Lore Alive 1: The Sleep

Welcome to Lore Alive, a special Halloween bonus series that brings dark tales from history to life with immersive sound design and voice actors. Today's tale introduces us to some newlyweds in late 1800s Kentucky who settled in for a new life together, only for their hopes and dreams to meet a terrifying end. Lore Alive was created by Aaron Mahnke, with writing and direction by Nicolas Tecosky, audio production and sound design by Brandon Grugle. This week's episode starred J. Garrett Mitchell as James, Sarah Palm as Octavia, and Nicholas Tecosky as Doctor McClain. ————————— Series Sponsor: Warby Parker: Right now, buy one pair and get additional pairs for 20%. Go to WarbyParker.com/LORE https://www.warbyparker.com/lore to try on any pair virtually! ————————— ©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Aaron Mahnke?

  For over 11 years now, I've been sharing tales from history with you. Tales about real people who have done horrible things. Tales about creatures that defy explanation. And tales about what happens when folklore and superstition collide with the real world. But there's one thing I've never done. You see, the tried and tested lore formula is a well-researched corner of history, scripted as an approachable essay, and delivered from the perspective of a narrator, me. But there's only so much my team and I can do to bring history to life for your ears and your minds. So it's time to give you something more. Every Friday this October, we're going to bring one story from history to life through

• 0:46Aaron Mahnke?

  powerful sound design, talented voice actors, and an atmosphere that fits the tale. It's the immersive audio drama style that you know from other shows I've made, like 13 Days of Halloween, Bridgewater, or Havok Town, applied to true tales from history's darkest corners. This is Lore Alive. This entire Halloween series, by the way, was made possible by the generous support of Warby Parker, my absolute favorite maker of prescription glasses. I've been a loyal customer of theirs for over a decade, and it means so much to have their support. More on that after this episode. For today's featured tale, we travel to Pikeville, Kentucky in the late 1800s, where James

• 1:30Aaron Mahnke?

  and Octavia Hatcher are newlyweds settling in for the great adventure of life. But for this young couple, something darker is headed their way. And for those who survive it, it will prove to be a terrifying end to their hopes and dreams. So if you're ready, let's begin.

• 1:55Speaker 01

  It begins in the churchyard.

• 2:01Speaker 01

  For a boy who came from very little, who had little in the way of terra firma beneath his feet, it was a moment of great meaning for me. A wedding. A family of my own. Man plans. God laughs. That laughter still rings in my ears.

• 2:27Speaker 01

  Pikeville had long been my home. My business, my friends, which I've had many. And then there was Octavia.

• 2:40Speaker 01

  Vivacious, vibrant, so very full of life. For a young man accustomed to keeping his head down and his eyes on his work, she was something of a revelation for me. Because of her, I began to look up at the world. To see my life as something more than just toil. Because of her, I too really began to feel alive. Those early days of marriage sometimes feel now like a fever dream.

• 3:23Speaker 01

  Her eyes. Her smile. Her sharp, complicated, beautiful mind. She may have been a housewife, but she had a keen sense of business. And I would frequently bring her to dinner meetings and have her read outgoing correspondence and help me find the right tone when great care had to be taken. A fragile business deal. A finicky client. She always knew how to take charge of a situation so gently that intelligent men could not

• 4:06Speaker 01

  even tell that they were being handled. I will admit that she could control me in such a way, though at the time, I truly did believe myself in charge of my own will. Anyone who's ever fallen in love with a force of nature would likely say the same. It was a marvelous existence. A growing business, home and hearth. I could not at the time imagine that it could be improved upon. And then, two years into our blissful existence.

• 4:46Speaker 02

  How was your supper, darling?

• 4:48Speaker 01

  I don't know how it is at all possible, but you managed to outdo yourself once again, Octavia.

• 4:54Speaker 02

  Sweet talk.

• 4:56Speaker 01

  If this continues, I expect I should die plump and happy.

• 5:00Speaker 02

  Well, I have two surprises for you. The first, voila.

• 5:06Speaker 01

  Is that?

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Why, yes, Mr. Hatcher. That is, in fact, a butter cake.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  Did you use rum or bourbon?

• 5:14Speaker 02

  Rum, darling, of course I used bourbon. How dare you question that?

• 5:21Speaker 01

  Apologies to the lady. Now, you mentioned a second surprise.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  Well, I thought that this little arrangement of ours...

• 5:31Speaker 01

  You mean our marriage?

