The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

As we discussed in episode 405, "The Hat, the Bed, and John J. Catherine," from Quiet Please , our first attempt at a secret episode for our Patreon supporters was featured “Hat on a Bed,” from the series Origin of Superstition. Unfortunately, the recording had a few sound issues (including Tim having a cold) so we redid our inaugural episode with a different show to discuss. For the curious who a...

This week we’re diving into one the final episodes of Quiet Please, “The Hat, the Bed, and John J. Catherine”! An eccentric aspiring actor, relegated to the position of a stage hand, sees a hat on a bed onstage. Convinced that the omen foretells death, he walks away from his job into a strange, dreamlike state. Did he indeed experience a preview of death? What hidden meanings live within his theat...

This week we bravely check out an episode Dangerous Assignment entitled (arguably) “Investigate Missing Scientists”! Globetrotting adventurer Steve Mitchell is sent to Alaska to track down a former Nazi scientist and an American physicist who appear to have gone missing. Confronted by an unpaid hotel bill and a wide range of dialects, Mitchell will stop at nothing to solve this mystery! What happe...

This week we’re exploring another episode of Vanishing Point entitled “The Cave”! This story, written by and starring W. D. Valgardson, features a young man whose beloved will not marry him due to a mystery in her Icelandic family line. As he searches for the nature of this secret, he suffers from a growing obsession that threatens to swallow him like a boundless dark cave. What is it that haunts...

We’ve been sent to discover “Nasty People” in our Listener Library! It’s an episode of Frontier Gentleman recommended to us by our Patreon supporter Melissa. Thanks, Melissa! In this story, Kendall needs to stop for the night in Kansas, relying on the hospitality of a small family. But he’s warned to be careful around them and their daughter seems haunted by unseen forces. Is there truly something...

Every year or so, we get struck by the impulse to listen to a radio adaptation of Charles Dickens’ other famous ghost story, “The Signal-Man”! And, what do you know, it happened again! This year we head up North for the CBC Radio Mystery Theatre version! As before, this story depicts a curious stranger who encounters a rail worker beset by visions. Why does he seem to be receiving some otherworldl...

It’s our 400th episode! And we are celebrating by revisiting the first series featured on our podcast, Suspense! All those years ago, our first episode featured The House in Cypress Canyon, but this time we’re listening to “Fury and Sound,” a story that both roasts and pays tribute to William Spier (and other radio luminaries)! (For more details about this episode, check out what The Suspense Proj...

We continue our count down to episode 400 by revisiting the first three series featured on our podcast! This time we’re checking out an episode of Lights Out, the series Eric brought for our second episode! The title of this story is “Until Dead” and it features a man bent on vengeance after he’s been framed for murdering his own wife. Despite everything that stands in his way, he will stop at not...

We are counting down to episode 400 by revisiting the first three series featured on our podcast! We start with The Price of Fear, the series Tim brought for our third episode! This time we’re listening to “Is There Anybody There”! The story depicts a spiritualist and her attempt to contact a man’s late wife. But her spirit guide seems focused on other matters and her own theatrical background sug...

BUHN DA-DUHN DUHN! It’s Dragnet! This week, we’ve gone back to our Listener Library for an episode of the iconic series recommended to us by our Patreon member Jack. Thanks, Jack! The story, entitled “The Big Thank You,” features Joe Friday’s investigation into a paroled murdereress with some irregularities regarding her paperwork. The more he investigates, the more suspicious she seems! Is she th...

When the days grow short and the air grows cold, it’s time for Fear on Four! This week we’re listening their adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “The Judge’s House”! The story features a student moving into a rat-infested home as he prepares for upcoming exam. But something worse than rats is waiting for him in the night! Why has this house sat empty for so long? What secret lies within the dust-covered p...

It’s time for us to place our bets with The Croupier as we listen to the series’ only surviving episode, “The Roman,” starring Vincent Price! The story features a husband and wife whose marriage is struggling when they suddenly find themselves lost at sea. Once there, their fate becomes strangely entwined with a mysterious Roman centurion! What does this somber Roman want? Can these disparate stor...

We’re paying our first visit to the South African series, High Adventure! This episode, entitled “Keeper of the Tomb,” features a team of scientists who set out to explore the bottom of a pit on a South African farm, where an impossible archeological tomb awaits them. How could this ancient civilization have existed in such an odd location? Once there, what terrible bargain will these explorers ma...

