Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: December 13, 1955 Suspense #628, "A Present for Benny," Ricky, a small-time hood, receives a threatening Christmas letter from rival gangster Machine Gun Benny, who hijacked Ricky's fur shipment and is now declaring war. Instead of responding with an open gunfight, Ricky devises a sinister holiday scheme. While at Halgram's department store buying an ermine coat for his girlfrien...

Originally Aired: December 6, 1955 Suspense #627, "When the Bough Breaks," presents a chilling portrait of a marriage built on suspicion and greed. Evie Stryker has just been acquitted of murdering her wealthy grandfather with cyanide, and she wastes no time marrying Harry, the man she met on a beach who may have helped her commit the crime. As the newlyweds settle into their home, ready to enjoy...

Originally Aired: November 29, 1955 In Suspense #626, "This Will Kill You," Joe Jordan narrates his own story, convinced he has something remarkable to share. Working at Acme Engineering as a machinist, Joe finds himself constantly at odds with his foreman, Charlie Harris. What Joe sees as petty harassment—being called out for tardiness, smoking violations, and poor performance—begins to consume h...

Originally Aired: November 22, 1955 Suspense #625, "Classified Secret," stars Parley Baer as Charlie Rader, a man carrying something of vital importance to national security aboard a cross-country bus from California to New York. When a mysterious woman approaches him in a North Hollywood park demanding twenty thousand dollars instead of the agreed-upon ten thousand for what he possesses, Charlie...

Originally Aired: November 15, 1955 In Suspense #624, "Once a Murderer," Thomas Shaw finds himself trapped in a nightmare that begins when he and his foreman Bert discover the murdered body of a young woman named Anna Leeming in an empty shop. Shaw had been working at the location the previous day and had given the keys to a stranger in brown plus-fours who claimed to have leased the property. Whe...

Originally Aired: November 8, 1955 Suspense #623, "Report on the X-915," Commander Richards arrives at the top-secret Naval Base Charlie with classified orders to investigate a potential security breach. Admiral Carruthers reveals that Project Sailfish, the Navy's first atomic submarine, is a full year ahead of schedule and set for immediate testing. When the sophisticated Steinberg Periscope myst...

Originally Aired: November 1, 1955 Suspense #622, "The Mountain," a climbing expedition faces both natural peril and human tension as they attempt the first ascent of an unconquered peak. At Camp 4, 22,000 feet above sea level, expedition leader Bob divides the six remaining climbers into two teams. Despite reservations about team member John Eldridge's volatile temperament and lack of experience,...

Originally Aired: October 25, 1955 Suspense #621, "To None a Deadly Drug," pharmacist Cal Foster's carefully ordered world collapses in an instant when his wife Marion makes a fatal mistake. As Cal prepares to close his pharmacy for a rare evening out, a traveling mother stops in to fill a prescription for her young son Tippy's stomach medicine. When Marion helps paste a label on a bottle while Ca...

Originally Aired: October 18, 1955 Suspense #620, "Life Ends at Midnight," presents a desperate situation that forces a mother to face the consequences of her protective love. Johnny Bates arrives unannounced at his mother's shabby apartment after an overnight train ride from Pittsburgh, claiming he's come just to visit. But the truth quickly emerges: he's embezzled fifteen hundred dollars from hi...

Originally Aired: October 11, 1955 Suspense #619, "Heaven's to Betsy," the ordinary Doyle family faces an extraordinary evening when a brilliant flash and explosion shake their suburban home during a thunderstorm. While young Dickie listens to his favorite space adventure program and mother Betsy nervously cooks dinner, neighbor Ella Gilbert calls to report a strange glow visible from her window....

Originally Aired: October 4, 1955 Suspense #618, "Good-bye, Miss Lizzie Borden," imagines what life might be like one year after the infamous Lizzie Borden trial. Emma Borden, Lizzie's sister, prepares to flee to Fairhaven for a desperately needed escape from the oppressive atmosphere of the Second Street house. As the maid Maggie also departs—unable to endure Lizzie's constant spying and eerie si...

Originally Aired: September 27, 1955 Suspense #617, "The Frightened City," Nick Crawford returns home from military service in Korea expecting a warm homecoming, but instead finds his town gripped by terror and his brother-in-law Johnny Stewart murdered. His sister Janie reveals that Johnny was shot down in the street on his way to tell something to the police chief, and she's been receiving threa...

Originally Aired: September 20, 1955 Suspense #616, "The Stool Pigeon," the stifling heat of Devil's Island provides the oppressive backdrop for a deadly game of suspicion and betrayal. Four libres—prisoners free to roam the island but never leave it—gather in Canot's hut to race cockroaches and pass another miserable day. Exil, the narrator and embezzler, joins the volatile knife-wielding Canot,...

