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Mystery / suspense anthology · Mutual

The Mysterious Traveler

December 5, 1943 – September 2, 1952 · 370 broadcasts

Every week a distant locomotive whistle heralded the arrival of the Mysterious Traveler -- a sardonic, unnamed stranger riding a midnight train who invited listeners to settle back, get a good grip on their nerves, and share a tale of murder, the supernatural, or the uncanny. Maurice Tarplin gave the host his genial-yet-sinister voice, sometimes stepping down off the train to play a part in the story itself. The show ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from December 1943 to September 1952 and was the flagship of writer-producers Robert Arthur and David Kogan, who met in a Columbia University radio class and became one of the era's most awarded teams -- their mystery work won multiple Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. From the same shop came near-twin anthologies The Sealed Book and The Strange Dr. Weird, and the brand spilled over into a digest magazine and Charlton comic books. Only about 70 of the original 370 broadcasts are known to survive, and this collection gathers the circulating recordings -- crime, science fiction, and ghost stories built around the sting in the tail.

Collection status: 85 of 370 held (23% complete)
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Episode Spine

Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.

1943

December 5, 1943 The Hands That Killed
December 12, 1943 Death at the Storm House
December 19, 1943 King of the World
December 26, 1943 Devil Island

1944

January 2, 1944 The Clock Struck Midnight
January 9, 1944 The Visiting Corpse Listen (MP3)
January 16, 1944 The Strange Journal of Professor Drake
January 23, 1944 Murderer Unknown
January 30, 1944 House of Death Listen (MP3)
Two elderly sisters realize their nephew means to sell their mansion out from under them -- and that the poisoned cat may be a warning of what he has planned for them.
February 6, 1944 The Man Who Knew Too Much Listen (MP3)
February 13, 1944 To Have and to Hold
February 20, 1944 Ugliest Woman Alive
February 27, 1944 The Good Die Young Listen (MP3)
A jealous little girl schemes to drive her new stepmother out of the house, and when that fails she reaches for something far worse.
March 5, 1944 Design for Death
March 12, 1944 Statement by the Accused
March 19, 1944 Welcome Aboard
March 26, 1944 Stranger in the House Listen (MP3)
A couple gets a grand old house cheap, never asking why it keeps changing hands -- until the resident ghost sets her sights on the husband.
April 2, 1944 Out of the Past Listen (MP3)
A wealthy woman with a buried secret pays off a blackmailer, but each fresh demand tightens the screws toward a breakdown.
April 9, 1944 Beware of Tomorrow Listen (MP3)
A shunned professor builds a robot whose brain is grown from criminal tissue -- and his assistants disagree, fatally, about how far to take the work.
April 16, 1944 The Accusing Corpse Listen (MP3)
A brother and sister con a man into believing he murdered his own wife, then bleed him with blackmail -- until he demands to see the body.
April 23, 1944 Escape by Death
April 30, 1944 Murder Spins the Plot
May 7, 1944 I'll Die Laughing
May 14, 1944 Ghost Makers
May 21, 1944 The Man Who Could Vanish
May 28, 1944 In Loving Memory
June 4, 1944 Murder Must Be Paid For
June 11, 1944 Death Spins a Web
June 18, 1944 The Man with the Stolen Face
June 25, 1944 Blood on the Moon
July 2, 1944 Queen of the Cats Listen (MP3)
A man is lured from his sweetheart by a beautiful, possessive woman who worships cats, and learns that her devotion does not end at death.
July 9, 1944 Broadway Here I Come
July 16, 1944 Death Rings Down the Curtain
A grasping nephew and niece murder their rich aunt before she can rewrite her will -- unaware of one thing she never told them.
July 23, 1944 The Man Who Couldn't Die
July 30, 1944 Till Death Do Us Part
August 6, 1944 My Beloved Must Die
August 13, 1944 Flight from Fear
August 20, 1944 Time on My Hands
August 27, 1944 The Unknown Enemy
September 10, 1944 The Bell of Life
September 17, 1944 A Dream of Death
September 24, 1944 Death Laughs Last Listen (MP3)
Desperate for the surgery fee that could save his wife, a man is drawn toward a crime that will not stay hidden.
October 7, 1944 The Man the Insects Hated Listen (MP3)
A chemist perfects the ultimate insecticide, but the insects seem to know their enemy -- and they collect a terrible price.
October 14, 1944 Mind Over Murder Listen (MP3)
A domineering stage mentalist keeps his wife under psychic control, and when she falls for another man he threatens a lethal demonstration of his power.
October 21, 1944 Voice of the Dead
October 28, 1944 Invitation to Death
November 11, 1944 She Shall Have Music
November 18, 1944 Journey with Death
November 25, 1944 Footsteps of Fate
December 2, 1944 The Cat and the Mouse
December 9, 1944 Nurder Without Crime
December 16, 1944 You Only Die Once
December 23, 1944 Christmas Present
December 30, 1944 Embarrasing Corpse

