The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

We now complete our trilogy of actors who starred in  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar  during its initial run! This time, we’re listening to “The Chicago Fraud Matter” featuring John Lund in the title role! This story features an investigation into the sudden death of a life insurance policy holder. But the dead man seemed to have not been healthy enough to be approved for his insurance. Did he fool th...

Our Patreon listener Mark recommended we pay a visit to our Listener Library to check out “The April Fool’s Day Adventure” from The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ! Thanks, Mark! In this episode, Watson recounts one of his earliest escapades with the famed detective, in which the doctor joins a conspiracy to make Holmes the target of an April Fool’s prank. But when the joke becomes a genuine cr...

Richard Widmark stars as a drifter named Jefferson in this episode of Suspense , “Too Hot to Live”! On a blisteringly hot summer day, Jefferson wanders into a small town only to lose his shoes and find a world of trouble. Did he commit the murder that he’s accused of committing? If not, is there any way to prove his innocence? What is Eric’s favorite book of the Bible? Listen for yourself and find...

We are two-thirds of the way through our tour of actors who starred in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar during its initial run! This time, Edmond O’Brien is our titular investigator with the action-packed expense account in a story entitled “The Queen Anne Pistols Matter.” This episode sees Dollar hired to accompany the delivery of a pair of antique pistols. Why was the original courier attacked? What m...

For this episode, our Patreon supporter Ryan joins your hosts Eric, Tim, Joshua, and special guest host Shanan live on stage at the Bryant-Lake Bowl ! Ryan has brought us “A Shipment of Mute Fate,” an episode of Escape featuring Jack Webb as a passenger transporting dangerous cargo aboard a ship at sea! What deadly thing watches from inside this crate? What dangers threaten everyone aboard if it s...

We’re once again calling Candy Matson, YUkon 2-8209 ! In what may be her final case, Candy discovers that her beau, Lt. Mallard, may be the target of her investigation. After Mallard is behaving suspiciously, Candy secretly follows him only to discover a dead body! Is Mallard truly up to something illegal? Is this truly her last case? Is their love truly rooted in cold-blooded disdain for human li...

Arch Oboler takes us deep into the oceanic depths for this episode of Lights Out entitled “Bathysphere,” recommended to us by our Patreon supporter, Mark. Thanks, Mark! The story features an authoritarian leader attempting to dive down to a record-breaking depth beneath the ocean’s surface. Accompanied only by a doctor experienced in such dives, his excellency finds this life and death journey, “v...

We return to test our courage and our sanity in the mysterious dream realm of Dark Fantasy for an episode entitled, “Men Call Me Mad”! The story features a scientist who has discovered a strange other world and the means to transport himself there. What adventures await him there? What unforeseen challenges must he face when he returns? Is this the pinnacle of an uncompromising artist’s work or in...

Our Patreon supporter, Zach, recommended we listen to “The Thing in Cabin 105” from Beyond Midnight , and we did! Thanks, Zach! The production adapts F. Marion Crawford’s short story, The Upper Berth , which tells the story of a passenger aboard a cruise ship whose cabin seems to have unnatural effects on its inhabitants. But even after being advised to relocate, this passenger is determined to fi...

We’re diving far back into the history of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar to listen to “The Little Man Who Wasn’t All There” featuring the first actor to play the iconic insurance investigator on the air, Charles Russell! The story features a man who claims to be taking revenge on an insurance company by killing off their clients! It’s up to Dollar to prove the crimes and put an end to the deaths! How...

It’s another trip to our Listener Library! This time we’re checking out “First Contact” from X Minus One , recommended to us by our Patreon support, Mark. Thanks, Mark! The story features the initial meeting between Earthlings and aliens, who find themselves trapped in a détente, each unable to understand or trust the other. Can their mutual destruction be avoided? Can they understand each other’s...

We’ve returned to The Chase ! In this episode, an American reporter who has made himself unwelcome in Russia finds himself traveling by train to Nuremberg, sharing a car with an important figure in Soviet politics. After speaking together, the reporter soon finds himself in the custody of Russian agents. What information did he learn from that conversation? Will the Russians be able to keep him on...

