Suspense and Horror – Retro Radio Podcast

Ernest Chapel describes a time machine. A real one that really works. He built it himself, dedicating himself to his invention in a quiet little town. Planning a trip back in time to 50 years ago, he describes his supplies. A pistol, aspirin, and some clothes from a costume shop among other items. It didn’t take long for unexpected snags to arise. Separated from his time machine, and in jail. Time is ticking before his machine returns automatically. Making his way back to the machine, a new distraction crosses his path in the form of a cute red head. He won’t be picked up by the law again as a masher… or a drummer… will he? The sheriff is back, and looking for that miscreant. Can love span the decades? will she believe him about the time machine? Will it matter? Should Ernest stay, or go? Take her with him, or not? Back in 1947, Ernest learns what his future… er… past holds.

The audio is a little less than desireable, but not too bad. An important case is to be tried, and the possible result will be the death penalty. When the judge and court officials all are threatened by the condemned man, the empty words begin to worry the Shadow. The Judge is later killed, and the stakes are high when the jury foreman is Margot Lane’s father. How is the dead man following through with his threat? Can he be stopped? The Shadow knows, and goes to share his ideas with the police. Margot Lane, and the Shadow track down the trail of clues to apply pressure on the bad guys, and force them out into the open. Will a confession be forthcoming? I do believe so.

Audio is horrible in the first half, but the second half is good. Stick with it through the audio troubles, it’s worth the twist ending. As best as can be told through the monstrous static and record noise, Ernest Chapel is a man named Dave, and is meeting with an old friend. Through the one sided conversation we learn the unheard man has stolen away Dave’s girl years ago. To deal with the trauma, Dave goes away for years. He holds a variety of jobs, including going to war in the Army, and a job at a penitentiary. The girl ends up dead in a car crash. Was it suicide? It doesn’t seem like a thing she would have done. Dave seems like a man who has all the time in the world on his hands. He also has a focused purpose that has brought him to this moment, and doesn’t have much longer. The longer he talks, the more nervous his disembodied pal seems to become. Why would that be? What was his job at the prison? If you haven’t already guessed what the dirt, and skeletons are that haunt in the closet, stand by for the big reveal. A truly spooky ending from beyond the grave. Too bad the audio in the first half is so messed up.

In his office, mysterious notes are being typed on Ernest Chapel’s typewriter. Is it a gag? Is it haunted? Ernest is a script writer with writer’s block, and with a deadline to meet. He needs to develop a character. Does he have a typewriter that writes scripts for him. All he has to do is write it, and it happens. A dark and stormy night, a ship at sea, or pirates with swords. He has trouble coming to grips with this strange new tool, but soon there’s another deadline, another script needed. Though it takes some time to believe in the typewriter, it comes through, every time. Now, putting some trust in the typewriter character, Ernest lets himself be engrossed in his latest script. The gangster story endangers his wife Ruth. It isn’t until her screams break him out of his deep engagement with the typewriter that he takes action. Using the power of the written word, he writes in a character to barge in, and save the day. PS: A pirate? Come on, why not a cop, or a hard boiled detective? I like the premise, but the story could have been written better, with more plausible characters and scenes.

Audio is good, even with the usual record static noises. Ernest Chapel is Mr Ross, and is facing a coroner’s inquest. Not being a legal counsel, he isn’t granted an attorney, and he begins his testimony concerning his sister. While they were minors, he and Ilene inherit a fortune. To get $5k per year until age 21, then receive the rest. She gets hers, just in time to lose it in the market crash of 1929. When he got his, he paid her back a loan she made to him, but nothing else. . After getting into a fight, he broke Ilene’s arm. She didn’t seek medical attention, and the arm became deformed, but it wasn’t his fault. Being a nice guy, when he got his money, he hired his sister as housekeeper, but not giving her a cent, letting her live in the lap of his luxury. When she wanted to get married, 15 years later, he took offense. How dare she… and ruin the comfortable life he set up for himself? Noticing a multitude of people in the alleged private inquest, Ernest is told it’s the radio audience. Continuing, he defends himself for being offended at the decision to marry a bum who had no job. It didn’t matter that Arthur was a Lt Colonel, was a war hero, and endured being a prisoner of war, he threw the jobless blind bum out. After a confrontation and struggle, Ilene elopes. Though detectives were hired, the couple couldn’t be found. Then when they return it happens. Tempers flare, a knife comes out, and it ends in justifiable homicide. If that’s the case, then why is Ernest here? Why a finding of guilty? Just who are those jurors, and who is this inquisitor?

