Favorite scary Radio Show

[Blackjack]

Ok, it's close enough to Halloween now to start talking about all things scary so, what was the best spooky radio show? I know of Inner Sanctum and Lights Out, but are there any particular shows that really were edge of the seaters????

 

[FountainPenGirl]

The Whistler was another one I enjoyed. Sponsored by the Signal Oil Company. If you liked Si Fi that is really kind of out there was X-1.

 

[Widebrim]

I presume that you are speaking of shows and not individual programs. Lights Out is tops with me, but close behind is Quiet, Please, which was also produced by the originator of Lights Out. Suspense sometimes had horror stories, some of which were excellent. Now if you want to include individual episodes (and there is another thread about this), I would have to say "The House on Cypress Canyon," and "The Dark;" both are masterpieces in their own way.

 

[Blackjack]

Individual shows, Sorry Wrong Number is a favorite, although Agnes Moorehead was a little too screechy for my taste. I much preferred the movie with Stanwyck.

 

[Blackjack]

I heard of a show called "Witches Tales" that sounded intriguing, anyone know of this??

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Witch's Tale" was the first major radio horror series -- started in 1931 over WOR, and ran sporadically until 1937. Most of the recordings that exist are from series made in the mid-thirties for syndication, or for airing in Australia, but they work from the original scripts and give a good feel for the program.

It was created and written by Alonzo Deen Cole, a pulp/mystery writer of some note.

 

[ex812]

ah Nancy the old witch of salem along with her cat Satan.

Good horror shows are Hermits Cave, Mysterious traveler and the ones already mentioned.

In particular two of the scariest shows are Quiet Please: thing on the fourble board and Mysterious Traveler:behind the locked door

 

[FountainPenGirl]

Ha. I glad you mentioned the Hermitts Cave. I was looking at this earlier and was trying to think of it. I remember the show but couldn't come up the name. I was hoping someone would come up with it.

Someone mentioned Sorry Wrong Number on Suspense. When I was in 4-H my club entered the drama festival and we did that as a play on stage. I did all the sound effects and won the award for best sound effects.

 

[Widebrim]

Individual shows, Sorry Wrong Number is a favorite, although Agnes Moorehead was a little too screechy for my taste. I much preferred the movie with Stanwyck.

I liked the movie version, too, although it was of course padded, as pertains to the plot. What was odd to me, at least, was the way Stanwyck was in and out of the wheelchair in the flashbacks, with no real explanation given about her condition.

 

[Katzenjammer]

Lights Out and Quiet, Please seem to be the best-written and most consistently scary of the genre. Dark Fantasy, Diary of Fate, The Hermit's Cave and Hall of Fantasy are worth a listen, too, though they all feature a liberal mix of gems and clunkers.

I subscribe to The Horror, a podcast run under the Relic Radio banner, which features a pretty good assortment of spooky/creepy/supernatural radio drama from the 1930s to 1960s.

 

[W4ASZ]

The Fourth Tower of Inverness (1972)

"High atop a mountain, above the pines and mist that surrounds the bay of Inverness, there stands an incredible mansion. Its three towers appear to pierce the sky, its windows are like a thousand eyes turned inward, and its doors, hinged on time, open into endless space. The Fourth Tower of Inverness!"

 

[Shangas]

The Whistler is one of my favourite horror radio-shows. One of my complaints about it though, is that I found it rather repeditive.

 

[silverscreen789]

I love Agnes' performance of Sorry, Wrong Number. Given the scenario, I felt the hysterics were justified. However, I like the movie also.
I'm still relatively new to radio listening, but I like Inner Sanctum.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Agree with ex812, The Thing on the Fourble Board is scary, not just because of the goings on described, but the way the story unfolds with the main points not seeming to connect, until the terrifying climax.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's an Arch Oboler's Plays episode called "Alter Ego" that's really really disturbing -- an excellent bit of psychological terror. I made the mistake once of listening to this while trying to drop off to sleep, and I was awake for three days. I actually own a set of transcription discs of the 1939 broadcast of this story, but I'm afraid to transfer them.

 

[Blackjack]

Well you know what Steven King said...it's all scary till you see the monster. Thats the great thing about radio, you NEVER see the monster.

 

[russa11]

one of my favorites is The Hall of Fantasy - The castle of Lavoca: It takes place in a old Romanian castle which harbors a sinister secret from the past, and is a terrible forecast of the future.

 

[Talbot]

Well you know what Steven King said...it's all scary till you see the monster. Thats the great thing about radio, you NEVER see the monster.

Very true. First time my wife and I saw Them! we were absolutely terrified...until we found out it was giant ants

As for scary stuff, news of the world is enough for me.

 

[ScionPI2005]

Individual shows, Sorry Wrong Number is a favorite, although Agnes Moorehead was a little too screechy for my taste. I much preferred the movie with Stanwyck.

I have to agree with this comment regarding Agnes Moorehead. That Suspense episode is still one of my favorites, although I definitely agree that her character was extremely whiney.

As far as scary radio shows go, I love Suspense, The Mysterious Traveler, The Whistler, Lights Out, Dark Fantasy, Inner Sanctum, and Lights Out.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have to agree with this comment regarding Agnes Moorehead. That Suspense episode is still one of my favorites, although I definitely agree that her character was extremely whiney.

See, I think that's exactly why the story works as well as it does. Mrs. Stevenson *is* a whiny, insufferable, unlikable character -- which is exactly why Mr. Stevenson has gone to such pains to get rid of her. I think if she were at all a sympathetic character, the story would work nowhere near as well.