The Undying Monster

Hammond Hall at the turn of the century...

when the age-old mystery of the Hammond monster was at last revealed to all England.

That mystery, which although by 1900 had become a legend...

was, indeed, a real tragedy and constant threat...

to the lives of all the seemingly doomed members of the House of Hammond.

- Oh, Walton. - Oh, I beg your pardon, Miss Helga.

I didn't mean to startle you.

Oh, I must have fallen asleep.

It's cold.

Yes, it's a cold night, Miss Helga.

- I'll put on another log. - Don't bother. It's 12:00. I'm gonna turn in.

- My brother come in yet? - Not yet. He's very late.

He and Dr. Colbert probably got to puttering about the laboratory and forgot the time.

Don't worry. He'll be along directly.

I was thinking those poachers...

might be up to their tricks on a night like this.

Come on, Alex. Long past your bedtime.

Charlie Clagpool was saying down in the village...

he owed Mr. Oliver one for that thrashing he gave him last week.

What does he expect? Oliver caught him setting traps.

Come on, Alex.

Go on now, boy.

What's the matter with him?

Sometimes dogs are smarter than folks.

Oh, nonsense.

He's just smart enough to prefer sleeping by the fire to the doghouse.

Go on to bed now and behave yourself. Hurry up.

How big and bright the stars look tonight.

Aye, and there's frost on the ground too.

It was just such a night when Sir Magnus-

So that's what's worrying you. Don't be silly, Walton.

I only hope that Mr. Oliver doesn't take the shortcut back-

That path by the edge of the cliff.

Why shouldn't he?

"When stars are bright on a frosty night...

beware thy bane on the rocky lane. "

Surely you don't put any stock in that old legend?

It's only 20 years ago since your grandfather was killed.

- Grandfather killed himself. - After he'd seen it.

That's ridiculous. There's nothing to that story about a monster.

Oh, I shall never forget that night...

when I found your grandfather down there on that path by the edge of the cliff...

after he'd met it, so horribly mangled...

- and that insane look on his face. - That's absurd.

A supernatural creature going about killing and sending its victims mad.

People don't believe in that sort of thing nowadays.

I'm sorry to worry you, Miss Helga...

but I do wish Mr. Oliver were home.

All right, if it'll ease your mind, I'll ring up and see if he's left yet.

Would you please get me Southdown 236?

Hello?

Hello, Helga.

Oliver? No, he left not more than two minutes ago.

Yes. He said he was going straight home.

That's all right. Oh, I say, Helga, how about a ride in the morning?

No, that's not professional advice. It's purely social.

Fine. About 10:00?

All right, I'll see you then. Good night.

He just left. That make you feel better?

Thank you, miss.

- Good night, Walton. - Good night, miss.

- It's probably a dog caught in a trap. - That's no dog.

Something is going on down there.

Miss Hammond, it's the monster, killing Mr. Oliver, most like.

- Horrible it were, like a dog- - Get ahold of yourself, Will.

- Sounds like a lost soul. - All right, let's find out what it is.

- You're not going down there? - Tell Strudwick to bring the carriage around.

Yes, miss. Strudwick's got two bays harnessed.

Very well. We'll have the gates opened. Mrs. Walton, fetch me a coat.

Don't stand there gaping as if you'd seen a ghost.

But, Miss Helga, no Hammond ever ventures into the rocky lane on a frosty night.

You've been doing your best to persuade me my brother's ventured down there.

- And if he has- - Then I'll go with you.

- Thanks, Walton. But you better stay and mind the house. - Yes, miss.

- Tell Strudwick to bring the horses around to the front. - Yes, miss.

- And get me Oliver's revolver. - Yes, miss.

- Miss Helga, please don't go out tonight. - Don't worry, Mrs. Walton.

I'm sure there's some rational explanation for all this.

If there is anything out there tonight...

I'd like to get a crack at it, and I'm a jolly good shot.

- I'll drive them, Strudwick. Get in. - But, Miss Helga-

- Come on, Alex. Good boy, Alex. Maybe you can help.

Get in the back.

It came from along here somewhere, I'm sure.

Miss Helga, won't you please go back?

- Give me your lantern. - Yes, miss.

Let me have the lantern. I'll go ahead.

Oliver!

- Ohh! - It was only a rabbit.

Oh. Is a bit scary down here.

Oliver!

Oliver!

Oliver!

Alex!

- What is it? - Mr. Oliver's dog.

His spaniel?

- Is he dead? - Horribly.

His whole body is twisted and his hind legs have been-

- Miss Helga, now won't you go back? - Not until I find my brother.

