The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

As the last bit of our month-long encouragement to check out our Patreon, we present this adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Crowd" presented by Suspense! For our Patreon supporters, it's a timely accompaniment to our next Mysterious Old Book Club, featuring an online group discussion of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes! This adaptation features Dana Andrews as a police lieutenant hunting for a murderer who has a knack for creating a public spectacle! What compels this killer to draw so much attention to himself? Will he ever make a mistake? Do we have a weird, morbid fascination with people's weird, morbid fascination? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!

Every once in a while during our discussions, we are inspired to explore a second episode as a response or supplement to the first. (Or sometimes we just get a random whim...) That's where our semi-regular B-Sides Bonus Episodes allow us to provide that additional material for our Patreon members! For example, at the end of the Lights Out episode, "The Author and the Thing," we were intrigued by the announcement of the series, BIG TOWN! And so we brought this episode, "Adventure in Paris," to Patreon. The story features the show's heroic reporters wrapped up in a spy adventure in Nazi-occupied Paris! If you'd like to hear more B-Sides, please consider joining the amazing community of MORLS fans whose support keeps this podcast going!

On June 26, 2022 we performed our own version of "Battle of the Magicians" from Lights Out on stage at Park Square Theatre! Our Patreon members have access to video recordings of all of our performances as part of their subscription, and we're sharing this audio recording as a sample of the benefits of supporting us. "Battle of the Magicians" features a mysterious occult figure known as Saladin who fights to save an airline from the mystic machinations of the villain known as Ehrlich. Would you like to hear more of our recreations of classic radio episodes? (Not to mention our own original audio dramas?) Please consider joining the amazing community of MORLS fans whose support keeps this podcast going!

This October is our Patreon pledge drive and we continue to try to entice you to support us via Patreon with this, the only episode of Suspense to feature Bela Lugosi, "The Doctor Prescribed Death!" (Lugosi just happens to be the topic of discussion for this month's online Happy Hour, where patrons can chat live with each other and your hosts!) In this story, Lugosi stars as a psychologist who believes that he can redirect suicidal impulses, changing them into a compulsion to commit murder! Can he prove this bizarre theory? What is the significance of the opera attended by the doctor's wife? Will Eric or Tim be able to answer Joshua's trivia questions? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!

Today is the exciting conclusion of “The McCormick Matter,” from Yours Truly Johnny Dollar! All week long we’ve been releasing one installment per day as part of our Patreon drive month! The finale begins with Dollar suffering from a bullet wound, searching for the woman he now knows to be McCormick's wife! Who did steal those jewels? Who committed the murder? Will any of your hosts know what Cosmoline is? Listen for yourself and find out! Then tune in tomorrow for the next installment! Then vote and let us know what you think!

It's our Patreon drive month and part of the celebration is listening to all five parts of "The McCormick Matter" from Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, one per day for the whole week! Today's episode is part 4 of the run, in which Dollar's investigation of a jewel theft has become a murder investigation! What's the difference between a coupe and a sedan? Will Gloria expose a shocking truth as she's changing clothes? Which of your hosts can smugly claim to have anticipated these plot twists? Listen for yourself and find out! Then tune in tomorrow for the next installment!

Today we are listening to part 3 of "The McCormick Matter"from Yours Truly Johnny Dollar as part of our Patreon drive month! In this installment, Dollar continues to dig into an unsolved jewelry theft from years ago. And as the police are close in on the main suspect, Johnny hunts for the man's ex-wife. How did such a small time crook pull off such an elaborate theft? What happened to that guy's feet? How do we connect Godzilla to Mo' Better Blues? Listen for yourself and find out! Then tune in tomorrow for the next installment!

Our Patreon drive month continues with part 2 of “The McCormick Matter,” from our week-long journey into Yours Truly Johnny Dollar! This is the second episode in the investigation of an unsolved jewelry theft from years ago. Based on a tip given by a dying convict, Johnny interviews both the owner of the jewels and the original investigator who looked into the matter. Will Johnny find the ex-con that he suspects committed the crime? Who was pretending to be Johnny? How much is a Johnny Dollar worth in today's Johnny Dollars? Listen for yourself and find out! Then tune in tomorrow for the next installment!

