Spooky and Strange Tales in Old Time Radio

Radio delivers a more subtle, almost sneaky experience of fright. Part of this has to do with how we consume radio horror shows. Ideally, the listening experience would take place in a darkened bedroom, late at night, with the bedsheets pulled over our heads even though they cannot keep the creepy cackling of the horror host from reaching our ears. During the actual Radio's Golden Age programming came on when the network decided it would, but in the age of the MP3 we can get our thrills "on-demand". Sleep therapists might argue that these late-night-frights could be as disruptive to sleep as the blue-light from a smartphone screen, but trust us, it is a lot of fun!

Most of the time, we will not have the opportunity to even scary OTR in these ideal conditions, but the programs will still deliver a considerable dose of fright. Most of the time, we will be doing something else while we are listening to an OTR program, possibly slicing vegetables for dinner, riding the bus home from work, or walking the dog with our ear-buds in. Under these conditions, the horror host's silly banter is more smile-inducing than frightening and we continue with the task at hand. Sooner than we realize, the knife is no longer moving through the carrots, we have lost track of what street the bus is on, the pup is pulling at her leash because our feet have slowed. There is no way we can concentrate on our task until we find out whether or not the creeper is going to burst out of the cave and get the girl, or if the hero can avoid the bark of the bad guy's revolver. Listening to a creepy story simply draws us in, to the exclusion of the rest of the world.

Subconsciously, perhaps not even that deep, we realize that this is Old Time Radio, perhaps the most family-friendly form of entertainment. The pretty girl will survive, the hero will triumph, and justice will always catch up with the bad guy. But OTR Horror programs can draw us in so well that we are not satisfied until we hear it for ourselves. That is why OTR Frights are the best Frights.

• The Haunting Hour, 1945, "Tapping on the Window". Laura is awakened by a tapping at the window, the window of her 22nd-floor apartment. As her husband goes back to sleep, Laura thinks back to her affair in California with painter Courtney Lane. At first, she is entranced with Courtney's talent but soon she discovers that he has a dark obsession. Courtney signals her to meet by tapping at her window as he paints her portrait.
• Inner Sanctum Mysteries, January 29, 1946, "Blood of Cain". Mercedes McCambridge stars as a confused young woman sliding into a hereditary madness as she steps up from poisoning pigeons to visiting an abattoir in the middle of the night. Where will her obsession death lead?
• Favorite Story, May 29, 1948, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Walter Huston selects the tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman as his favorite story.
• Escape, January 31, 1950, "Present Tense". Vincent Price stars as a convicted murderer who is being escorted to his execution and is doomed to relive murdering his wife and being sent to death row over and over again.
• The Chase, November 16, 1952, "My Love is a Ghost". A wealthy art dealer buys a painting of a beautiful woman from a curio shop. As soon as he takes possession of the piece, the woman in the picture begins to haunt him, even though she lived more than a hundred years ago.
• The Creaking Door, May 4, 1964, "I See Ghosts". This South African program used scripts inspired by The Inner Sanctum at a time when TV was not yet available in the country. In this episode, a man wakes up in the apartment of a girl who has been strangled. He proclaims his innocence, and the cops let him go, but the girl begins to appear and talk to him.
• Arch Oboler's Plays, October 24, 1964, "The Day Sinatra Got Fat". The couple has a less than happy honeymoon when they discover that there is no love in their new marriage. They also discover that the mysterious green stuff falling from the sky is making them incredibly fat, practically overnight. A radio report tells them it is happening everywhere. It is a tale which will make you reconsider having that extra dessert.