The Weird Circle, episode 10, “William Wilson,” originally broadcast October 31, 1943. This adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1839 tale was written by Peggy Mayer, with Joseph Julian, Elaine Kent, Robert Donnelly, Kay Loring, and Bill Smith featured in the cast.

At Laura’s party, an engagement announcement is expected at midnight—until a gunshot from the library shatters the mood. As Bill Wilson confronts the disturbance, he is troubled by a quiet stranger who shares his name and appears to know him far too well. A tense, compact drawing-room mystery of identity and dread.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:48 Original Broadcast
25:44 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, episode 9, “The Horla,” originally broadcast October 24, 1943. This supernatural horror drama adapts Guy de Maupassant’s short story “Le Horla.”

An elderly man living alone in an old riverside house watches boats drift past his porch—until a towering Brazilian schooner casts its shadow across the shore. Soon, an unseen presence begins to disturb his quiet life, drawing him into a frightening struggle with a menace that cannot easily be proved.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:43 Original Broadcast
25:16 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, episode 7, “What Was It,” originally broadcast October 10, 1943. This local archival recording adapts Fitz-James O’Brien’s 1859 supernatural tale, first published as “What Was It? A Mystery.”

At Mrs. Dimmity’s boarding house, Dr. Hammond and a skeptical circle of friends investigate unsettling rumors surrounding an old brownstone on New York’s 49th Street. A nighttime vigil and séance test their disbelief as the house begins to offer troubling signs of its own.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned and mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:52 Original Broadcast
25:50 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, Episode 6, “A Terribly Strange Bed,” originally broadcast October 3, 1943. This syndicated radio-drama adaptation expands Wilkie Collins’s 1852 tale, “The Traveller’s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed,” into a shadowy Paris mystery.

American writer Burke Manning and his crime-minded friend Jack Wescott encounter Inspector Duval after a disturbing discovery along the Seine. Their search leads through Paris’s underworld toward a gambling den and the ominous Room Sixteen. The cast includes Chester Stratton, Dwight Weist, Julie Stevens, Roc Rogers, and Carl Eastman.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:50 Original Broadcast
26:01 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, episode 5, “Declared Insane,” originally broadcast September 26, 1943. This early syndicated literary-horror adaptation draws on Honoré de Balzac’s L’Interdiction, also known as The Commission in Lunacy.

In France, troubling financial dealings lead an estranged wife and her brother to petition the court to have a man declared insane. As Judge Popinot weighs the case, private resentments, money, and family pressure complicate the question of sanity. Written by Peggy Mayer, the drama is part of The Weird Circle’s first cycle of literary adaptations.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:48 Original Broadcast
25:50 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle presents “Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym,” episode 4, originally broadcast September 19, 1943. This syndicated horror anthology adaptation draws on Edgar Allan Poe’s unfinished novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

Answering a notice for experienced hands on a whaling voyage, Arthur Gordon Pym meets the wary sailor Peters and learns of troubling doubts surrounding Captain Bernard. The story carries Pym from Boston onto a whaling ship, where mounting tension aboard the vessel gives Poe’s maritime adventure a dark and unsettling edge.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:40 Original Broadcast
26:01 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, “The House and the Brain,” originally broadcast September 5, 1943, is episode 2 of the syndicated supernatural anthology series. Adapted from Edward George Bulwer-Lytton’s 1859 tale The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain, this early installment was produced by Ziv Productions.

At a London art auction, Sandra and Paul are disturbed by an ancient portrait called “The Ancient Cutthroat.” With their occult-minded friend Jim, they investigate the grim reputation of the portrait’s former owner and his long-deserted house on Orchard Street—where curiosity soon tests their disbelief.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:45 Original Broadcast
26:26 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, “The Possessive Dead,” originally broadcast March 25, 1945, is episode 69 of the supernatural anthology series. This archival drama adapts Théophile Gautier’s fantastical tale “Le Pied de momie,” commonly known as “The Mummy’s Foot.”

On the eve of their wedding, Eleanor and Michael disregard an old superstition and visit a dusty antique shop, where Michael becomes fascinated by an unusual Egyptian relic: a mummified foot used as a paperweight. The dealer’s troubling account of its former owner, Princess Hermonthus, soon lends an ominous air to the couple’s plans.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:42 Original Broadcast
25:45 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle presents “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episode 1, originally broadcast August 29, 1943. This syndicated NBC Radio-Recording Division production adapts Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic classic.

When the ailing Madeline Usher summons Charles Wilson to her isolated ancestral home, he finds himself caught between Madeline, her domineering twin brother Roderick, and their cousin Dinah. As blood-red rain falls around the mansion and its shadowed catacombs, the House of Usher seems to harbor an ancient and terrible secret. Adapted for radio by Peggy Mayer.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:50 Original Broadcast
27:34 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Weird Circle, episode 76, “The Haunted Hotel,” originally broadcast May 13, 1945. This late-series adaptation is based on Wilkie Collins’s Victorian mystery novel The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice.

In Venice, Henry Westwick checks into a hotel converted from an old castle to investigate the suspicious death of his brother, Philip. Taking the same canal-side room, Henry meets fellow traveler Elaine James as recurring, unsettling dreams draw him toward the hotel’s shadowed past.

Old Time Retro Radio presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned and mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:33 Original Broadcast
25:24 Closing

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio