Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: February 2, 1953 In Suspense #498, "Plan X," Jack Benny stars as Zeno, an ordinary assembly line worker on Mars who is suddenly summoned by the Grand Council and given an extraordinary assignment. An armed rocket from Earth is approaching Mars, scheduled to land at precisely 10:14 the next morning, and Zeno has been selected to implement the mysterious Plan X. Despite being just...

Originally Aired: January 26, 1953 Suspense #497, "The Spencer Brothers," Richard Widmark stars in this gritty Western tale based on a true story of the Old West. Brothers Jim, John, and Carl Spencer attempt to rob a bank in Dodson, Missouri, believing they're reclaiming money rightfully theirs after returning from the Confederate War to find their family dead and their home burned. When a man nam...

Originally Aired: January 19, 1953 Suspense #496, "Gold on the Adomar," presents the story of Nick, a recently retired Navy diver who has left the service seeking better pay in the civilian salvage world. His plans take an unexpected turn when Carl Foster approaches him with a tantalizing proposition: dive to recover three million dollars in gold from the Adamar, a ship that sank in 1911 and has n...

Originally Aired: January 12, 1953 Suspense #495, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Part Two," continues Charles Dickens' unfinished masterpiece with Herbert Marshall starring as John Jasper, the tormented choirmaster of Cloisterham. On a gray Christmas morning, Jasper discovers that his nephew Edwin Drood has vanished after going to the river the previous night with Neville Landless to watch the storm...

Originally Aired: January 5, 1953 In Suspense #494, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Part One," John Jasper, a music instructor in the sleepy cathedral town of Cloisterham, begins writing what he calls his final confession as his grave is being dug. Through flashback, he recounts the tortured events that led to his doom, beginning with the return of his nephew, Edwin Drood, who has come home to celebr...

Originally Aired: December 29, 1952 Suspense #493, "Melody in Dreams," Detective Lieutenant Royals and Detective Sergeant Shank of the narcotics division respond to an unusual call: Walter Graff has made a citizen's arrest of his own sixteen-year-old daughter, Joan, after discovering marijuana cigarettes hidden in a coffee can in her bedroom. For six months, the police have been desperately trying...

Originally Aired: December 22, 1952 Suspense #492, "Arctic Rescue," stars Joseph Cotten as Gerald Stewart, first mate of the Jessica, a ship embarked on a perilous Arctic expedition. The story begins with a stark contrast: Stewart and Captain Jonathan Blake lie stranded on a desolate ice flow in the Arctic night, waiting helplessly for death. Flashing back to June 1852, we learn how they arrived a...

Originally Aired: December 15, 1952 Suspense #491, "The Man with Two Faces," Detective Lieutenant Gus Palichek of Cleveland's homicide division faces one of his most baffling cases when workers uncover a skeleton in a packing case buried in a building's cellar. The victim had been dead for three years, crammed into a steamer trunk with quicklime, shot twice in the head. As Palichek investigates, h...

Originally Aired: December 8, 1952 Suspense #490, "Joker Wild," presents a chilling portrait of celebrity comedian Harry Malloy, a man desperate to prove he's more than just a clown. After 22 years of making audiences laugh, Malloy has grown obsessed with being taken seriously. To demonstrate his capacity for tragedy rather than comedy, he carefully plans and executes a shocking act: he picks up a...

Originally Aired: December 1, 1952 Suspense #489, "The Big Heist," presents the story of a pool hustler who gets drawn into something far more dangerous than his usual small-time cons. Jim Scott has been working the pool hall circuit, making just enough to get by, when he encounters Martin Collins, an easy mark who turns out to be sizing him up for an entirely different game. After a police raid a...

Originally Aired: November 24, 1952 In Suspense #488, "Man Alive," San Francisco columnist Man Jackson finds himself drawn into a dangerous mystery when Mama Caruso pleads for his help at her waterfront restaurant. Her cousin Tony Colucci, a concertina player who entertains passengers on the Oakland ferry, has been viciously attacked. While performing on the foggy deck of the six o'clock boat, Ton...

Originally Aired: November 17, 1952 Suspense #487, "Death and Miss Turner," stars Agnes Moorehead as Rachel Turner, a woman who insists she is dead yet somehow goes out for a walk with her companion, Miss Briggs. Rachel struggles with fragmented memories and a determination to remain "dead," resisting Miss Briggs's efforts to draw out information about her past. During their outing in London, they...

Originally Aired: November 10, 1952 Suspense #486, "The Frightened City," stars Frank Lovejoy as Nick Crawford, a soldier returning home from war only to discover his brother-in-law Johnny has been murdered on Main Street. Nick finds his sister Janie living in terror, having received threatening notes warning that what happened to Daddy can happen to their baby son. Johnny was shot down while walk...

