Short Story Theater

Early Sci-Fi from the 1800s - The Damned Thing. A tale of invisibility written by Ambrose Bierce which may have been the inspiration for a work 50 years later by H P Lovecraft.

They went North to Alaska in 1897 to seek Gold. A few found it. Many others found only a frozen, hard death. Sam McGhee was one of those dying prospectors whose last wish was to be warm one final time.

Bill Russo, whose account of his meeting with a 'Puckwudgie' was one of the highlights of the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary, takes you on a ride through the unknown in, "Welcome to the World of the Paranormal"

At a premier university in Northern New Hampshire, Professor Winslow is ready to deliver his first lecture of the new school year - he has no idea that his first class, will also be, his last class.

On Leftover Main Street in Cape Cod, there is a sign above a stark storefront that says simply, "Gable Stone - Services Rendered". When something is too tough for the police, or perhaps too illegal for same, Cape Codders in the know, head for Gabe's little shop next to The Downtown Tap, for solutions to just about any problem.

Not quite a death-bed confession, but at age 90 and knowing there will be no birthday cake with 91 candles for him, an old man reveals a dark secret that he has kept hidden in the deepest part of his mind for almost seven decades.

The greatest Sci Fi series ever seen, was viewed in the theater of the mind - old time radio - under the title of X-Minus-One. Here is a little-known episode of that series

The legendary Wampum Belt, a priceless Native American treasure, thought to be lost for centuries, was actually in a tepee on THE FIFTH FLOOR of a museum.

Chapter two of the iconic, original Winnie the Pooh collection of stories, as enacted by Basil Nightingale of Short Story Theater. You can also view this episode on the Bill Russo YouTube channel to see the original illustrations.

Chapter One of Winnie The Pooh, from the original book published nearly a century ago. Read by Basil Nightingale.

"The House of the Past" Notes by Bill Russo. Some dreams are more than dreams. So lifelike, they seem real. Such is the case with the surreal musings of Algernon Blackwood, as described by Chiquito Crasto of Australia for Episode 14 of Season 3 of Short Story Theater.

A deranged maniac is murdering people with a weapon that matches their name. Mr. Hammer was killed with a hammer. Mr. Gunn was shot with a pistol. Retired Cape Cod Police Chief Rick Bates is summoned from his barstool in Key West and asked to return to New England to use his 'Baits' to apprehend the "Name Game Killer".

A lonely, older woman standing by the edge of her private beach on Cape Cod, sees a young man emerge from the waves. He approaches her. Is he a fortune hunter, a serial killer, or the Fountain of Youth?

Short Story Theater takes a page from the David/Seinfeld book and presents "Five Minutes of Wasted Talk While Waiting for a Bus"

In a tiny New Hampshire village, the hand of a mass murderer was chopped off at the wrist, after he was hanged. The body remained buried but the gruesome hand, finger-walks all around town trying to strangle everyone within reach!

The strangest tale you will hear this year. Two strangers meet at the very top of the United States in Maine and begin an adventure that takes them to the bottom of the U.S. near Miami - where the saga ends in both life and death.

Everyone needs a second chance. Sometimes it comes early, sometimes late, and sometimes not at all. For Jose Mendez, it came at TEN!

A chilling tale of a middle-aged man who finally gets the courage to face his worst childhood fears, with an eerie result.

The Producer and Director of Short Story Theater, Bill Russo, tells about his two weeks as a player on the roster of the World Champion Boston Red Sox.

A retired "Yankee" from New England travels to "Old" England to research his family tree. Renting a long abandoned mansion for solitude, he soon finds that the rundown, eerie place is haunted.

For many people Halloween is not just one day in late October, but a whole season that begins as soon as summer fades away and lasts until the Jack-O-Lantern is replaced by a Christmas Tree - this story is for them!

Hank Williams On The Inside takes you to back 1951, in the studios of WSM radio, where Hank Williams is about to premier his new song, Cold Cold Heart - but the story of the sad incident that led to him writing the song, is colder than the song itself - details on the inside...

The amazing, true tale of Phineas P. Gage who survived having a 13 pound iron bar shot through his brain.

Season 3 of Short Story Theater kicks off with the story of Swilling's Mills which may soon become the biggest city in the United States.

A small 350 acre pond in Bridgewater, called The Nip, may be the deadliest place in the entire Bridgewater Triangle. Once, hundreds if not thousands of people swam in its quiet waters, before mysterious drownings forced swimming to be forever banned. Now the deadliest location in the Bridgewater Triangle, may also be the most deserted place in the Triangle! Join Bill Russo in the summer of 2021 an...