• 5:33Speaker 02

  That I do. I believe that in a short time, we have built a love so deep and secure that I wish to test its strength.

• 5:43Speaker 01

  Go on.

• 5:45Speaker 02

  By adding a third party.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  I don't follow.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  We're having a child, James. A baby. We've been blessed.

• 5:56Speaker 01

  But that's marvelous. Hopefully, he's got your sense of occasion.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  Of course she will.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  And so, we were to be three. Quickly, I found us a larger home so that our family would have its room to grow. We planned his childhood right out. Octavia would school him early, and I would teach him to work with his hands, as well as the value of horned toads and stickball. He would grow up happy and well-fed, and would go to the finest universities before taking over the family business. We were on the precipice of a great adventure. But God laughed.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  Jacob was born in the month of January, 1891. He was a beautiful child. He had his mother's eyes. Those were the very happiest moments of my life. From this great distance, I can still feel Jacob's small form against my chest. I can still smell the crown of his head. The smell of newness, of potential. A smell that mingled Octavia's and mine and made something wholly its own. He was too good for the world. He could not stay in it with us.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  And so, mere days after gracing us with his presence, Jacob left. As so many infants have done before and since, Octavia was devastated.

• 7:52Speaker 01

  In the first days, she raged, striking out at whomever would try to bring comfort. And then she would pray, desperately, like a man at the gallows.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Octavia?

• 8:12Speaker 01

  Octavia, it's the middle of the night. Octavia, come back to bed.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  What came next was far, far worse. Silence. She took to bed. She took to bed and stayed there. She would eat nothing for days but nibbles of bread and butter that I would bring, and never in anyone's presence. She lay with eyes closed and would give little more than grunts and sighs when I pled with her to speak to me, to say something. At night, lying beside her, I could feel the mattress shake with great silent sobs.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  My gentle hand on her shoulder brought no comfort. She would just go still, as if she did not wish to be perceived in her great and terrible grief. The last time she spoke to me was just before dawn one morning.

• 9:26Speaker 02

  James.

• 9:30Speaker 02

  James.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  Did you speak?

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 9:34Speaker 01

  Darling, Octavia!

• 9:36Speaker 02

  James.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  Yes darling.

• 9:39Speaker 02

  I... am not well.

• 9:43Speaker 01

  I know, my love.

• 9:46Speaker 01

  You have suffered a great loss. But I am here. We can mourn together. We can rebuild our life.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  In time, we can try again to build our family.

• 10:01Speaker 02

  No.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  Of course not now darling. Of course, the grief is too immense.

• 10:07Speaker 02

  No.

• 10:08Speaker 01

  Of course. Of course, whatever you like, my love. I will remain beside you.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  I love you.

• 10:20Speaker 01

  But she would speak to me no more.

• 10:24Speaker 01

  I still had to exist within the world for all of my grief. I still had to attend business. And so reluctantly, I took my leave. Promising to be back and leaving a simple breakfast for her should she regain her appetite.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  All day I worried as I signed contracts and met with staff and all of the dull things a man must attend to in the normal course of a Tuesday.

• 10:55Speaker 01

  She took up the whole of my mind.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  Usually so meticulous, I could not concentrate. And rushed through my work to get home.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  A dread had for some reason taken root in my mind.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  Finally, I could take no more and raced home.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  At first glance, all looked the same as it had when I'd left her seven hours earlier. And then I realized. She had not touched her food at all.

• 11:34Speaker 01

  Her bread remained uneaten on the plate.

• 11:38Speaker 01

  The water pitcher and the glass beside the bed remained entirely full.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  Even for her, this was unusual.

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Octavia, darling.

• 11:53Speaker 01

  When I reached down to touch her forehead, she burned with fever.

• 11:58Speaker 01

  Darling?

• 12:01Speaker 01

  Octavia! Octavia!

• 12:05Speaker 01

  I called for Dr. McLean immediately, sending a neighbor boy to collect him.

• 12:12Speaker 01

  Thank you for coming so fast, Doctor.

• 12:14Speaker 03

  Yes, of course, Mr. Hatcher. Where's your wife?

• 12:18Speaker 01

  Just through here.

• 12:19Speaker 03

  Ah.

• 12:22Speaker 03

  Alright, young lady. What seems to be the problem?

• 12:26Speaker 01

  I'm afraid she will not speak.

