Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: October 14, 1954

Suspense #567, "Lost," finds Alice wandering the streets of New York City in a state of complete amnesia. Unable to remember her own name, where she came from, or why she's there, she desperately seeks help from a policeman at 59th Street. Detective Mark Neal takes her to the precinct, where the only clues to her identity are the name "Alice" stitched into her belongings and a wedding ring on her finger. Her photo is distributed to newspapers and television stations, and she's transferred to City Hospital's psychiatric ward for treatment. But Alice's situation takes a dark turn when she awakens to find herself behind barred windows in the prison ward.

Dr. Corday reveals the disturbing truth: Alice has been arrested for shooting someone named Joyce Carlyle. Her husband, Ted Parker, a struggling 24-year-old songwriter, arrives at the hospital and explains their turbulent relationship to the doctor. Twelve years younger than his wealthy wife, Ted admits their marriage is volatile, fueled by Alice's intense jealousy. As Alice struggles to piece together her fragmented memories, she must confront the terrifying possibility that she attempted to murder her husband's associate in a fit of rage.

Originally Aired: October 7, 1954

Suspense #566, "Chicken Feed," begins with an ironic twist of fate. Ralph Clark storms out of his San Francisco home after a petty argument with his wife Mary over giving their son a nickel. Driving fifty miles to cool off, he stops in the small town of Lansing, California, where he discovers he left his wallet at home - he doesn't have a single coin to make a phone call. When Clark tries to explain his predicament, the suspicious local officer takes him to the police station for identification. There, the phone lines are down for outgoing calls, and Clark's only option is the pay phone - if he can get a nickel. His wife Mary refuses to accept his collect call, hanging up on him in anger. The officer locks Clark up on suspicion of car theft and defrauding the cafe. Now trapped in a cell, Clark becomes desperate to obtain just one nickel to call his partner for help. His only potential source: two unsavory cellmates and As Phillips, a condemned bank robber and killer awaiting transfer to Utah's electric chair, who watch with sinister amusement as Clark's desperation grows.

Originally Aired: September 30, 1954

In Suspense #565, "A Little Matter of Memory," Edward Mansell and his wife Joan are recuperating in an isolated cottage on the English moors when they discover two disturbing notes. One is an obscenely worded death threat from escaped lunatic Barrington Howard, who has already murdered five people after sending similar warnings. The other is from George Beale, a curate offering protection through the dangerous night. As Edward and Joan attempt to flee toward the village of Buckworth, they encounter a helpful constable who persuades them to return to their cottage. He shares crucial information about Howard: the former actor and acrobat has one peculiar trait that led to his original capture—a compulsive total recall about Germany that he cannot help but display when the topic arises.

Back at the cottage, Edward and Joan barricade themselves inside and wait nervously in the dim lamplight. With both the homicidal Howard and the protective curate expected to arrive, the couple faces a terrifying question: when someone finally knocks on their door, will they be able to tell the rescuer from the killer?

Originally Aired: August 10, 1954

Suspense #564, "Never Steal a Butcher's Wife," Harry Carr is fresh off the bus from New York when he lands a job as a liquor clerk in a Los Angeles supermarket. His trouble begins the moment he locks eyes with Mary, the beautiful checkout girl who works the cash register. Despite warnings from Nick, the vegetable man, Harry can't resist her. There's just one problem: Mary is married to Andy Krauss, the market's hulking butcher, a strange man with thick glasses and a habit of whistling while he works with cleavers and meat mallets.

When Mary starts waiting for Harry after closing time, their dangerous liaison sets off alarm bells. Krauss grows suspicious, confronting his wife with tears and biblical ravings about Babylon. Soon the jealous butcher approaches Harry with a bottle of beer and unsettling questions about his wife. As Krauss's suspicions intensify and Mary continues to draw Harry deeper into her web, the young clerk finds himself trapped in a nightmare playing out among the meat coolers and empty aisles of the supermarket after dark.

Originally Aired: August 3, 1954

Suspense #563, "Goodnight Mrs Russell,"

Mrs. Russell is a pleasant, middle-aged widow who frequents Henry's small cafe near the Hillmar building where she works. Henry, the polite and meticulous cook who runs the establishment alone, seems especially attentive to her, though she notices his odd habit of suddenly freezing and listening to sounds only he can hear. When Mrs. Russell ventures to the cafe alone one evening after working late, she senses something unsettling about Henry's behavior. He seems suspicious of her presence at night, insisting there's a difference between her daytime visits with friends and coming alone after dark.

Against her better judgment, Mrs. Russell returns to the cafe alone three weeks later, determined to prove she enjoys Henry's cooking and perhaps help the troubled young man who reminds her of her late son. As she chatters about her family and her dead husband Leonard, Henry grows eerily quiet, watching her with a blank expression. Then Mrs. Russell's head grows heavy, she becomes dizzy, and as consciousness fades, she realizes with horror that Henry has done something terrible. Now, as dawn approaches, she waits in dread, knowing Henry is silently planning how he will kill her.