It's our Patreon drive month! We've got a whole bunch of special offerings to give all our listeners a taste of the extra content enjoyed by all of our Patreon supporters! For example, you can get a sample of our "Cliffhangers of Doom" bonus episodes! (And thank you to everyone who already does supports us!) We're starting out with a whole week of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar! Each day, we are going to post one installment of “The McCormick Matter,” a story in which a dying convict calls insurance investigator Johnny Dollar with a tip about an unsolved jewel theft in exchange for sharing the reward with this convict's wife. Is this deathbed bargain on the level or is it a plot take revenge on Dollar? Why are drinks so expensive in this story? What's a good metaphor for describing how dangerous a pretty girl is? Listen for yourself and find out!

In February of 2020, we debuted "Cliffhangers of Doom," a new type of bonus content for our patrons which featured serialized tales from the Golden Age of Radio! We're hoping to entice our listeners to join our Patreon page by sharing this sample of "Cliffhangers of Doom," the first episode of "City of the Dead" from Adventures by Morse! A young couple have their car stolen far from anything except the City of the Dead, a disused cemetery. What follows is a twisting tale of mystery and intrigue so dense, there isn’t even room to introduce the main character yet! Like what you hear and want to find out what happens in the rest of the series? Please consider joining the amazing community of MORLS fans whose support keeps this podcast going!

Our thanks to Kaj for sending us down to the Listener Library for the debut episode of a show we haven't checked out yet, "The First Letter" from Box 13! The series features Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday, a writer who has posted an ad seeking adventure! In this first installment, a woman asks for help to rid herself of a blackmailer. How did this woman end up in such a dilemma? Will Holiday's judgment be better or worse than the characters he writes about? Will Mr. Deus Ex Machina suddenly arrive with a third question? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!

Based on the novels by Frances Crane, The Adventures of the Abbotts featured the mystery-solving husband and wife team, Pat and Jean Abbott! This particular episode, "The Clicking Silver," tells the story of a visit to a steel factory that results in murder and a reunion with an old flame! (Fair warning, the story includes a reference to a husband "spanking the daylights" out of his wife, ostensibly not "fun" spanking.) What is the clicking silver? Why does Pat treat his suspects so differently than any other detective would? Can we actually lose sponsors if we don't have any? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!

We're going deep, deep into the Listener Library for this episode of Suspense, "Deep Deep is My Love," recommended to us by our mysterious listener Elena! Thanks, Elena! This production features Lloyd Bridges as a diver whose compulsion for solitude has driven him to an undersea grotto where he may have seen a miraculous vision. Or, he may have simply suffered hallucinations as he approached death. What calls to him to return to this dangerous depth? Can his friend or his wife do anything to break the hold this mystery has upon him? What new option are we considering for our end-of-show voting? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!

We're not too old to pay a visit to "The Playground," an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story from Vanishing Point! The story features Charlie, a young father who wrestles with his own troubled childhood as his own son wants to go play with other children. When Charlie visits the neighborhood playground, it looks sinister and unsafe, but he can't tell if the danger is real or a product of his anxieties. Is he being over-protective or are his fears well-founded? Why does one of the kids at the playground address Charlie by name? How do playgrounds work in Canada? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!

Our Mysterious Listener Waymon really wanted us to listen to another episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar! So we are paying another visit to the Listener Library for this standalone installment of the iconic series, “The Sidewinder Matter!” This story features Johnny and his action-packed expense account investigating a bitter feud over poisoned cattle. Along the way, he'll have to contend with gunshots, strange weather phenomena, and an unlikely menagerie of animals. Would this mean-spirited rancher shoot his own son to gratify his spite? What's in the bag? Where would Columbo fit in this story? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!