For our first proper episode of the new year, we left the decision to fate! We chose at random from a collection of New Years’ themed episodes and wound up listening to “The First Year,” from The Whistler ! The story features a wedded couple whose marriage began on New Year’s Eve and ended with murder exactly one year later. What legal machinations turned the wife against her husband? Is a random...

We’re starting the new year off with a sneak peek at what awaits listeners when they become one of our Patreon supporters! Our current members voted on their favorite bonus content in the past year and this episode of Frontier Gentleman , “Random Notes,” tied for the top selection! Our supporters on Patreon already know what the other bonus episode was and if you want to find out, go to patreon.co...

Happy New Year’s Eve! It’s that heartwarming time of year when we gather around the tunnel and try to discern the ghostly message being relayed from beyond. It’s another adaptation of Charles Dickens’ other famous ghost story, “The Signal-Man”! This year we gather in The Weird Circle for their version which they retitled, “The Thing in the Tunnel.” As before, this story depicts a curious stranger...

We’re spending Boxing Day with Lurene Tuttle in this Suspense episode, “The Tip”! In this production, she plays a devoted wife being held at gunpoint by a desperate man. This intruder intends to kill her husband as revenge for crimes unknown to her. As the two wait for his intended victim to come home, she engages her captor in a battle of wills. Can she outwit this man to escape? Has her husband...

Thanksgiving has passed but it’s too soon for Christmas, and that means it’s time for leftovers! Specifically, it means another live Q&A at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in which special guest Shanan Custer asks your Mysterious Old Hosts all the leftover questions from our previous Q&A ! Tim, Eric, and Joshua share their opinions about classic monster movies and their earliest stage performances. W...

We were joined by Shanan Custer for this live recording of our podcast at the Bryant-Lake Bowl ! She brought a couple episodes of Ceiling Unlimited for us to check out! The series features Orson Welles in patriotic tales of flight sponsored by Lockheed-Vega! The first of these two scripts was written by Lucille Fletcher and features the military’s response to the endless variety of gremlins that b...

This week’s episode, “The Target” was the penultimate episode of Escape and featured Whitfield Connor as Vic Kennedy, a hard-boiled insurance investigator scouring South America to track down a man named Arthur Matson. Soon the case leads Vic to a dead body and a femme fatale, as well as deceptions and accusations. Will he track down his target? Was Vic complicit in Matson’s escape? Is this guy wo...

And with this, Joshua finally concludes his trilogy of ape-themed episodes of The Shadow with “The House of Horror”! The story features a kidnapped gorilla, a fortune teller, and a series of wealthy young socialites who vanish in a taxidermist’s shop! And a plot happens! What will young women be willing to do to find a piece of lost jewelry? How does a scientist reach this point in his career? How...

Our thanks to our Patreon supporter, Lance, who suggested this week’s episode, “Little Old Lady” from Lights Out ! Thanks, Lance! The story features a young college student and her friend paying an unannounced visit to her elderly aunt. But once there, the two find themselves menaced by a large cat and their aunt is behaving strangely. What’s really going on in this house? Does this remind you of...

Happy Halloween! We’re celebrating the spooky season with CBS Radio Mystery Theater’s adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”! Kevin McCarthy stars in this story of Roderick Usher, a man consumed by nameless fears even as his sister falls in and out of catatonic states indistinguishable from death. What horrific obsession terrifies the siblings to such an extr...

Our Patreon supporter Zachary sent us to the Listener Library to check out “The Book of Hell” from Nightfall ! Thanks, Zachary! The episode features a publishing house struggling to survive which is presented with a strange manuscript from an author who apparently died two years ago. Allegedly, the text is an actual message from hell! Even as they debate the morality of publishing the text, they d...

This week we’ll be reflecting upon the Screen Director’s Playhouse adaptation of the film , “The Dark Mirror”! Olivia_de_Havilland recreates her dual role as a set of identical twins who come under suspicion for murder. But it’s unclear which was at the scene of the crime, and which had an alibi— and the twins refuse to reveal which was which. The pair are researched in depth by a specialist in th...

For this week’s trip to the Listener Library, one of our Patreon supporters sent us to Mars! Thanks, Mark! We’re listening to Escape’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “The Earth Men”! A band of brave astronauts have arrived on Mars and, while they wait to report back to Earth, they encounter the planet’s inhabitants. But the Martians’ reactions to the newcomers is neither hostility nor the hero’s wel...