Suspense - Dead Ernest
I hope that you are enjoying our latest addition of episodes of Suspense. We are so excited to be adding them to RUSC.
In every survey we have ever done on episodes of Suspense, Sorry Wrong Number, On a Country Road and Three Skeleton Key have ranked as the all time favorites and most scary and suspenseful.
With this in mind Joy and I came up with some other favorite well written scary and suspenseful episodes which you may not have listened to or consider as contenders for best show and added them in our recent poll opposite.
One of those episodes, a firm favorite of mine is Dead Ernest, which was so good it was featured three times during the Suspense run, 8th August 1946 and 8th May1947 starring Wally Maher and in March 1949 it was remade starring Pat O'Brien.
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 note at all times inside his coat pocket stating that he is a cataleptic and that in the event of seeming death his wife or Doctor should be notified. The letter also requested that no autopsy or embalming should be performed on his body for 72 hours although in his particular case the duration of the attacks were usually four hours or less. Ernest Bowers also wore a sterling silver bracelet with an inscription reading do not embalm me I am not dead. Unfortunately, somebody steals the jacket containing the letter as Ernest lays injured and the silver bracelet he wore had snapped and fallen to the pavement and is picked up by two children.
You are left in complete Suspense at the prospect that Ernest will not wake up in time and be embalmed alive or worse have an autopsy carried out on him. I found myself shouting at the radio, "no no, stop, his nose twitched!" And the last line, I'm sure that's exactly the line Joy would have said ha ha.
Suspense is a series, which rarely disappointed. We currently have 900 episodes live and available to listen to right now on RUSC and here is a list of the brand new episode we are adding including the final broadcast:-
1942.12.22 Two Sharp Knives starring Stuart Erwin
1949.11.17 Red Headed Woman starring Lucille Ball
1951.04.19 The Rescue starring Jimmy Stewart
1955.03.22 The Cellar starring Eric Snowden
1962.04.08 Let There Be Light starring Ivor Francis
1962.09.09 Strange Day In May starring William Mason
1962.09.16 Golden Years starring Ivor Francis
1962.09.30 Devilstone (Final Broadcast)
We will be also adding a few others, which are repeats but still important to keep the collection complete in chronological order.
Be sure to join in the poll opposite and add your review and comments to any of the episodes you listen to.
Happy listening my friends,
