The Results Are In...

Shall I give you a clue who the winner is? Here's the series introduction...

"the hushed voice and the prowling step … the stir of nerves at the ticking of the clock … the rescue that might be too late, or the murderer who might get away … we invite you to enjoy stories that keep you in … Suspense…”

Yes, you guessed it! The series is Suspense, and the overwhelming winner of the poll for the number one spine-chilling old time radio show is undeniably, a creepy classic!  

On A Country Road

You are driving along a country road. The traffic is starting to back-up and a storm is brewing. All you need to complete the scene is a lunatic on the run after butchering a doctor, a nurse and a ward attendant with a meat cleaver in the nearby mental hospital. 

This is a classic killer-on-the-loose story starring Cary Grant and a superb example of just how gripping old time radio shows can be.

Here's a list of all the runners-up:-

Sorry, Wrong Number

Sorry Wrong number is the dramatic and tense story of an invalid woman, Mrs Stevenson who is all alone at home and trying desperately to contact her husband by telephone. When she contacts the operator to connect her she accidentally overhears a conversation about death and strives frantically to prevent murder from claiming an innocent victim.

You are isolated on a remote plantation in the crawling Amazon Jungle and an immense army of ravenous ants is closing in on you - swarming in to eat you alive. A deadly black army from which there is no escape.

The wireless is interrupted by a special bulletin. "Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen which is moving towards the earth at enormous velocity". What is this unexplained phenomena? Most definitely the most famous radio drama ever broadcast and still as gripping today as ever.

The Thing on the Fourbleboard

A weird tale about a roughneck oil rig worker who was involved in some strange goings on twenty years earlier. Whilst drilling he and one of his colleagues came across some unexpected contents in the core of earth that had been drilled up from several thousand feet underground. Discovering an ornate gold ring amongst the rubble was odd enough, but this paled into insignificance when compared to what came along with it.

Dracula

Columbia gave the famous young Orson Welles the chance to bring his celebrated repertory company from Broadway to "The Broadway of The Air". In this first of these excellent shows you are treated to the most famous horror story in the world, Bram Stokers Dracula. The recording is a little crackly, but even after over 60 years it is still well worth listening to.

Murder Castle

The police pick up a pretty young girl walking down the street saying the same thing over and over again, “Revenge, revenge, revenge…” she’s as crazy as they come. What could have made her crazy like that?

Evening Primrose

You are groping in the midnight dimness of a gigantic department store and suddenly you realize that you are not alone, but a hundred eyes are glaring at you from the shadows and a hundred hands are reaching for your throat and your most urgent desire is to ... Escape! Based on the eerie short story Evening Primrose by John Collier.

Tell-Tale Heart

Charles cannot bear to be in the company of his uncle, his only relative, because he cannot bear to look at his ugly vulture like eye. He is plagued by voices in head If thine eye offends you, pluck it out, voices which he cannot ignore, voices which tell him he must kill his uncle at midnight and then his senses sharpened in his minds ear the rhythmic beating of the old man’s heart, beating out his last breath.

Dead Ernest

Ernest Bowers is badly injured in a car accident, but there is a problem. Earnest is a cataleptic. Catalepsy is a disease of the nerves and mind. The physical conditions when a cataleptic has a spell closely resemble death and include the primary stages of rigor mortis. Ernest carries a special medallion informing whoever reads it that he is a cataleptic and although, in the event of an accident, he may appear dead he is isn't and must not be embalmed. He also carries a letter giving instructions as to what must happen. Unfortunately, somebody steals the jacket containing the letter and the medallion as Ernest lays injured. Will Ernest wake up in time or will he be embalmed alive?

Those shows alone should keep you very busy over Halloween, but don't forget that you can also listen to a non-stop stream of spooktacular shows by listening to RUSC Halloween Radio!