THE MAN WHO WAS PALE

Episode #435 · Written by Jack Sharkey · Narrated by Scott Miller

A nervous landlady with a talent for worrying opens her home to a strangely pale, overly polite tenant who insists on renting the damp cellar. But the longer he stays, the stranger the nights become—until one small act of kindness exposes a truth she never imagined.

What begins as an ordinary act of charity becomes something far stranger in “The Man Who Was Pale” by Jack Sharkey, a lightly comic, quietly eerie tale of a woman who can’t stop worrying—until she finally has a reason to. Mrs. Tibbets has a twelve-bedroom house, a heart full of concern for the world, and a new tenant who seems harmless enough… if you ignore the unsettling smile, the unusually sharp teeth, and the fact that he insists on sleeping in the damp, cobweb-filled cellar. His name is Vandor Thobal, and he pays a year’s rent in advance. That should make life easier—but for Mrs. Tibbets, it only gives her more to worry about.

What follows is a slow, humorous unraveling of mystery as the pale stranger settles into the house, disappears during daylight hours, recoils at garlic, and grows paler by the night. The neighbors whisper about strange “attacks” in town. Mrs. Tibbets tries to be a good landlady… until her curiosity—mixed with genuine concern—leads her downstairs at exactly the wrong moment. Sharkey plays the suspense for laughs and chills at the same time, delivering a story that winks at classic horror while landing a perfectly satisfying twist.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jack Sharkey was one of the most versatile and underrated writers of mid-century speculative fiction, known for moving effortlessly between sci-fi, horror, humor, and even stage comedy. His stories appeared in magazines like Galaxy, If, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, often blending the everyday with the uncanny in a voice that felt casual, clever, and just a little mischievous. Readers who know him only for his science fiction are often surprised to discover how well he handled gothic and supernatural themes—always with a sly punchline or unexpected turn.

Sharkey’s work endures because he understood something many of his era’s writers did not: the supernatural is sometimes funniest when it’s treated as an inconvenience, and the ordinary is sometimes scariest when we’re told not to worry about it. “The Man Who Was Pale” is one of those stories that starts with a chuckle, builds with a chill, and ends with a grin you can’t quite shake off.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to The Man Who Was Pale by Jack Sharkey — a witty and eerie vintage science fiction tale where a landlady discovers her new tenant is not what he seems.

ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 35 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.9 million listens.

Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.

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