When SARAH, an isolated old woman, awakes to see a spider in the corner drop down not once but three times, she knows she will die in the same old farmhouse where she was born. Sarah intends to kill herself by consuming a bottle of pills, leaving behind a peculiar manuscript addressed to a man named SAM. In a reverse chronology, an account of a long and often macabre life spanning the entirety of the twentieth century begins. Sarah, having been born and raised on the grounds of the Hilltop State Hospital—not as a psychiatric patient, but as the daughter of the asylum’s farmer on the cusp of her own death, expresses what she has learned over a lifetime of love and loss at the very crossroads of life and death. All the while, Sarah continually grapples with the existential question of what it means to be 'sane' when insanity is the norm, declaring, “Sanity is but paper in a world consumed by fire.”

Dedicated to Dr. George Anthony Zeller (1858-1938 ), whose vision and journals inspired this tale.

Written & Narrated by Cory Zim

Produced by Radio Verté

Executive Producer, Cory Zim

https://radioverte.works

Cor Zim is the executive producer of Radio Verté and the author of two fiction novels, THE WILD WIND and AHOOGA!, each of which has been adapted into an audio podcast series. He is the author of two nonfiction novels, SPOON RIVER GOTHIC: Narrative of a Double Homicide and DEATH RIDES THE HIGHWAY: A Thrill Ride Fueled by Murder & Terror, both of which have also been adapted into audio podcast series produced by Radio Verté.