• 12:28Speaker 03

  Hmm. She's feverish.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:32Speaker 03

  How long has she been this way?

• 12:34Speaker 01

  The fever is new. But she took to bed a month ago. She has not gotten up since.

• 12:40Speaker 03

  Why did you not come sooner?

• 12:43Speaker 01

  I believed it to be grief. We recently lost our son.

• 12:48Speaker 03

  Ah...

• 12:50Speaker 01

  What is it?

• 12:52Speaker 03

  I believe I know what the trouble may be.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  What?

• 12:56Speaker 03

  There's little to do until the fever passes and she wakes.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  And... what then?

• 13:04Speaker 03

  Let me know. There are ways of dealing with hysterical grief in a woman. For now, she needs rest and a watchful eye. Cool compresses on the forehead should help reduce the fever. I'm afraid there's nothing else to be done until she wakes. I'll come by in the morning to check on her.

• 13:26Speaker 01

  But she would not wake up.

• 13:30Speaker 01

  For weeks, she lay in bed, wasting away.

• 13:36Speaker 01

  I did what I could to keep her alive, to help bring some comfort. But in the end...

• 13:46Speaker 01

  There truly was nothing to be done.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  It was May when she died.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  And the weather was unusually hot.

• 14:00Speaker 01

  I moved to have the funeral as quickly as possible.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  The service was held in the church where we had been wed, a scant few years before. We buried her in the churchyard.

• 14:15Speaker 01

  She would finally know peace.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  I would not.

• 14:22Speaker 01

  I could not be still.

• 14:25Speaker 01

  I wandered the streets each evening after my work was done.

• 14:30Speaker 01

  There was never any destination in mind, but stillness, which had long been difficult for me, became impossible. It was on one of these nights that I ran across Dr. McLean once more.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  He carried his bag with him, as if he had just left a patient at this late hour.

• 14:52Speaker 01

  Even in the dim light, he looked haggard.

• 14:57Speaker 01

  Doctor!

• 14:58Speaker 03

  Yes, hello? Ah.

• 15:02Speaker 03

  Mr. Hatcher.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  How are you, Doctor?

• 15:05Speaker 03

  Abysmal, sir.

• 15:09Speaker 03

  Ah, yes. And this concerns you, I believe?

• 15:12Speaker 01

  Oh?

• 15:13Speaker 03

  Yes. Your wife's illness. Others have shown all the same symptoms: fever, fatigue, and then they sleep and cannot be awakened. A dozen, easily.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  What is it? Do you know?

• 15:27Speaker 03

  Not as of yet. There are theories.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  Has anyone else died?

• 15:33Speaker 03

  No, but... Given poor Mrs. Hatcher's fate, I am not optimistic for the outcome of this. I'm truly sorry for your loss, Mr. Hatcher. But I hope you'll forgive me. I'm running between patients now.

• 15:49Speaker 01

  Please, keep me abreast of the situation. I have great interest in the subject.

• 15:55Speaker 03

  I'd imagine you would. And I will. Good evening, Mr. Hatcher.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  Good evening, Dr. McLean.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  The answer to the mystery would later be discovered. Though for me... Far too late.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  A fly. The sitsi fly, they called it.

• 16:21Speaker 01

  The doctor had kept me appraised of the details as they came.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  It had been an unusually hot spring. And the population of flies had exploded in Kentucky. Many suffered that summer of the sleeping sickness. Many had fallen deep into that bottomless slumber. I could only stand by and shake my head in empathy. I mourned for all who fell ill.

• 16:53Speaker 01

  It turns out, though, that mourning was terribly... terribly premature. One morning, an urgent knock on my door.

• 17:06Speaker 01

  It was the good doctor.

• 17:09Speaker 01

  Good day, sir. I... What is it? What's wrong?

• 17:13Speaker 03

  Excuse my intrusion, James. I...

• 17:17Speaker 03

  I have some news that... I'm not sure how to...

• 17:21Speaker 01

  Doctor, it's... it is fine. Speak plainly.

• 17:24Speaker 03

  A patient. John Miller's son, Robert.

• 17:28Speaker 01

  What of him?

• 17:29Speaker 03

  Three days ago, he woke. He was weak and confused. But he has since begun recovering fully.

• 17:39Speaker 01

  Well, that is excellent news, is it not?

• 17:44Speaker 01

  Is it not?

• 17:46Speaker 03

  The very same day, Mildred Morris awoke.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Alright. Good. Responding to treatment.

