The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

It’s been almost 250 episodes and we are still discovering shows we’ve never listened to before! This week, we check out Up for Parole! Based on real cases, the show presents stories as told by convicts addressing a parole board. This installment, “The Case of Clarence Hogan,” features a ranch hand whose hard life led him to being jailed as a cattle rustler and an accessory to murder. What path ca...

We’re paying another visit to our Listener Library for an episode of Suspense recommended to us by our Patreon supporter, Marc. Thanks, Marc! This production adapts A.M. Burrage’s story, “The Waxwork,” and features a one-man performance by William Conrad! In this story, a journalist in need of cash bargains to pass the night in a room inside a wax museum. In this hall, each figure depicts a notori...

Our Patreon supporter James suggested that we listen to “The Blind Beggar Dies” from The Shadow! In this story, the enigmatic vigilante seeks justice for the murder of a blind man and fights to protect the city’s poor. But even the power to cloud men’s minds may not be enough to save him if the enemy knows his plan! How will the Shadow bring these vicious killers to justice? What requirements must...

Many thanks to our Patreon supporter Chris for suggesting we take up the challenge of this Theatre 10:30 episode, “Trespassers Will Be Experimented Upon!” written by Anthony Lee Flanders. This strange narrative features a brilliant scientist and his acclaimed sex-symbol wife racing through a storm to a castle in Saskatchewan. There, they will come face to face with…the Baron! Their battle of wits...

Our thanks to our Patreon supporter Jules for suggesting this episode of Lights Out, “Subbasement!” The story features a husband grudgingly granting his wife a tour of his subterranean workplace. Beneath the city’s department stores, the buildings are connected by a dark tunnel that seems to be abandoned as the couple make their way through the darkness. Why has chosen this evening to provide his...

We’re beginning 2022 with a little enticement to join our Patreon page! When our patrons checked out their monthly bonus content in August of last year, they got an installment of the members-only series, Secrets of the Mysterious Old Radio, which featured “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” from Escape! And as it happens, they voted to declare this episode the second best from 2021! Now we’re shari...

Happy New Year! We are celebrating every last drop of the holiday season, ending the year with our traditional presentation of different adaptations of Charles Dickens’ other famous ghost story, “The Signal-Man.” The first time we did this, we listened to the 1956 Suspense version featuring Sarah Churchill. This time around, we return to Suspense in 1959 featuring Ellen Drew. As before, this story...

Merry Christmas! It’s time for another visit from our favorite fat man, Nero Wolfe! Legendary actor Sydney Greenstreet brought Rex Stout’s famous detective to life throughout The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe! In this episode, “The Case of the Slaughtered Santas,” Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin are called upon to solve a series of murders in which all the victims share a distinctive occupat...

Our holiday celebration continues! Tim is again offering a gift episode to his co-hosts! This time, his selection is a present for Joshua, “Murder on the Train” from The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall! The series is based on a run of detective novels by Alice Tilton, a pen name used by Phoebe Atwood Taylor! The episode features the titular detective travelling by rail with his housekeeper, Mrs....

To celebrate he holidays, Tim is offering gift episodes to his co-hosts! The first offering is a present for Eric, “The Locomotive Ghost” from The Mysterious Traveler! In this story, two men engineer a train wreck in order to steal the fortune on board. But a strange old man warns them that trains are living things and that there are consequences for taking such a life. Is there really a pantheon...

For this episode, we are joined by our esteemed Patreon supporter, Atticus! Atticus has brought us an episode of CBS Radio Workshop, “A Pride of Carrots!” Written and narrated by the novelist Robert Nathan, the story concerns the first astronauts to reach Venus and the fantastical creatures they find there. Will the Earthmen be able to escape the absurd machinations of the Venusians? Does the poli...

This week we’re listening to “The House of Death,” an episode of The Mysterious Traveler recommended to us by to esteemed Patreon supporter, Patricia! Thanks, Patricia! The story features two elderly sisters whose extended visit with their nephew and niece seems to have become permanent captivity or worse, a death sentence! But despite their failing health, they’ll make every attempt to get help o...

