The Evil of Adelaide Winters story
A convicted artist claims that she can make contact with the dead. Directed by: Laslo Benedek. Story by: Arthur A. Ross.
19 total · 1 choice · 9 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| con artistry | choice | The false medium Adelaide, who with the help of her reluctant partner in crime, Robert, scammed the parents of war dead by pretending to make contact with their fallen sons. |
| coping with the death of a child | major | The story turns on Edward Porter not being able to get over the passing of his son, John, who died fighting in the Second World War. |
| descent into madness | major | Edward gradually lost his mind over the tragic passing of his son, John, in the war. In the end, he took the life of his wife and then himself, thinking they'd be reunited with his son in the afterlife. |
| gold digging | major | Adelaide married Edward for his fortune. This was after she'd already been scamming him as part of her false medium racket. |
| greed for riches | major | Adelaide ruthlessly scammed grieving parents out of their money. |
| human idea about life | major | Adelaide could have contented herself with being moderately wealthy, but resolved to be filthy rich, and it resulted in her losing it everything, including her life. |
| humans in pairs | major | Adelaide and Robert were partners in crime. |
| poetic justice | major | Adelaide fooled Edward to scam him out of money, but ended up fooling him so well that he ended up going mad and killed her. |
| séance | major | Edward was tricked into thinking that he was communicating with his deceased son, John, through Adelaide. |
| the afterlife | major | Adelaide convinced Edward that his son was speaking to them from some sort of existence in the afterlife that was described as comfortable. Edward further became convinced that he and Adelaide must join his son there. |