• 17:56Speaker 03

  I could do no more for them than I could for Octavia.

• 18:01Speaker 03

  The thing is, James... In the days since, more are waking. One such man we assumed was dead until he sat up like Lazarus in the mortuary.

• 18:13Speaker 01

  What are you saying, Doctor? Are you...

• 18:18Speaker 03

  I...

• 18:21Speaker 03

  Octavia.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  My god. Oh, my god!

• 18:25Speaker 03

  James! I...

• 18:28Speaker 03

  James!

• 18:29Speaker 01

  But I could hear nothing. Nothing but the pounding of my heart as I raced down the street toward the church. bile rose in my throat, but I choked it down and shook my head. It could not be. It could not be. When I reached the churchyard, the groundskeeper was there. Working. A shovel! Do you have a shovel?

• 18:51Speaker 03

  Calm down, calm down, sir. What...

• 18:53Speaker 01

  Give me a damn shovel!

• 18:55Speaker 03

  Alright, here, here, sir.

• 18:57Speaker 01

  I yanked it from his hands and fell upon Octavia's still, fresh grave.

• 19:03Speaker 01

  I dug like a madman, like a machine. Blisters formed and burst on my hands and I realized after a while that the strange whining sound that filled the air as I dug was my own voice. And finally... The coffin. I threw the shovel down and began to dig with my bare hands, now bloodied.

• 19:29Speaker 01

  With a strength I did not know I possessed, I ripped up the lid of the coffin to find... Octavia. But not as I left her. The woman lying in the coffin beneath my feet was dead. Yes. But it was not the peaceful slumber of a woman who had died in bed. This woman in no way resembled my beautiful, bright, vivacious Octavia. Her face was twisted, frozen in a silent scream that would not end, that would reverberate in my skull for the rest of my life. Her fingernails were broken and bent.

• 20:14Speaker 01

  Blood had caked at the end of her fingertips. She had scratched the coffin lid until she could no longer. Had raged against the dying of the light. This woman, who I had loved so completely, who had born my child, who had struggled so fiercely with the misery of the loss. How could I have known? How could I have known that she would wake once more? How could I know that I, the man who loved her most in this world,

• 20:57Speaker 01

  had truly sent her to her death? This. The horror. We had been as one. We had been a force, and we had had plans, such plans. An empire, a world of our own, a family. But man plans. And God laughs.

• 21:38Aaron Mahnke?

  Lore Alive was made possible by Warby Parker. Before Warby Parker, I had to do that thing that we all hate: stand in front of a wall of frames and find the needle in the haystack. Just trying to buy glasses shouldn't require a spreadsheet, right? That's why I am obsessed with Warby Parker. Nothing else comes close on quality, price selection, and customer service. Once you buy from Warby Parker, you'll realize how much easier they've made the entire process. Their virtual try-on has made it possible for me to skip those eye doctor showrooms entirely, since I can literally try on glasses from my phone before I buy them. I've tried other virtual try-ons that feel pretty janky, but with Warby Parker, you can genuinely tell how the frames are going to look and fit. Warby Parker glasses start at ninety-five bucks

• 22:23Aaron Mahnke?

  and include prescription lenses with anti-reflective, scratch-resistant coatings. They use premium materials in each frame, design every frame in-house, and have a collection of silhouettes, colors, and fits for every face. Me? I wear progressive lenses, which are more complicated to get just right, but Warby Parker nailed it, and these glasses are absolutely amazing. They look and fit so great. Right now, buy one pair of glasses and get twenty percent off any additional pairs at warbyparker.com/lor. That's twenty percent off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at W-A-R-B-Y-parker.com/lor. An audio adventure like this is a team effort, so there are a lot of humans to give credit to.

• 23:07Aaron Mahnke?

  For starters, Lore Alive was created by me, Aaron Manke, and it was written and directed by Nicholas Tukowski, of Thirteen Days of Halloween fame. This week's episode starred Jay Garrett Mitchell as James, Sarah Palm as Octavia, and Nicholas Tukowski as Dr. McLean. The episode itself was recorded by Blake Long, with post-production and sound design by Brandon Gruggel from Atypical Artists. Our show was produced by Nicholas Tukowski and me, Aaron Manke, with special thanks to Lauren Shippen. I hope you've enjoyed this additional Halloween treat, and I promise, no tricks, you'll get another one next Friday. And until next time, stay spooky.