This time we’re listening to a chilling installment of Escape entitled “Taboo”! Based on a story by Geoffrey Household, this episode features a man returning to his ancestral homeland in the rural forests of Eastern Europe where he befriends a couple who are also visiting. But their vacation takes a dark turn when some of the villagers go missing and whispers of a werewolf begin to spread. Is ther...

We celebrated Halloween season with The Shadow! In this episode, “The Mark of the Bat,” Lamont and Margo investigate a mysterious death, possibly the result of a vampire attack! The victim’s daughter looks to Margo to help her escape from a mad scientist with access to a bat-filled grotto! Can The Shadow bring this criminal to justice? What sort of obstacle will it take to interrupt The Shadow’s r...

We’ve finally reached the finale of “Bury Your Dead, Arizona,” from I Love a Mystery! In these last three episodes, a grave is disturbed and the time to leave this tiny town has come. It’s time to discover what’s actually happening! What is in the coffin that Jack, Doc, and Reggie buried? How has the Maestro achieved all of his apparent miracles? Now that we’ve spent seven episodes on this series,...

It’s out penultimate episode dedicated to “Bury Your Dead, Arizona,” from I Love a Mystery! In parts 11 and 12, a body has been buried and we now know the real crime motivating all these mysteries. For the moment no one can leave this strange little town, but for Jack, Doc, and Reggie, time is running out to find out who is responsible for everything that has happened! Can the Maestro summon girls...

This week, we’ve traveled deep into enigma that is “Bury Your Dead, Arizona,” from I Love a Mystery! In parts 9 and 10, Doc and Reggie reunite with Jack after several events that took place sometime between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one. After reviewing all the facts, Jack leaves his two partners behind so they can keep an eye on the Maestro. Should they do as he asked...

We’re halfway through our ongoing exploration of “Bury Your Dead, Arizona,” from I Love a Mystery! In parts 7 and 8 Jack, Reggie, and Doc are searching the Arizona desert at night, despite the sounds of screams, wolves, and gunshots! And we finally get to meet Jumpin’ Dick’s daughter! Is she lying about him or is her father the liar? What does the Maestro have planned for the next night? Will some...

Our exploration of “Bury Your Dead, Arizona” from I Love a Mystery continues! In parts 5 and 6 Jack, Reggie, and Doc make their way to Dry Gulch Mary’s boarding house and arrange room and board for themselves as well as The Maestro and Nasha! Soon they discover that Mary herself can be very intrusive and the Maestro still plans on calling forth wolves to carry out the curse he placed on the town!...

We continue our journey through “Bury Your Dead, Arizona,” from I Love a Mystery ! In parts 3 and 4 Jack, Reggie, and Doc are still travelling by box car and undergoing strange and inexplicable experiences, all apparently orchestrated by the strange man known as “The Maestro”! But even as bodies disappear and reappear, things grow even more bizarre when they find themselves abandoned in the middle...

Our Mysterious Patron Mark suggested we dive into “Bury Your Dead, Arizona,” one of two stories that survive in their entirety from I Love a Mystery . And we are up for the challenge! The series begins with Jack, Reggie, and Doc hopping a train to avoid both the police and thugs who want the trio’s $25,000! But on the train the discover an even stranger mystery in the form of “The Maestro” and his...

It’s time for us to listen to “The Judas Clock” from Inner Sanctum Mystery ! It’s the story of a man hunting for a cursed clock, an Italian antique that only runs when the silver coins of Judas are placed inside. But his own obsession with this relic is more than historic interest, it is a quest for revenge! Why does the history of this clock include so many deaths? What is the secret of its inner...

We’re paying our first visit to Casey, Crime Photographer with “The Twenty Minute Alibi”! The story features a man who apparently shot himself while on the phone with his insurance provider, confirming that his policy had not yet expired. But when Casey arrives to photograph the body, he suspects that the victim may have been murdered. If it was homicide, who was responsible? How will Casey explai...

Our Mysterious Listener Mark recommended we check out the X Minus One adaptation of William Tenn’s short story, “ The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway “! A struggling poet tells the story of his unscrupulous friend, a terrible visual artist named Morniel Mathaway. But unexpectedly, a stranger arrives hoping to meet the famous and influential icon named Morniel Mathaway! Why would this stranger be so...