Horror Listeners' Favorites

Ghouls, mysteriously blinking green lights, and hitchhikers without faces! Listen to favorite shows from Lights Out, X Minus One, Suspense, and more.

The genre of horror has existed for centuries or perhaps since the beginning of human kind and the "Theater of the Mind proves a perfect arena for the stories of fear, madness and mayhem. The dark side of human existence and stories of moral examples and terror will give you chills and make you turn on the nightlight!

Your skin begins to crawl. Pulse rises. Your "Fight or Flight" instinct is screaming at you to run away, but you remain as though glued to your seat. You want to look away but you remain there, sitting with your eyes (mostly) wide open. These are not pleasant sensations, yet many people pay to endure them. Or at least, will make an effort to listen to an OTR Horror Story while hiding under the bedsheets. 

Why do we endure such torture? There are many more wholesome forms of entertainment available, but Horror Stories are just plain fun! Those physical reactions described above are signs of mental and physical stimulation. A good horror story challenges the concept of "the willing suspension of disbelief". We know before the story even begins that the monster is not real. Still, even with this knowledge, we find ourselves yelling at the pretty girl: Don't go into that abandoned house alone, can't you realize that the monster is in there, waiting for you?!?

This is why horror works even better on the radio than on the screen. The movie has to show us the monster to help scare us. However, even the most frightening movie monster is limited by the special effects technology. On the radio, we see the monster with our imagination, which is bigger, more colorful, and several times more intense than any special effect.

• Dark Fantasy, February 13, 1942, "W is for Werewolf". James has gone to visit his friend Bill Andrews and his son, John, on their private island. Bill has asked his friend to bring several books, all about werewolves. A charm is placed in James' room before going to sleep, but he does not realize that strange things are happening on the island. After all, Everyone Knows That Werewolves Are Real!
• Suspense, September 2, 1942, "The Hitch-hiker". Orson Welles stars in this chilling tale of a businessman leaving his home in Brooklyn to drive to the West Coast. He is barely out of the city when he spots a hitchhiker standing in the rain. The driver ignores him at the time, but as the miles pass beneath his tires, he spots the same hitch-hiker again and again. He becomes so obsessed with the mysterious figure at the side of the road that murder eventually enters the driver's mind.
• Lights Out, October 20, 1942, "Poltergeist". A trio of career-girl roommates, Kay, Florence, and Edna, take a break from the city to enjoy a stay at a snowbound country inn. While hiking into the inn, Kay breaks into a dance, not realizing that she is standing among tombstones. Edna explains that dancing on a grave will raise a poltergeist before a tombstone smashes her in the head!
• Quiet Please, May 10, 1948, "There are Shadows Here". He walks into his regular bar, orders a drink, and learns that a lady was looking for him. It turns out that no one actually saw the woman because of the shadows in the bar. Over the next few days, he keeps seeing the shadow of the girl but he never sees her. There are always more and more shadows, so beware.

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Lock all your doors, pull up the covers and grab a crow bar first, because scary tales of butcher's blocks, skeletons without femurs, and angry men on the moon are sure to get you shivering in your boots!

For more horror show favorites, see the extensive collections of:

• Dark Fantasy
• Hall of Fantasy
• Inner Sanctum
• Lights Out
• Mysterious Traveler
• Quiet Please
• Sealed Book
• Suspense
• X Minus One

For other fang-tastic scary compilations, you won't want to miss: Creepiest Old Time Radio Shows, Boo Broadcasts, Haunted House Collection, Halloween Scary Sampler, Horror Listener's Favorites, Monster Collection, and Robots Collection.For more great Halloween comedy and variety specials, see also: Halloween Variety Specials Collection.