Oliver!

He's still alive. Thank heaven.

- Help me get him to the carriage. - Yes, miss.

- What was that? - Well, I don't know, miss.

- Dr. Colbert's nurse. - Kate O'Malley.

Well, don't stand there like an owl. Go and get some brandy.

Yes, ma'am.

Hello, Helga.

How'd I get into bed?

I found you in the lane on the cliff and brought you home.

In the lane? But how did-

I don't re-

Yes, I do remember.

I was fighting the-

The beast got Kate. Is she-

She's still unconscious. We've done what we could for her.

- It must have gone for her after I fought it off. - What-

What was it, Oliver?

L- I don't know. L-

I didn't see anything.

Well, Oliver, I'm glad to see you awake and talking. That's a good sign.

- How's Kate? - Still in a coma.

- She may or may not come out of it. - But there is a chance?

Microscopic. But thanks to your quick actions, still a chance.

Well, you're a pretty good nurse, Helga.

There's nothing left for me to do but a - a little tidying up.

Hmm. Now tell me...

what happened exactly?

I don't know exactly, Jeff.

As I was leaving your house, I-

I saw a glimmer of light on the pathway leading up to the cliff...

so I went to investigate.

I thought perhaps it might be somebody setting traps-you know, the Clagpools-

but it was Kate O'Malley.

She left a few minutes before I did, you remember.

I offered to see her to the village and...

then suddenly I - I felt something coming at us from all sides at once.

We heard it.

Kate screamed and dropped the lantern.

Then I-Then it-it-it closed in on me like- like a blast from a furnace.

Only it wasn't hot, it- it was-

It was simply horrible.

Kate screamed again and... then I was fighting it.

Fighting it in-in-in a darkness that-that went all- all red.

All dark red until a-a-a splash of fire split it up and put it out.

That must have been when I - when I pitched on my head.

Then I woke in-in a light and- and saw Helga.

You poor darling.

Helga, you're next. You're the only Hammond left besides me. If I die-

Now what a minute, old chap. Who said anything about dying?

The monster's never satisfied, Jeff, unless it kills its victim or-

Now steady, Oliver. You mustn't excite yourself.

You needn't talk as though I were a scared kid or a lunatic.

I tell you there's something horrible out there.

Unless we destroy it, it'll destroy us. Both of us.

Please try to put it out of your mind now, darling, and get some sleep.

Here, drink this.

Make you feel better.

Poor darling.

It must have been a shock for you, finding him like that.

It was awful.

I can't help feeling that I'm somehow to blame about Kate, at least.

She'd been working late and I should have seen her home, I suppose.

But it's hardly a stone's throw to the village through the shortcut past your place.

Jeff, there's something beyond all this that - that frightens me.

What is it? What is this thing that's been hanging over us for years?

The village folk will insist that the Hammond monster has returned.

But... you don't believe in that superstitious rot, do you?

Usually some basis for this sort of thing.

How badly is Oliver hurt?

His wounds are deep but not serious.

Fortunately, he's got excellent recuperative powers.

- What about his mind? - It seems unaffected.

Most anybody might be liable to forget exactly what happened...

after a blow like that on the head.

Haven't you any idea what sort of a creature made the wounds?

Oliver and Kate are badly mauled.

But there's no distinctive mark to indicate exactly what attacked them.

It could have been a ferocious dog, of course.

Those poachers have a couple of huge, vicious hounds.

Look here, darling, why don't you forget about this tonight and try to get some sleep?

I'll run along. I'm sure by tomorrow the police will find out what it was.

I've done it, Bob. It works.

Really? This must be our lucky day. These tests turned out well too.

My dear boy, all London knows that you solved the Kensington murder...

with your scientific tests when everything else had failed...

but nobody's been able to do what I've done.

- And what complicated formula, Christy, have you proved? - Here, taste it.

- Oh, no, thanks. - Go on. It won't hurt you.

Oh, hello, Inspector.

- Hello. - I was about to come up and see you.

We collated the final runoff tests on those bullets.

They were all fired from the same revolver. Inspector Craig, have a piece.

- What is it? - Toffee. A new recipe.

Don't tell me that you've been using our laboratory equipment to make toffee?

- Don't mind if I do. - Don't touch it.

Mr. Curtis, you may not think much of female detectives, but really.

It's simply delicious. The best I've ever made. Your pans-

- You used that pan. - Well, why not? If making toffee isn't scientific-

But that's the pan that I used for the hydrophobia culture, and it turned out positive.

Hydrophobia- Hydro-