Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 14 of 31: "The Undead"

As I once indicated in my list Various Venerable Vampires of Various Value in Vintage Radio, vampires were somewhat scarce in old-time radio. Although Inner Sanctum's host loved to crack jokes about vampires, they seldom flashed a fang in the program itself. A rare and welcome exception is "The Undead," which was originally broadcast December 18, 1945. In this story, a woman begins to wonder about her husband, an actor who only seems to work by night; then she finds an old obituary in his name -- and she begins to worry that he plans to make her one of the living dead.

I blogged about Ernie Colon's comic book version of this story here.

"The Undead" was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Anne Seymour. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 13 of 31: "The Dark Chamber"

When it comes to horror on Inner Sanctum Mysteries, it's hard to get more basic than the episode "The Dark Chamber." It was first broadcast December 11, 1945 and concerns an army veteran who finds himself trapped in a room by a mad scientist who is intent on studying fear by inflicting terror upon his prisoners. In other words, the mad scientist is doing the same thing as the program's writers -- trying to scare his audience. It's a pretty far-fetched episode but man, the actors are committed in their performances!

The script to this episode was recycled on Murder at Midnight on May 26, 1947. This episode was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Ken Lynch. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here. Dare to compare! You can hear the Murder at Midnight version here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 12 of 31: "Portrait of Death"

In the Inner Sanctum story "Portrait of Death" (originally broadcast June 12, 1945), a painting seems to predict death in the home of its owner. A woman who hints at the painting's power keeps trying to acquire it... could she be the killer?

This episode was hosted by Paul McGrath and the cast included Lesley Woods, Santos Ortega and Berry Kroeger. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 11 of 31: "Death Across the Board"

For many years, Inner Sanctum Mysteries had been hosted by Raymond Edward Johnson; this episode features another famous 'Raymond' -- Raymond Massey! In "Death Across the Board", which was first broadcast June 5, 1945, Massey plays a fan of chess who discovers a criminal mastermind has decided to play a real-life game of chess using live human beings as the pieces -- and now Massey has been put into the game!

The script to this episode was recycled on Murder at Midnight on November 16, 1946; it was one of a handful of Inner Sanctum scripts which were recycled on Murder at Midnight. This episode was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Raymond Massey. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here. Dare to compare! You can hear the Murder at Midnight version here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 10 of 31: "Musical Score"

One of the strengths of Inner Sanctum Mysteries was how they would frequently make music part of their story. In "Musical Score", originally broadcast May 29, 1945, a man on a life raft can't stand the song a man is humming to his wife. The man sends both of them to a watery grave. Some time later he begins to kill off the other people who were on the raft so he can conceal his guilt, but the tune he heard on the raft still haunts his mind.

With this episode, Paul McGrath became the host of Inner Sanctum Mystery. Fans used to confuse him with Raymond Edward Johnson; although he essentially played the same character, he's only ever referred to as "Mr. Host". The cast includes Berry Kroeger, Santos Ortega and Arnold Moss. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 9 of 31: "The Black Art"

Inner Sanctum Mysteries loved to hint at the supernatural but seldom followed through. All the same, the supernatural menace in many of their stories is a great source of tension and suspense. Such a program is "The Black Art", which was first broadcast May 15, 1945. In this tale, a convict is visited by a woman who claims to have supernatural powers and offers to rescue him from death!

This was the final episode of Inner Sanctum Mysteries to be hosted by Raymond Edward Johnson. Simone Simon stars. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month day 8 of 31: "The Girl and the Gallows"

Today's I'm looking back at the Inner Sanctum episode "The Girl and the Gallows", which was originally broadcast May 1, 1945. This episode has strong supernatural overtones as a woman's stepmother foretells the woman's death upon the gallows. Everything she predicts seems to come true...

This episode was hosted by Raymond Edward Johnson and starred Wendy Barrie. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.