Originally Aired: July 27, 1954

Suspense #562, "Destruction," presents a harrowing portrait of a man dying from the inside out. Joe Porter lies in a hospital emergency room, clinging to life after collapsing in the street from a coronary seizure, as doctors work desperately to save him. Through fragmentary memories, the events leading to his collapse unfold: a devastating morning when his wife Vera tells him their marriage is over, that she's seeing another man and feels nothing for him anymore. At work, colleague Herb tells him he's unwelcome at the poker game for unpaid debts, while office gossip Phyllis confirms the rumors about Vera's affair. Then Joe's boss, Mr. Collins, delivers the final blow, firing him despite his desperate pleas for a pay cut rather than termination.

Each humiliation becomes another small death, chipping away at Joe's will to live. The play explores how a man can be murdered without weapons or violence—destroyed instead by rejection, failure, and the relentless erosion of dignity. As Joe fights for survival in the emergency room, the question remains whether the will to live can overcome such complete devastation.

Originally Aired: July 20, 1954

Suspense #561, "Telling," presents a troubled young man desperately seeking validation and respect. Terry Ellis returns home to England after being dismissed from his job in Ceylon, the latest in a string of failures that includes expulsion from school and Cambridge. His father warns him this is his last chance, while his successful older brothers John and Charles stand in stark contrast to his own shortcomings. Terry believes that winning the love of Josephine, a young woman with chestnut hair who treats him with polite but distant affection, will prove his worth. When his brother Charles warns him that Josephine isn't the settling type and hints at her reputation, Terry's obsession intensifies.

As Terry stands in the ruins of an old chapel, his mind racing through these recent memories, he notices with sudden surprise the blood on his hands. The gardener's fresh-cut grass lies nearby, and Terry grows anxious at the thought of someone discovering him. What has driven this desperate young man to violence, and what terrible act has he committed to finally make people believe in him?

Originally Aired: July 13, 1954

In Suspense #560, "Run Sheep Run," Joe Hayward is driving home from his factory job through the dense Southern California fog when he picks up a beautiful young woman named Roberta hitchhiking on the side of the road. As Joe becomes increasingly distracted by his attractive passenger, tragedy strikes—he hits and kills a man in the fog-shrouded darkness. Panicked and confused, Joe must make a split-second decision about what to do. Instead of calling the police, he listens to Roberta's urgent pleas to flee the scene, and the two drive south together, away from the accident.

As they try to escape, Joe grows increasingly paranoid about being followed and struggles with the weight of what he's done. He's a married man with a nagging wife named Hazel waiting at home, but now he finds himself on the run with a mysterious stranger who seems surprisingly invested in protecting him. When they stop at a cocktail bar in Laguna to calm their nerves, Joe attempts to call home while Roberta waits, but their brief respite is interrupted by a stranger who seems to recognize the young woman—raising troubling questions about who Roberta really is and what Joe has gotten himself into.

Originally Aired: July 6, 1954

Suspense #559, "The Tip," Elaine Stratton returns home after dropping her husband George at the train station, only to find an armed intruder waiting in her apartment. The desperate man reveals his chilling intention: he plans to wait for George to return from work and kill him. The intruder blames George for destroying his business and his family, claiming he begged George for help just a week ago but was callously turned away. Now he's determined to take his revenge, no matter the consequences.

Elaine pleads for her husband's life, professing her deep love for George and promising to make things right if the man will just give them a chance. For hours, she desperately tries to reason with her captor, even attempting to call the police. When a salesman and then a telephone repairman arrive at the apartment, the tension escalates dangerously as the intruder threatens to shoot anyone Elaine might try to warn. With her husband's life hanging in the balance and the clock ticking toward his return, Elaine must find a way to save George from this vengeful stranger.

Originally Aired: June 29, 1954

Suspense #558, "Too Hot to Live," presents Jefferson Casey, a drifter and former Air Corps captain, who jumps off a freight train near Marcus Junction on a sweltering day. When his boot sole breaks loose, he encounters Benjamin Martin, the friendly local sheriff who buys him coffee while his shoes are being repaired. At the restaurant, Jefferson meets Rachel, a provocative waitress who invites him up to her apartment for drinks while they wait. Despite protests from Kenny, the jealous grill cook, Jefferson follows Rachel upstairs.

In Rachel's cramped apartment above the diner, the heat, the liquor, and Rachel's proximity quickly overwhelm Jefferson's better judgment. As they drink and embrace in the stifling room, Jefferson's awareness begins to fade. The stage is set for something to go terribly wrong in this small town, where a barefoot stranger without shoes finds himself unable to run, the temperature climbs dangerously high, and a friendly sheriff with a gold star waits somewhere below. Jefferson Casey walked into Marcus Junction as just another drifter, but he may soon find himself trapped in circumstances far more dangerous than he imagined.