A man goes to a crystal gazer and is told he is going to kill himself and does. Lamont and Margo get in deeper than expected, when Margo falls under the influence of the crystal gazer and is told to kill Lamont Cranston.

Audio is good for a change, only a little record noise and static. As Ernest Chapel recounts today’s tale, he is showing the affects of drinking heavily. He is leaving this message in hopes he can be avenged. The scientist is fond of his alcohol and gambling, and meets up with a few men who want a favor. Taking advantage of the scientists weaknesses, they make him an offer to put his skills as a physicist to work. They want him to build a time machine to go in the future so they can rob a bank. He sobers up, barely, but enough to at least build a device with some limitations. Ernest tells how his experiments progressed from sending inanimate objects to the future, to using himself as a human experiment. The machine allows for only traveling one day ahead, the time that is allowed to stay in the future is limited, and nothing can be brought back. Beginning to doubt the trustworthiness of his captors, he doesn’t tell them those details. This brings us full circle. Ernest is in his usual drunken state, and begging the listener to avenge his inevitable murder. He knows he will be killed because of what he learned while on his trip to the future. Can the events be altered? Is there any hope that the poor sot will escape death?

Audio is fairly clear. Maybe even good. Ernest Chapel goes into flashback, and tells about a special girl. Cornelia held a special place for Ernest. Then there’s Barbara, a romance from his old school days. Cornelia was quite the looker, and could have had any boy at school she wanted. Problems begin at the soda fountain, with a rivalry for the same boy. What’s a boy to do, but fall for the spell of love over him? Swayed to marry Cornelia, they begin a comfortable household, but Barbara is still around to cause problems. Will old fashioned virtues hold up? Secrets are soon made plain, and Cornelia admits she only married for money. What would happen if the money was lost… in the stock market crash, for example? Love turns into relentless, and unforgiving nagging. Will Ernest be patient enough to bide his time, and wait for Cornelia to die? If Cornelia dies, will she keep her promise to come back, and never let him go? Of course, she dies, and he marries Barbara, but will they be happy? Will Cornelia still get her revenge?

Audio is poor, could be lots better, and degrades in the middle, Ernest is a man in despair, and talks about hearing things. Witches, warlocks, and things that go bump in the night. He has thousands of dollars on the table, so why should he be worried, and sleepless? Audio gets soft, and buried under the record noise, but the trouble seems to be in a lack of trust between partners. They wait for someone. Who could it be? What is their importance? Is there danger from the cops, or each other? The waiting game is on, but for how long… ten days? Shadows, waiting, hiding, and tension that grates on the nerves. Then the mysterious man in an overcoat, despite the summer heat, arrives. The time comes for a plane ride, and more secrets to reveal. What’s all the waiting and suspense about? If you can manage to tell under the muffled audio, let me know.

Audio is a bit soft, with record noise, scratches, etc. Ernest Chapel describes two warring civilizations. Neither fully understand the other, or for that matter, themselves. Do giants roam the earth? Who was here first, or who will win the age old, ongoing battle of survival? He claims they are as much as 150 times larger than us. Dwelling in unity, and living in peace are all either society want, but neither can achieve it, not even among themselves. Listen to tales of rival civilizations, and how each tries to exterminate the other. Ernest tells about being fat and happy one day, until it happened to him. He was taken away to one of there concentration camps. Is it any wonder the giants are so hated, when they exterminate the masses, with cold consideration? The continuing question is “Who was here first?” and the rallying cry of, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Ernest goes on to tell how even tiny ants, when acting as one, can be a force to be reckoned with, devouring anything in their path. Unstoppable, remorseless. Another instance of the giants being defeated in the last war is told. Though some of their numbers are killed off, Ernest knows they were here first, and will be here last to see all the giants be gone. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

