The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

Close your eyes as this episode of Quiet Please guides you to “The Room Where the Ghosts Live”! In this story, a man slowly dying from a gunshot tells his tale to a doctor. According to this dying man, he’s opened a secret room in his historic home and released several ghosts who died there. How did this spectral encounter lead to his gunshot wound? Can he trust these messages from beyond? Would t...

Join us as we listen to a diabolical tale entitled, “A Horror Story,” from CBS Radio Mystery Theater! The story’s narrator guides us through an abandoned building to find a long lost journal hidden within a wall. This journal contains the tale of a chef tasked with preparing a meal for royalty. What follows is a series of events so monstrous, the narrator can barely bring himself to tell the tale....

We’re traveling boldly into our Listener Library for an episode of Escape recommended to us by Caden. Thanks, Caden! This story, “The Grove of Ashtaroth,” is adapted from a short story by John Buchan. It tells the story of two men who stumbled upon a strange grove of trees in Africa. One is so enchanted by the area, he decides to remain there and make it his new home. When the other returns three...

All rise for “The Incredible Trial of Laura D. Fair” from Crime Classics! We’re listening to this true crime tale of a woman who grows impatient waiting for a marriage proposal from her older gentleman caller. Why is this man hesitant to ask for her hand? How bizarre will her trial get? Why was there a post-shooting tooting? Listen for yourself and find out!

It’s time to listen to another episode of The Clock! This week we’re checking out an episode entitled “The Hitchhiker,” about a traveling salesman driving across Utah who agrees to help out a young woman looking for a ride. But along the way, unexpected complications may be putting one or both of them in deadly peril! Is either one of them hiding a secret from the other? What is waiting for them a...

Orson Welles stars in the “The Marvelous Barastro,” an episode of Suspense about a carnival magician who marries a blind but ill-omened woman. He also plays the role of a rival magician who becomes a companion to the couple. How extreme will their rivalry go? Is Welles an acting genius or an indulgent ham? Who among the hosts will win the title of First Dumb? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week, our Patreon supporter Ryan has sent us down to our Listener Library for a series we’ve never checked out before, Tales of the Texas Rangers! Based (to some degree) on true cases, the series stars Joel McCrea as Texas Ranger Jace Pearson and in this episode, “Double Edge,” he’s assigned the case of a brazen pair of bank robbers. How much like Dragnet is this show? Can Pearson track down...

All aboard for mystery, adventure, and romance with The Adventures of the Abbotts! In this episode, “The Blue Rocket Express,” Pat and Jean Abbott’s travel plans are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a dead body, leading them on a cross country race to find a bacterial weapon! Who killed this man? Why won’t Pat try to get help from the police or the FBI? Can old radio improve your love life?...

This week we’re listening to an episode of Inner Sanctum Mystery featuring Boris Karloff. “The Corridor of Doom,” features a man who wakes up after a medical procedure he doesn’t recall surrounded by a medical staff he doesn’t know. And even as he struggles to understand his surroundings, the strange medicine they prescribe him gives him nightmares of a hallway where each doorway has a name. How d...

It’s time for another stuggle with the enigmatic artistry of Scott Bishop’s Dark Fantasy, this time with an episode entitled “The Curse of the Neanderthal.” A painter is desperate to contact her sister after being rescued from a strange mishap. Was she saved by a ghost? Was it a swerf? Will any of that matter by the end? Listen for yourself and find out! 

Join us for Escape’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s short story, “Poison.” William Conrad and Jack Webb star in this story of an encounter with a deadly krait snake. But one man’s chances of survival are diminished by his own prejudices! Will he survive the night? How does the adaptation compare to others? Why does this podcast smell like tires? What flavor of Slurpee requires a note from a parent or...

This week’s episode features a performance by Eva le Gallienne in an episode of Suspense entitled “Phobia.” She plays a wealthy woman with a strange and severe phobia. Between caring for her shoplifting sister and appeasing her maid, this woman becomes targeted by blackmail and theft. Can she navigate these threats despite her condition? Does something seem off about the story’s conclusion? Why do...

Once again, we’re checking out a series we haven’t listened to before. This time it’s The Adventures of the Falcon! This episode, “The Widow’s Gorilla,” features private detective Michael Waring’s hunt for a suicide note that might or might not exist which could prove or disprove a murder that may or may not have happened. How much money could this note be worth? Who or what is the widow’s gorilla...

There’s an episode of The Shadow that’s been waiting for us in the Listener Library and this week our Patreon supporter James has sent us to go get it! Thanks, James! “Hypnotic Death” features Lamont Cranston stumbling on to a madman’s plot to combine hypnotism, murder, and insurance fraud. But even the Shadow might be overwhelmed by this opponent. Can Lamont save an innocent man from an accusatio...

This week is a double-feature exploration of Anthony Boucher’s story, “They Bite,” featuring a reading of the original by our own Joshua and the adaptation produced by Nightfall! The story features a mysterious loner in the desert camped out by an adobe ruin. The locals claim this ruin is the home to some mysterious entity that kills those who come to close. Folks cannot give this threat a name, b...

This week, we’re listening to an episode of Suspense entitled “Fragile Contents Death,” recommended to us by our Patreon supporter Cole! Thanks, Cole! The story features a postmaster who receives word that a time bomb is hidden somewhere in all the items passing through his post office. He and his staff only have a few hours to find the explosive, and it will detonate if the package is opened! How...

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...