The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

This week’s episode was based on a suggestion by Matt, who inspired us to listen to “The Long Night” from Suspense. Frank Lovejoy stars in this tense tale of an air traffic controller trying to guide a lost and inexperienced pilot to a safe landing. Can he steel his own nerves enough to not panic the man in the plane? When your engine is dying, could you trust your plane to fly itself? Do you recognize the reference to The Return of the Durutti Column even though Tim misidentified it as an album by the Sex Pistols? Listen for yourself and find out!

It’s time to take another walk down the Hall of Fantasy! This time we’re listening to an episode entitled “The Perfect Script”! An eccentric radio producer has brought a young writer to his seaside home to create the perfect tale of horror. How does this producer motivate such vivid tales of terror? Why have none of the previous authors ever written a second script for this show? Is milk really that dangerous? Listen for yourself and find out!

Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, we are joined this year by Tim’s wife, Wendy! Wendy has brought us Mercedes McCambridge in an episode of Defense Attorney entitled “Client Mike Pelley!” In this story, an innocent man faces the death penalty based on the eyewitness testimony of a respected housewife. But his attorney, Martha Ellis Barrett, is determined to uncover the truth and save her client. Why would this witness lie about a complete stranger? What price would a person pay to hide the past? Will there still be time for necking in the park? Listen for yourself and find out!

February is the perfect time to share some love, and we’re sharing our love of Boris Karloff! Join us for “The Hunt” from Creeps by Night! In this story, a pair of siblings live on a remote farm where an unknown beast has been killing sheep. But when this creature claims a human victim, a curious professor arrives to investigate a disturbing theory. Can the younger sister escape from the farm and find happiness? Why does the older brother insist on burying the the slaughtered sheep? Will we remember that we already listened to “The Werewolf?” Listen for yourself and find out!

January may be over, but we’re making one more trip to our Listener Library before getting back to choosing our own episodes. This week, we listen to “Cat Wife” from Lights Out! Our thanks to Darrell, who requested this story of a husband whose marriage is so catastrophic, he somehow transforms her into a yowling, scratching feline. Boris Karloff stars in this truly bizarre tale by Arch Oboler. Will this unexplained change improve their marriage? How exactly would you report this to the police? What secret haunts this unique performer? How many cat-hybrid characters can we mention? Listen for yourself and find out!

We continue to spend January in the Listener Library catching up on suggestions sent to us by you, our Mysterious Listeners! Our thanks to Gary for recommending “Flesh Peddler” from Suspense! The story features DeForest Kelley as a talent agent determined to take a mysterious ventriloquist on as a client. Why are the other carnival acts so determined to prevent this? What secret haunts this unique performer? Why does it take Tim so long to Google things while we are recording? Listen for yourself and find out!

It’s time again to visit The Clock! We’re spending January going through our Listener Library, catching up on suggestions sent to us by you, our Mysterious Listeners! “Aunt Emmy” was recommended to us by Cole (thanks, Cole!) and it features a young girl visiting her aunt in the country. But there are mysteries and madness in this remote home as well! What happened to the tie salesman who disappeared last Halloween? Why is the furnace kept so hot? How is everyone not dead from food poisoning? Listen for yourself and find out!