise Donut.

And there's my dollar bill sticking out between the two bottles.

Well, is the trick over?

The trick is just a game.

What I want you to do is to remove the dollar bill from between the bottles without disturbing either one.

You expect us to leave the bottle balanced as they are?

That's right.

But that's impossible.

Well, you think it over, Rhoda, and maybe you will find a way to do it.

If you don't, I'll be back in a few minutes and explain it to you.

Well, Rhoda, how are you making out with the bottle trick?

Well, I've upset the top bottle three times already.

At least I've learned how to put it back.

Well, let's move in the right direction.

I've got the balance for you with the dollar bill between them.

Now you show me.

All right, here we go.

But first, Rhoda, how did you try to remove the dollar bill?

Well, I just grabbed the long end and tried to pull it out from between the bottles.

But the top bottle always came with it.

Yes, that was the trouble.

No, the trouble was that you didn't use the right system.

Now, watch carefully and I'll show you.

First, you take the long end of the dollar bill and draw it tightly, but carefully.

Well, I was trying to pull it from between the bottles.

That's right.

Just hold it extended with one hand.

And then what?

Raise the other hand above the dollar bill and hold the hand sideways like this.

I see.

But now what?

I'm going to drive my hand straight down with when I say three.

So you'll strike the center of the dollar bill?

Correct.

Now, watch.

One, two, and three.

But how you snap the bill right from between the bottles?

The bottles are standing exactly the way Rhoda thanks them.

The top bottle didn't even move.

And that's how the trick is done.

Just draw the dollar bill tight, hit it in the middle, and out it comes.

I hope ladies and gentlemen, you enjoy that trick.

And now, until next week, this is Blackstone Wishing You Good Magic and Goodbye.

Be with us next time when the world's greatest living magician, Blackstone, tells us the story

of the icy touch and explains more tricks that you yourself can perform.

Listen in again to Blackstone, the world's greatest living magician.

Blackstone Wishing You Good Magic and Goodbye.