Beyond Midnight: The Man Who Sold His Soul (Episode Information and MP3 of the Show)

While wandering in the woods a man finds the ruins of a once magnificent house and while he stands admiring it an old Irishman appears and greets him by hailing, “Food for worms, dead and rotten.” And to follow up his less than cheery greeting he informs his startled audience of one, “If death was a thing that money could buy, the rich they would live and the poor they would die.”

His way of greeting strangers in the woods may be less than conventional, but it turns out the Irishman knows a lot about the ruined house because his grandfather worked for the former owner of the building, Sir Dominick. The old man is happy to share his knowledge and he begins by pointing out a stain on the wall, about seven or eight feet up. The stain was not caused by the weather, apparently, but is a splash of the unfortunate Sir Dominick’s brains and blood. It has been there for a hundred years and it will never leave while the wall stands.

The real story though, is how Sir Dominick lost his life. He was a heavy drinking, womanising gambler and when he inherited the estate it was not long before all the money was gone, and Sir Dominick, living under the strain of a mountain of debt, was forced to resort to desperate measures and sold his soul to the Devil. The Devil agreed to serve Sir Dominick for Seven years, after which he must serve the Devil for all eternity. The greedy Sir Dominick signed his life way—in blood—but time flies when you are having fun and you can afford to have a lot of fun when the Devil is your banker. Unfortunately, even the most hellish deal of your life can lose it’s appeal as your life grows shorter by the day.

Beyond Midnight Radio Show: The Man Who Sold His Soul

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