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Edgar Allen Poe’s classic tale, formatted for radio with a script by John Dixon Carr.
In the times of the Inquisition, a prisoner of war faces his sentence, after untold days of confinement in the dungeon. His charges involve a proposed marriage to a young lady. Does military law supersede God’s law in these troubled times?
In the darkness of his prison cell, the voice of his young lover comes to him for encouragement. John is free to explore his pitch dark environment. Will his visions lead only to getting his hopes up? Will he find his way around the dangers in the dark? Is it rats, or something worse that awaits?
Later in another cell, John finds himself on his back, and tied down, will the voices in his head continue to comfort him in his weakness? Will he survive the swarm of rats that stream over him? His inquisitors move him to his next torture. The sound of the pendulum ticks ever closer. The mental anguish of the wait might last hours, or days.
Close escapes only mean a new kind of agony awaits. Is there any hope for a rescue for John?