1945

January 6, 1945 They Who Sleep Listen (MP3)
A jealous woman uses hypnosis to swap bodies with her sister and seal her rival in a tomb -- forgetting that suspended animation can keep a victim alive.
January 13, 1945 Escape Through Time
January 20, 1945 Letter from the Dead
January 27, 1945 Death Needs a Witness
February 3, 1945 Farewell Appearance
February 10, 1945 Murder Is So Fatal
February 17, 1945 Wanted for Murder
February 24, 1945 Concerto for Death
March 3, 1945 Murder Is No Accident
March 10, 1945 Case of Charles Foster Listen (MP3)
A henpecked man seizes the chance to be free of his wife and marry his true love -- and tells the whole story from the dock, on trial for murder.
March 17, 1945 Blood Money
March 24, 1945 Death Comes to Adolf Hitler Listen (MP3)
A disguised Hitler flees by submarine to rebuild the Reich, but the souls of those his crew murders drag the boat toward a bottomless deep.
March 31, 1945 Murder Goes Free Listen (MP3)
A father kills the gold-digger courting his son and beats the charge -- but murder demands payment, and an innocent man stands to hang for it.
July 14, 1945 Seven Years to Wait
July 21, 1945 It Might Be You
July 28, 1945 Summer Heat
August 4, 1945 Death Is My Companion
August 11, 1945 Mortal Clay
August 18, 1945 Dynasty of Death

1946

August 25, 1946 Death Is the Visitor Listen (MP3)
A man murders his overbearing mother-in-law and ships the body far away, only to have the trunk keep finding its way back to his door.
September 1, 1946 No One on the Line Listen (MP3)
Plagued by silent wrong-number calls and a distracted wife, a jealous husband rigs a fatal 'accident' for the man he suspects.
September 8, 1946 Symphony of Death Listen (MP3)
A composer buys cheap headstones for the sisters who keep interrupting his symphony, then murders them one by one -- and forgets a telling detail.
September 15, 1946 As I Lie Dying
September 22, 1946 The Strange Death of Charles Duval
September 29, 1946 Death Plays the Tune
December 1, 1946 Friend of the Dead
December 8, 1946 Death Is in the Wind
December 15, 1946 Death Is a Dream
December 22, 1946 Between Two Worlds
December 29, 1946 If You Believe Listen (MP3)
A scientist grows living matter in his lab that swells with every newspaper story about it, until belief itself feeds the thing.

