This interesting episode offers three pieces of verse written by Banquo Walker, read by the poet, along with Charnel Bells creator, host and producer, Van Guarrault, and the gravel-voiced Briton, Roman Clifford, who achieved some small renown during the London Blitz as the voice of several public service announcements warning citizens not to approach unexploded German munitions. His menacing, heavy intonations became one of the most-imitated voices of that awful time. Banquo Walker sadly, left very little imprint outside of the long-forgotten reels of Charnel Bells. In another time and place, who knows; maybe his name would adorn collections of weird and dark poetry. Alas, we can at least hear some small portion of his strange work still, and in his own voice, no less.

An excellent example of the weird atmospheric fiction abroad in the pulps of the '20's and '30's, Lovecraft's "The Festival" is that rarest of joys: truly literate and artistic horror fiction. An appropriate (if somewhat morbid) piece to air at Yuletide, Charnel Bells' production of it was never aired for being "unholy pagan poison". Incidentally, the purported reader here, "Desmond Lawrence", seems surely to have been a stage name for the English-born Percy Phipps, who is known to have been a friend of Van Guarrault. Mr. Phipps was a sales clerk at a musical instrument shop along the same block as Guarrault's Studio Black Catacomb.

This piece is a real enigma; it seems likely that this was a satirical piece that Mr. Van Guarrault, the producer of Charnel Bells, recorded sometime in late 1950 or early '51 in frustration at the rise of jingoism and censorship of American radio. As the fear of Communism pervaded all aspects of life in 1950's America, any sort of non-conformity was at risk of being treated as a crime. This may have been the intent behind Guarrault declaring himself a Satanist. Or -and this must not be discounted- the man may have simply been a Satanist! Either way, this one almost certainly never made it out of Studio Black Catacomb's walls. It would surely have meant a swift end to the whole business.

This ad read seems to be Van Guarrault, host of the Charnel Bells radio show and producer at Studio Black Catacomb, doing his best to sound like a snappy salesman instead of himself. As the likelihood of Charnel Bells making it past the censors to the air dwindled, Guarrault took on more and more of a role, reading ads, writing scripts and even masquerading as other people. This ad read, for instance, is credited to a "Marshall Innsreef", though no record of so unlikely a name can be found.

This is the controversial ad copy that first stirred up trouble for the Charnel Bells radio show. Recorded in February of 1949, it features the voice talent of Ramsey Abdurrahman, but it's the last line that sparked concern among certain censors. Along with the problematic use of the words "intoxicating herbs" early in the copy, the implication that smoking a cigarette might consummate a sinister pact with a god or gods other than the Abrahamic was just more than the censors would let slide, and so a less inflammatory version was recorded soon after.

Thought to have been recorded in spring or summer of 1949. The voice is believed to be Charnel Bells host Van Guarrault, though it's near impossible now to say for certain.

Thought to have been recorded in September or October of 1949, this piece features the work of Banquo Walker, a poet and editor of the then-emerging Greenwich Village Bohemian scene. Of further interest is an odd historical footnote in the journal of a Lt. Chivalry A. Faraday, who served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Montgomery during the Valley Forge campaign. He mentions a scout's report of spying a curious village while on ranging patrol. "A vilage of no Christian church nor crosse, but of shrines and brazers, withal to yield up prais to unown hethen worshippe."

Viola Curtis claimed to have channelled the spirit of a Norseman named Kjeld Olbertsen, who was apparently living in exile somewhere in Ireland some time between the 5th and 9th centuries. Of particular note is the transcript reading by Per Gunnolfsen, who was slain in a bank robbery in Madison, Wisconsin in June of 1954.

The famous medium Viola Curtis, "The Oracle of Otherwhere", had hundreds of her seances recorded live between 1933 and her untimely death in 1952. Transcripts of these recordings appeared in magazines, medical journals and, of course, collected for publication as the Calling Out to the Dark book series in the 'Fifties. Here, Van Guarrault reads the seance Miss Curtis conducted with unknown writer Vincent Brown for the Charnel Bells Radio Show. It was recorded in May or June, 1949 and slated for airing in autumn of that same year.