"It was an old, black shell of a house. A house that had lived too long. A house where the floors groaned in pain at night, where the windows shuddered at the gentlest touch of the wind. Where door latches suddenly gave up their grip and let the night come sniffing into the house to paw at your eyes and wake you to the other silences that lay around ya."
The story of "Clarissa" is not - as the narrator frequently reminds us - a ghost story. But it's a tale that carries all the earmarks of a ghost story and for that reason, becomes all the more chilling. The mystery of why Clarissa is perpetually hidden from sight comes to a startling resolution in the climax. "Clarissa" features some of the best atmosphere in all of Wyllis Cooper's Quiet, Please.
"Clarissa" was originally broadcast April 19, 1948. You can listen to the episode at Quiet, Please.org. There's also a great episode of the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society podcast where they listen to and discuss "Clarissa" that you can find here.
Image created using Firefly.
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