1947

January 5, 1947 New Years Nightmare Listen (MP3)
A drunk left at the altar loses his memory, marries his nurse, then recovers his past -- and kills to get back to the woman he really loves.
January 12, 1947 No Grave Can Hold Me Listen (MP3)
A condemned stage magician vows revenge on the jury that convicted him and returns from the grave to keep his promise.
January 19, 1947 Death Is the Dealer
January 26, 1947 You Won't Escape Me
February 2, 1947 Voice from Tomorrow
February 9, 1947 Five Miles Down
February 16, 1947 Murder in Masquerade
February 23, 1947 The Cat Died Twice
March 2, 1947 Dig My Grave Deep
March 9, 1947 Woman in Black Listen (MP3)
A crime reporter keeps crossing paths with a woman in black who appears wherever death strikes, and begins to wonder whether she is causing it.
March 16, 1947 Death Wears My Face
March 23, 1947 Voice of Murder
March 30, 1947 Death Is My Prisoner
April 6, 1947 You Only Hang Once
April 13, 1947 Dark Destiny Listen (MP3)
A desperate locksmith is talked into one burglary to pay for his wife's operation, and the job goes lethally, ironically wrong.
April 20, 1947 Flight from Fear
April 27, 1947 House of Silence
May 4, 1947 Destination Death
May 11, 1947 Design for Death
May 18, 1947 Die She Must
May 25, 1947 Mind Over Murder Listen (MP3)
A domineering stage mentalist keeps his wife under psychic control, and when she falls for another man he threatens a lethal demonstration of his power.
June 1, 1947 She Walks with Death
June 8, 1947 I Died Last Night
A man murders his brother to seize control of a charity, dies in a struggle moments later, and finds himself a ghost no one can hear.
June 15, 1947 Death Is the Judge Listen (MP3)
Twenty years after buying a cursed pendant, a couple acquires its matching bell -- and every ring of the two together spares one life by taking another.
June 22, 1947 Meet Me at the Morgue
June 29, 1947 Murder Without Crime Listen (MP3)
July 6, 1947 The Locomotive Ghost Listen (MP3)
Two thieves wreck a train for its payroll and are warned of a phantom 'judgement special' that hunts down men who murder trains.
July 13, 1947 Dark Is the Night
July 20, 1947 Their Cold Companion
July 27, 1947 The Man the Insects Hated Listen (MP3)
A chemist perfects the ultimate insecticide, but the insects seem to know their enemy -- and they collect a terrible price.
August 3, 1947 I Dreamed of Dying
August 10, 1947 Nightmare
August 24, 1947 Murder Goes Free
A father kills the gold-digger courting his son and beats the charge -- but murder demands payment, and an innocent man stands to hang for it.
August 31, 1947 Murder at Their Heels
September 7, 1947 Vacation from Life Listen (MP3)
A husband and wife each secretly plan to collect on the other's new life-insurance policy -- turning their seaside holiday into a race to see who dies first.
September 14, 1947 The Big Payoff
September 21, 1947 Island of Fear
September 28, 1947 Deep Is My Grave
October 7, 1947 Death Rides the Storm
October 14, 1947 Death Is My Host
October 21, 1947 Death Is My Caller Listen (MP3)
A man framed for murder stages an elaborate, clock-ticking psychological revenge on the informer who sent him to prison.
October 28, 1947 Invitation to Death Listen (MP3)
A Halloween party at an old quarry becomes the setting for a murder scheme -- and for the supernatural return of the victim.
November 4, 1947 Murder at the Dawn of Time
A time-travel experiment leaves a professor dead and his killers fleeing into the past in a murder that seemingly could not have happened.
November 11, 1947 My Date Is with Death
A faked newspaper predicting a man's death sets up a steam-room confrontation driven by premonition and dread.
November 25, 1947 Death Guides My Hand
December 2, 1947 Death Cancels All Debts
An insurance fraud built on a faked death curdles into blackmail and worse.
December 9, 1947 Death Must Have Revenge
December 16, 1947 Christmas Present Listen (MP3)
December 23, 1947 Mr. Trimble's Christmas
December 30, 1947 Escape to 2480