Originally Aired: September 13, 1955 In Suspense #615, "A Story of Poison," Dr. Neil Cream arrives in London seeking a fresh start after the death of his wife Emily in Hull. What the kindly boarding house proprietress Mrs. Minnes and her daughter Daisy don't know is that Cream methodically poisoned Emily over six months, watching with clinical detachment as she slowly succumbed. When Cream arrogan...

Originally Aired: September 6, 1955 Suspense #614, "Strange for a Killer," Henry Hayden arrives home from work to find his neighborhood surrounded by police. They're searching for Roy Jaleska, a dangerous fugitive who's been hiding in the boarding house next door to Henry's apartment building. When Henry calls his wife Jesse to warn her to stay inside with their baby Johnny, something in her voice...

Originally Aired: August 30, 1955 Suspense #613, "The Lady in the Red Hat," brings together three people connected to the city's most terrifying murder case. Newspaper columnist Mitch Mitchell has been writing psychological analyses of the serial killer known as the 13th Apostle, who has murdered five women in three months, each wearing something red. When Mitch receives an anonymous note promisin...

Originally Aired: August 16, 1955 Suspense #611, "A Study in Wax," Jack and Larry Cabell, two men working for the Canadian Geodetic Survey, face seven months of isolation in the frozen Northwest Territory. When their radio shack burns down in late October, they lose their only connection to the outside world, leaving them with just a small transmitter on a fixed channel. Cabell struggles with the...

Originally Aired: August 9, 1955 Suspense #610, "Love, Honor or Murder," cab driver Harry rushes home with an unexpected discovery: a wallet containing twelve thousand dollars left behind by one of his regular fares, prominent news commentator Sidney Walker. While Harry knows he must return the money to his company before Walker reports it missing, his wife Helen sees a different opportunity. What...

Originally Aired: August 2, 1955 In Suspense #609, “Black Death,” Dr. Gebhardt, director of a biological research institute, faces every scientist’s worst nightmare when an infected laboratory cat escapes into a crowded city carrying the deadly plague bacillus. As panic threatens to erupt, police launch a desperate citywide manhunt while the doctor races against time to prevent an epidemic. But th...

Originally Aired: July 26, 1955 Suspense #608, "The Greatest Thief in the World," presents a puzzling case from Scotland Yard's files. An elusive criminal known only as the Squire has been stealing jewels from wealthy estates for five years, amassing half a million pounds without leaving a shred of evidence. When Sir Leslie Banbridge's safe is cracked after a shooting party, Peter Marriott is amon...

Originally Aired: July 19, 1955 Suspense #607, "Backseat Driver," stars Vivi Janice and Parley Bear as Ellie and Joe, an ordinary couple returning home to the San Fernando Valley after catching a movie in Beverly Hills. As they drive through the dark, quiet Coldwater Canyon, they listen to news reports about Lewis Matrick, a vicious killer who murdered an entire family in New Hampshire and has jus...

Originally Aired: July 12, 1955 Suspense #606, "Kaleidoscope," presents Ray Bradbury's haunting tale of catastrophe in the void of space. When a routine cargo run goes terribly wrong, Captain Hollis and his crew of the third-class spaceship face their worst nightmare as a malfunctioning rocket tube explodes, tearing their vessel apart. The survivors—including Hollis, Stone, Applegate, Lespair, and...

Originally Aired: July 5, 1955 Suspense #605, "The Cave-In," brings listeners deep underground into a Welsh coal mine where a cave-in has trapped four miners—and one of them has been murdered. When rescuers make contact with the trapped men, shotfire man David Owen delivers shocking news: Ivor Williams is dead, and it's murder, not accident. Inspector Glid arrives to investigate and learns that Wi...

Originally Aired: June 28, 1955 In Suspense #604, "The Holdout," twelve jurors gather in a stuffy deliberation room to decide the fate of Clyde Avery, a man accused of murdering his wife's lover. The first ballot reveals an eleven-to-one split for conviction, but as the hours wear on, doubt begins to spread through the jury room. Mr. Donovan, initially appearing uncertain, starts quietly approachi...

Originally Aired: June 21, 1955 Suspense #603, "Over the Bounding Main," Marty Evans and his dissatisfied wife Claire embark on what should be a simple fishing trip to Catalina Island to meet their wealthy friends, the Warrens. Claire constantly berates Marty for his financial struggles, comparing him unfavorably to their more successful acquaintances. They board the fishing boat Pelican in the pr...