This episode of Escape was recommended to us by to our esteemed Patreon supporter, Tim! In “Four Went Home,” a small group of soldiers held in a German POW Camp must weigh their options near the end of World War II. The longer they remain imprisoned, the more likely they are to be executed by their captors. But an escape attempt could be just as fatal! When the stakes are this high, which gamble w...

As a reward for his top-tier Patreon support of the MORLS, Brian joins us this week to discuss an episode of his choosing, “The Fisherman and his Soul!” The script is an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde story, produced for Columbia Workshop. The tale features a fisherman who falls in love with a mermaid, only to discover that his human soul prevents them from ever being together. Who does one ask abou...

Happy Halloween! We found this treat in our Listener Library. Our mysterious listener Ben recommended “Ringing the Changes” from Nightfall. Thanks, Ben! This episode adapts a story by Robert Aikman about a newlywed couple whose plans take them to the small seaside town of Holyhaven on Halloween. But for some reason the town’s bells continue to ring and the locals seem nervous to see the visitors....

Our thanks to Paul whose recommendation has sent us to the Listener Library for another episode of Dragnet, “The Big Cast!” Friday and Romero bring in a suspect who may be responsible for several missing persons cases. But once they begin to interrogate him, his peculiar behavior makes the detectives wonder what motive might connect him to the crimes. Does this man’s strange behavior justify accus...

This episode of Crime Classics features a tale of the Old West, told in a style that blends tragedy, wry comedy, and historic documentary. “Death of a Picture Hanger” is a series of a surprising vignettes that lead to the inevitable. Who is the picture hanger mentioned in the title? How should one keep track of one’s bath schedule? What was that thing we couldn’t remember? Listen for yourself and...

There’s a big event in the Listener Library this week! Our mysterious listener Jessica recommended we listen to “The Parade” from X Minus One. Thanks, Jessica! An ambitious promoter is hired to tease an impending event with the simple slogan, “The Martians are coming.” As more money gets spent to advertise the big day, the more mysterious what will happen becomes. Did actual Martians hire an adver...

It’s been a while, but this week brings us The Haunting Hour once again! In “The Hands of Mr. Smith,” a pair of criminals get a shot at one big payday. But when the moment comes, Smith can’t control his homicidal impulses. Will their partnership survive this murder? Is this ultimately a ghost story or not? How petty can Joshua possibly get in critiquing a performance? Listen for yourself and find...

For this trip to the Listener Library, we’re listening to Hume Cronyn in “Too Many Smiths” from Suspense! Our thanks to our Mysterious Listener Kimberly for recommending this tale of a man who believes he can make a fortune from a slogan writing contest for toothpaste. But complications soon demand that he go further than he intended to see the plan through to the end. What sort of person could wr...

This week we launch ourselves into the world of Rod Serling’s Zero Hour for an episode entitled “Skylab, Are You There?” William Shatner and Casey Kasem contribute to this story of an astronaut who in desperate need of medical help. What mystery awaits when that help arrives? Why have we never heard the details of these strange events on Skylab? Is this somehow an episode of “What If…?” featuring...

Our Mysterious Listener Keith kindly sent us back into the Lights Out section of our Listener Library for an episode entitled “Bon Voyage!” Two elderly women have bought passage on a ship that departs at midnight, but they soon discover that the sea offers no refuge from the secret that haunts them. Why have these women left their home? What is the ship’s destination? What is Joshua’s new title in...

“In Flanders Fields” is an unusual episode of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, featuring older versions of Holmes and Watson visiting the front lines of World War I! On the eve of a major offensive, a theatrical presentation has been planned to entertain the troops. But something sinister is waiting in the wings, a mystery that could only be solved by the keen mind of Sherlock Holmes! What s...

Our Mysterious Listener Todd has directed us to the more contemporary areas of the Listener Library, recommending “Tissue Memory” from the BBC’s Fear on Four! Thanks, Todd! This story, written by Judy Upton, features a young woman named Anna who begins to have visions of another life after receiving a donor heart. These visions seem to connect her with the fate of the heart’s former owner. Will An...

Our installment this week was the final episode of the iconic series, Escape! “The Heart of Kali” features a down-on-his-luck veteran desperate to return to India to recover a temple’s treasure. But to do so, he must sink to the depths of human brutality. How far will he go to claim his prize? What fate awaits him inside the temple? Will this break our hearts like the final episode of Suspense did...