The Whisperer in Darkness Page #2

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That's what I read in the papers.

Forgive me, Mr. Fort, but that's preposterous!

Compared to what?

Your explanation?

You'd have us believe

that the farmers of Vermont

can't tell a tree branch from a rock lobster!

Your point of view has only one advantage:

It keeps everyone calm.

Once a thing is explained away by"science",

it can be dismissed.

Science doesn't strive to explain things away.

Science is a method of arriving at the truth!

And while it may have its faults,

it's better than relying on newspaper accounts!

Touch, Professor.

If the Arkham Advertiser had been in

publication two hundred and forty years ago,

when the witch trials were under way,

we would no doubt have read reports

that our town was beset by

witchcraft and dealings with Satan, right?

From what I've heard of Arkham,

I'm sure we would!

And even if each and every one of us

took such newspaper accounts at face value,

and believed there were witches among us,

would that have made it true?

It seemed to people in that time

and place that witchcraft was real.

But a heritage of legend and

popular belief in a phenomenon

isn't enough to make it true, is it, Mr. Bradbury?

Cultural traditions and beliefs,

even superstitions, shape our view of the world.

But the world is what the world is,

and if we are to progress beyond witch trials

and superstition we must cultivate the discipline

to separate objective fact from myth and fancy.

The science of today is the witchcraft of yesterday.

Today's superstition is tomorrow's science.

Tell me, Mr. Fort, have you seen

one of these hill creatures yourself?

Not personally, no.

Is there any material evidence of their existence?

Has one ever been photographed or recovered?

Sent to a museum? Studied scientifically?

Scientists seek only to prove or disprove

something that they have conceived of in advance.

They may look, but they never see

anything more than they want to see.

This from a man who sees little

green men from Mars everywhere he turns!

I don't know what these

things in Vermont are, Professor.

But, unlike you, I don't

pretend to know what they're not.

I know they're not flying

crab-men from outer space!

Gentlemen...

How do you know?

Because you've "investigated"?

Have you even been to Vermont?

Well, actually, no.

Then how can you claim to know what they're not?

Well, I...

He's got you there, professor!

No, no, I mean, they're not...

The professor hasn't even been there.

So much for "scientific investigation"!

Look, I don't have to see

them to know they're not real...

I rest my case, Mr. Bradbury. It's all witchcraft!

It was just the type of disaster Ward had foreseen.

Worse still, it was to be followed by a

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