Ron's Amazing Stories

As I promised last week we will continue with our stories of suspenseful Christmases. This time we’ll tie the classic Clement Clarke Moore poem, The Night before Christmas, with the man in black. Seem like an unlikely paring?  You would be wrong if you answered yes. 

The Night before Christmas stars Greer Garson as a house keeper and guardian for a young girl who wants nothing more than to see her parents on Christmas Eve, How can she tell the young girl that their plane has gone missing in a storm? This story aired several times during the show’s history and is considered a classic. This version came from December 21, 1951 and is my favorite.

During the month we will present older episodes of the show that are not currently not available. These will be sprinkled in throughout the month. If you use either of the show applications these will be sent directly to your device automatically. If you subscribe to the newsletter you will get a download link in your email. If you don’t do either of those head to main website and follow the link to these bonus shows.  My way of saying Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. So far I have posted two of these. Episode #75 and #62 which stars our friend Cory Williams.

I’ll bet when you think of Christmas the first thing that comes to mind is gardening. No? Well, how about a devil’s garden? Not that either?  Well that is what we have for you today. A holiday story like none other and one that is calculated to keep you in Suspense.

Our story for this episode comes from the OTR series Suspense. It specialized in tales that had a surprise ending and did so from 1942 until the end of golden age of radio. Their goal was to keep you on the edge of your seat guessing the outcome. The tale is called simply, Holiday Story and first aired on December 23, 1948. Just two days before Christmas. It involves a henpecked amateur botanist and his plan to make his upcoming holiday season a bit brighter.

During the month of December we will present older episodes of Ron’s Amazing Stories that are not currently not available. These will be sprinkled in throughout the month and does not affect the new shows that come out each Tuesday.  If you are an Android or Apple apps user they will be sent directly to your device automatically. If you subscribe to the newsletter you will get a download link. If you don’t do either of those head to main website and follow the link to these bonus shows.  My way of saying Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. So far I have posted one of these. Episode #75 was added this past week.

On the show this time we have a detective of a different cloth. Bulletproof cloth to be exact! I received a tweet from @ManPunchit. He wanted me know that he liked the show we did a couple of weeks ago that featured Richard Diamond. He went to say that he wanted more like that and suggested that we play a story from the Blue Beetle and that is exactly what we are going to do.

The Blue Beetle was created by Charles Nicholas. The character made his first appearance in August of 1939 in the comic book Mystery Men #1, published by Fox Features Syndicate. What we will hear comes from The Blue Beetle radio serial which aired in 1940.  Actor Frank Lovejoy provided the voice of the Blue Beetle. Although the series had only a short run on radio is was quite popular and would return in my different formats throughout the years including the popular present day DC comic.

Let me just say Happy Thanksgiving! I am beginning to believe that if commercialism had its way thanksgiving would be gone or be renamed to the Pre-Black Friday Dinner. It is sad that is the case after all this country has been through. Taking a day to say thanks doesn’t seem like that much to ask. So in case you missed it Happy Thanksgiving to You and your families.

On this special edition of the show we have something that I thought would never happen. We have a pure musician and song writer Polly Baker. She is here to us tell her story and allow us the privilege of listening to some of her music. She hails from Northern Virginia, but is currently living in Los Angeles.  I first heard of Polly when she contacted me to be on Ron’s Amazing Stories. I immediately went to YouTube and listened to her sing. Then and there I knew that this girl had a story to tell and could do it through music.  

If you want to contact Poly or find out more about her, here are the Links:

Twitter  Facebook  Website

On this episode we have one of my very favorite old time radio detectives Richard Diamond. Rick gets himself into trouble and his final solution is yet another… yay, I’m not dead moment.  Also on the show we have an Email from Gerry Grimme who tells us about his adventure with a UFO.

Our story comes from a short lived, but great OTR series Richard Diamond, Private Detective. It Starred Dick Powell and was written and directed by Blake Edwards. It called the White Cow Case and first aired on January 11, 1952.

If you want to hear your story or better yet tell your tale on Ron’s Amazing Stories all you have to do is contact us. Click here to do that or just send an email to [email protected].  We all want to hear from you!

Did you know that November 11 is Veteran's Day? We tend to celebrate it on the closest Monday, so the actual day gets lost. It was originally known as Armistice Day and it was first observed at the end of World War I.  Like that first day we have a collection of firsts on this episode of Ron’s Amazing Stories.  We have our first comedy, our first Bob Hope appearance and our first OTR program from Command Performance. 

Command Performance was a radio series which originally aired between 1942 and 1949. The program was broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network. It was not broadcast over domestic U.S. radio stations. Our show comes from November 10, 1946 just one year after the end of World War II.  It is called Superman and stars Bob Hope and Bela Lugosi.  How about that duo?!  You are not going to believe your ears.

On the ninth and last episode of the Month of Spooky 2014 we have a new installment of Old Time Horror. It is time again for a long time friend of the program to make his annual pilgrimage to Ron’s Amazing Stories. Jim Harold makes his fourth appearance on the show and this time just might be his best. We throw out the rule book for this one and meet in an old graveyard to talk about his latest book: Jim Harold’s True Ghost Stories Campfire 3.  We had some production problems with this show.  I can’t lie ghosts crept in to the show and made their selves known. Even with the interruptions it is a very good program. 

If you want to learn more about Jim go to his flagship site at jimharold.com. There you will find his two free podcasts and that is the best place to start. Campfire is a call-in show where his listeners tell their ghost stories for all to hear. The Paranormal Podcast presents the gambit of the paranormal world. He has everything from authors to scientists to Tarot Card Readers and is an interesting program.

To see the full calendar of events follow this link.

We are on the eighth show in the month of spooky with just one more to go. Some may be happy to see the month end, for me it is kind of sad. It may sound weird but October is my very favorite time of year. On this episode we have the third story sent in. A few months ago I asked for your scary stories and three of you responed. Jessie from Silverton Oregon was the first with her account of howls in the woods. Then came Aaron in Carson City, Nevada with his chilling tale of lost time and a molten beast. Now we come to the third and this one hits a homerun! Tune in and find out for yourself.

For our story this time we have a ghoulish one. It is an old time radio gem guaranteed to celebrate the season of spooky. I can think of no better series to do it then the stories of Raymond from the Inner Sanctum. What he have is one from 1944 called The Skull That Walked.

You can find a full calendar of the events here.

This is the sixth episode of the 2014 month of spooky. Each year we spend the entire month talking about everything and anything that sends a shiver down your spine. We have had ghosts, murders, ghouls, vampires and even flesh eating beast. What we haven’t had is a truly suspenseful tale that will have you on the edge of your seat. We will set that to rights today. 

What he have is a story from the golden age of radio’s greatest series Suspense. While not exactly a Halloween story it is quite frightening in is own way. It first aired October 26, 1944 which is just a few days before Halloween. It tells the events of a woman who has a hard time keeping real verses imagined straight. It called The Night Man.

See a full calendar of events here.

This is the fourth show of nine in the 2014 month of spooky. On this episode we will talk to a ghost. Yes, I worked some magic and was able to book one.  To do this I had to involve the entire Riddlesbrood Theater Company and one of their founders Ryan Long. So, now you can see the great lengths I will go to entertain you.  

Also on the program is a story sent in by Jessie who lives near one my very favorite hiking locations, Silver Falls Oregon. You got to hear this one, you won’t believe it! 

Throughout the month of October we are having two shows per week. You folks on the radio will hear the show on both Fridays and Saturdays 8pm EST.  Podcast listeners you have another show coming up this Thursday.  To find out the full schedule follow this link.