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''The Stone Tape'' is a television play directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. It was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972. Combining aspects of science fiction and horror, the story concerns a team of scientists who move into their new research facility, a renovated Victorian mansion that has a reputation for being haunted. The team investigate the phenomena, trying to determine if the stones of the building are acting as a recording medium for past events (the "stone tape" of the play's title). However, their investigations serve only to unleash a darker, more malevolent force. ''The Stone Tape'' was written by Nigel Kneale, best known as the writer of ''Quatermass''. Its juxtaposition of science and superstition is a frequent theme in Kneale's work; in particular, his 1952 radio play ''You Must Listen'', about a haunted telephone line, is a notable antecedent of ''The Stone Tape''. The play was also inspired by a visit Kneale had paid to the BBC's research and development department, which is located in an old Victorian house in Kingswood, Surrey. Critically acclaimed at time of broadcast, it remains well regarded to this day as one of Nigel Kneale's best and most terrifying plays. Since its broadcast, the hypothesis of residual haunting – that ghosts are recordings of past events made by the natural environment – has come to be known as the "Stone Tape Theory". ==Plot summary== Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) is the selfish and petulant head of a research team for Ryan Electrics. His team is developing a new recording medium that will give the company an edge over its Japanese competitors. They move into a new facility at "Taskerlands", an old Victorian mansion that has been renovated for their use. On arrival, they learn from estates manager Roy Collinson (Iain Cuthbertson) that the refurbishment of one of the rooms in "Taskerlands" remains uncompleted, the builders having refused to work in it because it is supposedly haunted. The room, with its stone walls, is a remnant of the original building, with foundations dating back to the Saxon era. The rest of the mansion was added on over the centuries. Curious, the researchers explore the room and hear the sounds of a woman running followed by a gut-wrenching scream. Jill Greeley (Jane Asher), an emotionally sensitive computer programmer, has a vision of a woman running up the steps in the room and falling, apparently to her death. Inquiring with the local villagers, they learn that a young maid died in that room during Victorian times and that an unsuccessful exorcism had previously been performed on the property. Brock hypothesises that it is not a ghost, but that somehow the stone in the room has preserved an image of the girl's death – this "stone tape" may be the new recording medium they have been seeking. Not only do their scientific devices fail to detect any evidence of the phenomena the team experience, but it also transpires that different individuals have different reactions to the "stone tape" - most of the team are able to hear the sounds, Jill being particularly sensitive can also see images, whilst another member of the team cannot see or hear the phenomenon at all. Jill theorises that the "tape" does not actually produce objectively real sound or light during playback, but instead interfaces with the human nervous system to create the sensory impression of sound and vision, with some individuals being more sensitive to this than others, and that the recordings on the stone tape are produced by individuals in moments of extreme emotion through a reverse of that telepathic process. Excited by the possibilities presented by a recording medium which uses a person's own senses as the means of recording and playback, Brock and his team move into the room. They bombard it with their technology, hoping to find the secret of the "stone tape" and have it play on demand. When results are not forthcoming and under mounting pressure to deliver results, a last desperate attempt succeeds only in wiping the "recording" and some team members break under the strain. Brock's failures are compounded when he is informed by his superiors that they have lost confidence in his work, and that the "Taskerlands" facility is to be shared with a rival research team working on a new washing machine. Embittered and distancing himself from his defeat, Brock no longer wants anything to do with the stone tape. He disregards Jill's insistence that there is still more to learn about the room and her mounting concerns that it is dangerous to stop their research. After studying the failed exorcism, Jill presents the theory that the stone tape can be recorded over again and again, like magnetic recording tape; the maid's death was simply the most recent and clearest recording. Independently continuing her research, Jill realizes that the maid's death was masking a much older recording, left many thousands of years ago. Brock cruelly dismisses her findings, and forces Jill to take a two-month leave to prevent her from continuing her research. Returning to the room one last time, Jill's senses are besieged by a powerful, malevolent presence from the much-degraded older recording. Like the maid before her, she dies while frantically trying to escape it. During an inquest, Brock denounces Jill as mentally unstable to save face. Afterwards he orders that all of Jill's research be destroyed without reading it. The "haunted" room has been declared of historical importance by a preservation society, prohibiting development, destruction, or commercial use. He makes a final visit to the room and discovers to his horror that the stone tape has made a new, crystal-clear recording – that of Jill screaming his name as she dies. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Stone Tape」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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