THE WILD WIND | Chapter 11

THE WILD WIND | Chapter 11

Author: Cory Zimmerman August 30, 2024 Duration: 26:26

Meet FANNIE, a whiskey-guzzling swindler who is not your typical widow. She takes advantage of men for survival, who, in turn, attempt to take advantage of her. Fannie, the greatest escape artist the Midwest has ever known, engages in a capricious dialogue with her dead husband, CECIL, while on a quest for the finest food and drink saloons stretching the great plains have to offer. Her love of dance, the pursuit of late-night fun, and vengeance for the men who wronged her make for a life on the lam that seems to know no limits, as no cage can hold her. But Fannie's lackadaisical nature and her fondness for fainting can't save her this time from the judge and jury, who scold down their high-held noses, "Not this time, Fannie."

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.


In THE WILD WIND | An American Gothic Tale by Cor Zim, author Cory Zimmerman crafts a haunting fiction podcast rooted in a uniquely American landscape. The story follows Sarah, now over a hundred years old, as she writes her memories of a childhood spent entirely within the confines of a remote psychiatric asylum. Her father was not a doctor but the institution’s farmer, placing their family in a strange, liminal space between the keepers and the kept. From this isolated vantage point, Sarah’s world was defined by the rhythms of the land and the unsettling proximity to lives deemed insane. The narrative unfolds as a deep, atmospheric reflection on love, profound loss, and the fragile line between sanity and madness when one is raised in its shadow. The central, haunting refrain-“What’s to be sane in the garden of madness?”-guides this intimate audio tale. Listeners will hear Sarah’s voice, rich with age and recollection, pulling them into a past where the wild wind carries whispers from the asylum wards, the scent of turned earth, and the weight of a lifetime’s secrets. This is a character-driven gothic exploration, less about supernatural horror and more about the psychological terrain of a woman who learned everything about human nature from the edges of its breaking point. Each episode of this podcast builds a layered, sensory portrait of a forgotten place and a life shaped by its stark, beautiful, and terrifying truths.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 21

THE WILD WIND | An American Gothic Tale by Cor Zim
Podcast Episodes
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 9 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:08
Richie returns from WWI, and only months later, Sarah is shocked to discover his shell-shocked, catatonic state as he stares off into the unknown with empty eyes in the stuffy confines of an old farmhouse on a grey winte…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 8 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:56
Doctor Zola tutors Junior under the Graveyard Elm and inspires him to become a doctor under mentorship about rounds on the Hilltop. Junior eventually goes off to college, marries, and has a child of his own, whom he intr…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 7 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:28
It’s a dark time as PA dies in the cornfield he labored all his life, and the drums of war can once again be heard on the horizon. Sarah weighs the worth of empathy after Junior returns from WWII in a wooden box and Momm…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 6 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:10
The last nail in the coffin of Sarah’s impending isolation is hammered by the death of Richie. Sarah confesses her relationship with “Nazi pills” she steals from the asylum, reformed in what she views as a fascist vision…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 5 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:44
Hobos, angsty teenagers, and Satanic worshipers invade the deteriorating buildings of the shuddered Hilltop as Sarah stalks them under the influence of pills she scavenges from the abandoned pharmacy. Dedicated to Dr. Ge…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 4 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:10
After being introduced to the array of colorful characters who occupy the dayroom, Doctor Zolla discovers ROSE in a poorhouse. Having been locked in a Utica crib for forty years, she is permanently hunched over like a to…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:40
As Sarah's stash of pills runs out, she is forced to endure the throes of a violent withdrawal. But upon finding a misplaced bottle on MOMMA's dresser that "shakes like a rattlesnake," she pops "two reds and blue," which…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:43
NURSE KATE embarks on a poignant journey to join the ranks of young nurses at the Hilltop State Hospital after her brother's untimely and tragic death. On her first day, she meets DOCTOR ZOLLA, a figure of hope whose pro…
THE WILD WIND | Chapter 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:20
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…
THE WILD WIND | Trailer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:50
The Wild Wind is an American gothic tale about a woman born and raised on the grounds of a psychiatric institution—not as a patient but as the daughter of the asylum’s farmer—who learns of love and loss while grappling w…