If you frighten easily, be warned. Turn off your radio now. Don’t even think about downloading this episode. A man discusses his lifelong fear of death with a woman. He recounts how he has been set free of his fears. While attending a lecture, strange things happen. The speaker seems to have change, as does the theater, and the female companion sitting next to him. What is the meaning of this curious meeting? The man is a stranger, but is somehow included. Can that be a good thing? Are these people madf? What is this strange ritual, and commitment he has gotten himself into? Is this a religious cult? Witches? Political anarchists? Things are about to change, this group wants to make their place in the world, but to do it means that murder needs to be committedAnd our narrator is the one chosen to do it. What does all this have to with overcoming his fears? Just listen in as you try to put the clues of this bizzarre story together for yourself.

A story played against the background of modern Europe. Which in 1943, means war torn, Nazi Europe. A plot to kill the king at his birthday celebration has been uncovered. A Nazi oficer makes the rounds to investigate, and get to the bottom of this treason. Could it be Peter, the evasive house servant in the palace? Maybe the countess who seems unconcerned for the safety of the king. Where do loyalties lie? The king is loyal to the Nazi party, which is why he has the officer investigating, and plenty of reason to have suspicions of his own people. The king grows more frazzled as he worries over how the deed might be done. Will he survive his birthday, or not?Can’t figure out the mystery? It all comes out in the clear in the end when the conspirators tell all.

As foreign powers threaten to invade America, Lamonte Cranston and margot Lane talk with the commander of the local military base at a social event. Talk of a strange disease arises, but should there be any worries over it? Suddenly an outbreak runs rampant through the base, and Lamonte springs into action. It doesn’t take long for the Shadow to find the source of the outbreak, and he puts Dr Harris on the spot. Will the nervous doc be able to find a cure for the illness? The Shadow lays on the guilt complex thick. It is learned that the doctor has played a part in the spreading the disease, and the Shadow hounds him into redeeming himself by rescuing the troops that he made sick with the epidemic. Will the doctor’s actions fully get him off the hook?

Margot Lane accompanies Lamonte Cranston to a concert to hear a world famous tenor. In an unexplained disaster, the tenor suddenly loses his voice in mid note. A replacement tenor is shot down on stage at the same point as the first tenor lost his voice. Lamonte Cranston thinks this is just the first of many repercussions that may grow, unless the Shadow can put a stop to them. Can the Shadow get the police to believe that a problem exists? Will there be more tragedies on stage? It takes the Shadow to intervene in dramatic style. Consulting with the city authorities, the Shadow plans a trap for the killer. Another production is planned, but the killer steps up his killing spree. The pending terror doesn’t keep devoted opera fans away, and it’s up to the Shadow to keep everybody safe. In a surprise twist, the Shadow exposes the killer, and the truth behind the mystery.

Ernest Chapel sets the stage at a little corrigated shack, and a starry California night. He draws our attention, not to any star, but a great big patch of nothingness between the stars. In flashback, he recounts good times in that mountain top cabin, and the dome of the observatory. The white haired scientist tells about the precision nature of the telescope, and locating heavenly bodies. Temptations begin to tug on Ernest and his friends. Should they leave, and brave the winding, treacherous mountain roads? What’s inside that funny little dome, way up on stilts, and why is there a sign forbidding tresspassers? It would be a good place to stash some loot… right? Treasure… there has to be something valuable in there. In the dark hours of the morning, the small band of friends investigate to discover exactly what’s behind that door. What will be found? What does the little shack have to do with any riches? Or the wide open space between stars? Suspense hangs in the air. Flat… dark… silent air. The white haired scientist knows what the secret is, but there’s nothing to see here. Bonus Tracks: We give a shoutout to a couple Twitter followers who liked, and retweeted the podcast. First to Radio Guy @ski_nh for the suggestion for this episode. Next to blogger, Gary Loggins, whose articles can be found on his author page at: Through the Shattered Lens Where mainstream meets grindhouse, exploitation, otaku and gamers The Retrobots feature: * Ripley’s Believe It Or Not ep415 NeverTooLate * Andy Russell – The Day After Forever