The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

This week we begin Monsters on the Air, a series of monster-themed episodes to celebrate the Halloween season! Our first installment, “Death Prowls at Night,” from the Shadow, features Lamont and Margo taking a ski vacation in a forest that might be home to a werewolf! Is there a real lycanthrope in these woods? Why has Margo suddenly disappeared? What important Shadow-related trivia can be learned in this episode? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’re listening to that classic episode of Suspense written by Lucille Fletcher for Agnes Moorehead! No, the other classic episode. Our Mysterious Old Radio Listener and Patreon supporter Brooke recommended we pay a visit to the Listener Library for “The Diary of Sophronia Winters!” A young woman named Sophronia goes out in the world for the first time and gets caught up in a whirlwind marriage. Her new husband brings her to a hotel in Maine. What connection does Sophronia have to her new husband’s sister-in-law? What danger is waiting for her in this new home? Do we actually know how to make pudding? Listen for yourself and find out!

CBS Radio Workshop adapted John Cheever’s short story “The Enormous Radio” for this week’s episode! It features a married couple whose old radio finally stops working. The replacement they purchase is a large and complicated model that broadcasts more than just classical music. What insights into her friends and neighbors does this new radio provide? What harm will these insights inflict upon the couple? Is Facebook the best place to go for your daily dose of anxiety and dread? Listen for yourself and find out!

Thanks to our Mysterious Listener Emmett whose enthusiasm for Crime Classics brings us to the Listener Library for an episode entitled “The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner!” Based on the true story of the first woman to be executed in the United States, the script depicts her plot to murder her own husband. How did the man really die? Who all would suffer the consequences? Did Joshua do a whole bunch of extra research do put the story in an even darker context? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’re trying something new this week, Let George Do It! In this episode, detective George Valentine is hired by a wealthy man who has been thwarted in his attempt to spend a million dollars! The railroad he hopes to buy is losing money and may be haunted. Why has a different detective been hired to follow this potential buyer? Why was one of the trains stopped in the middle of a desert at night? Would this series be better if it were about a bumbling handyman? Listen for yourself and find out!

Our thanks to our Mysterious Listener Mike for this visit to the Listener Library! Mike recommended we check out the episode of X Minus One entitled, “Mr. Costello, Hero.” The script is an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon’s short story about a space-faring ship’s purser who encounters a passenger with a peculiar world view and a gift for manipulating others. After leaving the ship, the passenger’s influence only seems to grow. What is ultimate impact of this man’s machinations? How does he do it? Should Thanos have asked for a lawyer? Listen for yourself and find out!

For this week’s episode, we went to some experts! Specifically we went to Murder by Experts for a story entitled “Conspiracy!” When a torrential rain threatens to wash away a city, a journalist discovers that the storm is a nearly perfect opportunity to get away with murder! Nearly, but not perfect. A witness to the crime runs off into the flood! Will the killer catch up with this witness to the crime? Will the flood hide the body? What 80s sitcom does Tim recreate with his cats? Listen for yourself and find out!

Our mysterious listener Jillion sent us to the Listener Library for an episode of The Chase entitled “Long Distance”! Thanks, Jillion! The story features Jan Miner as the distraught wife of a man about to be executed for a murder he didn’t commit. Having just found evidence to exonerate him, she’s racing against the clock to get someone on the phone who can stop the execution! Can she reach the judge able to save her husband? Will the operators be helpful? Does this vaguely remind anyone of another radio episode? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’re listening to one of Arch Oboler’s most Arch Oboler contributions to the famed series Lights Out, an episode entitled, “Murder in the Script Department!” The story features a pair of typists who are obliged to work late into the night to complete a particularly terrifying script for Lights Out. As the evening wears on, a series of unexplainable and terrifying events convince the two women that some malevolent supernatural force is in the office with them. Is there some rational explanation for what’s happening? How will this dark presence ultimately manifest itself? Will people mind if one of us talks about the episode while the other two make references to a classic horror movie from the 80s? Listen for yourself and find out!