Originally Aired: November 3, 1952 In Suspense #485, "Frankenstein," Dr. Victor Frankenstein visits his friend James, a minister, with a confession that will shake them both to their core. Victor has been conducting secret experiments for three years, ever since he briefly revived a dead dog with a mysterious compound. Now he's created something far more ambitious: a complete human body, stitched...

Originally Aired: October 27, 1952 Suspense #484, "Allen in Wonderland," stars Cornell Wilde as Mr. Stone, a South Carolina attorney who becomes entangled in a mysterious criminal plot while waiting for a train at Pennsylvania Station. After missing his train back to Greenville, Stone is approached by an attractive young woman who mistakes him for someone else and delivers a cryptic message using...

Originally Aired: October 20, 1952 Suspense #483, "The Death of Barbara Allen," Anne Baxter stars in this haunting retelling of the classic folk ballad set in the windswept coastal town of Scarlet. Barbara Allen, a spirited young woman, meets her lover Will secretly on the stormy strand, defying the expectations of her disapproving father and the affections of Sean, the local shopkeeper who desire...

Originally Aired: October 13, 1952 Suspense #482, "How Long Is the Night," presents the harrowing true story of a man stranded alone on a desolate Pacific island in the aftermath of atomic bomb testing. Warner, a military photographer, recounts the weeks he and his team spent documenting the devastating effects of nuclear tests at Eniwetok Atoll. Along with cameramen Joe Harrison and Bert Picelli,...

Originally Aired: October 6, 1952 Suspense #481, "The Diary of Dr Pritchard," presents the chilling true story of a Victorian-era physician who uses his medical knowledge for sinister purposes. Dr. Edward Pritchard appears to be a devoted family man, meticulously recording his thoughts in a diary while tending to his household. When the upstairs maid Lily dies in what Pritchard claims is a tragic...

Originally Aired: September 29, 1952 Suspense #480, "Vidocq's Final Case," brings the legendary French detective out of retirement when Paris is plagued by a series of audacious robberies. The aging Vidocq, once the celebrated Commissioner of the Sûreté, has been reduced to touring provincial variety shows when he encounters Inspector Williams from Scotland Yard. Williams is in France to assist Co...

Originally Aired: September 22, 1952 Suspense #479, "Jack Ketch," presents the dark world of John Price, a man whose very name has become synonymous with death itself. As London's public hangman, Price finds himself shunned and despised by everyone around him. At the Blue Ball tavern, patrons fall silent or mock him cruelly, calling him "Jack Ketch," the infamous nickname for executioners. Even th...

Originally Aired: June 9, 1952 Suspense #477, "Concerto for Killer and Eye Witnesses," Detective Sergeant Jesse Crandall and his partner Abe Delaney are escorting condemned murderer Edward Sitko to the state penitentiary at Joliet to await execution. Sitko, who was convicted of killing the wrong man under orders from a criminal named Dallas Kenyon, seethes with rage during the train journey. When...

Originally Aired: June 2, 1952 Suspense #476, "A Good and Faithful Servant," stars Jack Benny as Harold Fenton, a meek bookkeeper who has spent nearly thirty years working at Waterman's department store. After being locked in a vault for fourteen harrowing hours during a robbery, Fenton emerges as an unlikely hero. Two masked bandits made off with $50,000, and while the police lieutenant questions...

Originally Aired: May 26, 1952 Suspense #475, "The Death of Me," stars George Murphy as Harry Sawyer, a World War II veteran struggling with what doctors call battle fatigue—an overwhelming, imaginary fear he can't quite shake. Seeking fresh air and hard work to get a grip on his condition, Harry takes a job at a remote lumber camp in the backwoods town of McCabe, bringing along his pretty wife Sa...

Originally Aired: May 19, 1952 Suspense #474, "The Flight of the Bumblebee," Lieutenant Colonel Hutchin Stone commands a B-29 bomber crew on what should be a routine strategic bombing mission over Korea. As the Bumblebee serves as lead ship of the 236th Wing, Stone reflects on his crew and their morale during the long flight to their target, a railroad center. Bombardier Max struggles with the mor...

Originally Aired: May 12, 1952 Suspense #473, "The Missing Person," presents the baffling true story of Joseph Ebner, a 38-year-old concert violinist and concertmaster of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. On the evening of March 10th, 1948, Ebner kisses his wife Martha goodbye, drives to the Civic Auditorium for a performance, and moments before the concert begins, excuses himself to retrieve so...