1948

January 6, 1948 Death Is at the Throttle
January 13, 1948 Death Must Wait
January 20, 1948 The Man in the Black Derby Listen (MP3)
A woman keeps meeting a man in a black derby at scenes of sudden death and becomes convinced Death itself is stalking her.
January 27, 1948 Death Has a Vacancy
February 3, 1948 Life Is but a Dream
February 10, 1948 I'll Dance on Your Coffin
February 17, 1948 Chance of a Lifetime
February 24, 1948 The Man Who Died Twice Listen (MP3)
A jealous husband beats a murder rap on a technicality, then delivers the victim's body to the very judge who sentenced him.
March 2, 1948 The Ivory Elephant
March 9, 1948 Alibi for Murder
March 16, 1948 They Struck It Rich Listen (MP3)
Two crooks tunnel toward a bank vault, the passage collapses, and their desperate dig toward the river uncovers a buried treasure ship.
March 23, 1948 Seven Years to Wait
March 30, 1948 Death Is a Dream
April 6, 1948 When Killers Meet
April 13, 1948 They'll Never Believe Me
April 20, 1948 Murder in Jazz Time Listen (MP3)
A jealous new husband strangles the nightclub owner he blames for stealing his singer wife -- and the guilt drags him toward madness.
April 27, 1948 The Little Man Who Wasn't There
A man who claims to reach the dead uses their tips on races and prize fights -- until the arrangement turns fatal.
May 4, 1948 They Who Sleep Listen (MP3)
A jealous woman uses hypnosis to swap bodies with her sister and seal her rival in a tomb -- forgetting that suspended animation can keep a victim alive.
May 11, 1948 I Won't Die Alone Listen (MP3)
A bank robber who hid the loot before prison is tailed on his release day into a maze of caves from which only one man will return.
May 18, 1948 Death Writes a Letter Listen (MP3)
A dead spiritualist seems to write, through his skeptical brother's hand, a letter foretelling two deaths -- and the brother races to cheat a fate he cannot escape.
May 25, 1948 Death Is My Co-Pilot
June 1, 1948 Strange Voyage
June 8, 1948 Murder Is My Business Listen (MP3)
A radio mystery writer, badgered by a bullying producer who calls his murders implausible, decides to test one of those methods on the boss himself.
June 15, 1948 Queen of the Cats Listen (MP3)
A man is lured from his sweetheart by a beautiful, possessive woman who worships cats, and learns that her devotion does not end at death.
June 22, 1948 Zero Hour Listen (MP3)
A professor and his biographer investigate a meteor crater, find evidence it was a spacecraft, and stumble into a Martian invasion already under way.
June 29, 1948 You Only Die Once
July 6, 1948 The Man Who Vanished Listen (MP3)
An albino scientist discovers a formula for invisibility and uses it to avenge himself on childhood tormentors -- unaware the serum will kill him if not reversed in time.
July 13, 1948 Bury Me Deep
July 20, 1948 The Chase
July 27, 1948 The Unexpected
August 3, 1948 Terror by Night
August 10, 1948 The Visiting Corpse Listen (MP3)
A man murders his overbearing mother-in-law and ships the body far away, only to have the trunk keep finding its way back to his door.
August 24, 1948 Murder by Proxy
August 31, 1948 Murder Has a Price
September 7, 1948 Unsolved
September 14, 1948 Dance of Death
September 21, 1948 Death Has a Thousand Faces Listen (MP3)
A much-younger wife with a lover and a well-insured husband engineers a holiday to some remote caverns, where nothing plays out as expected.
September 28, 1948 Hide-Out for a Friend
October 5, 1948 Death Rings Down the Curtain Listen (MP3)
A grasping nephew and niece murder their rich aunt before she can rewrite her will -- unaware of one thing she never told them.
October 12, 1948 Broadway Here I Come
October 19, 1948 Death Has a Voice
October 26, 1948 Welcome Home
November 11, 1948 Till Death Do Us Part Listen (MP3)
November 18, 1948 Death Wears a False Face
November 25, 1948 Agreement to Die
December 2, 1948 Farewell Appearance
December 9, 1948 Signed in Blood
December 16, 1948 House of Death
Two elderly sisters realize their nephew means to sell their mansion out from under them -- and that the poisoned cat may be a warning of what he has planned for them.
December 23, 1948 A Town Named Christmas
December 30, 1948 It's Later Than You Think

1949

January 6, 1949 The Devil & the Deep Blue Sea Listen (MP3)
A treasure hunter strikes a bargain with the ghost of a pirate captain: murder the rest of his crew and the sunken gold is his -- if a ghost can be trusted.
January 13, 1949 The Accusing Corpse Listen (MP3)
A brother and sister con a man into believing he murdered his own wife, then bleed him with blackmail -- until he demands to see the body.
January 20, 1949 Death Is My Partner
January 27, 1949 The Ghost Makers
February 3, 1949 Death Spins a Web
February 10, 1949 Tonight I Die
February 17, 1949 Collectors Item
February 24, 1949 Time Is Running Out
March 3, 1949 Murder at the Mardi Gras
March 10, 1949 The Dead Can't Testify
March 17, 1949 Murder Points a Finger
March 24, 1949 I'll Die Laughing
March 29, 1949 Death Has a Cold Breath Listen (MP3)
A gambler stakes a washed-up actor to a headline-grabbing suicide stunt, leaving a warm body to explain once the spotlight moves on.
April 5, 1949 Murder Makes Music
April 12, 1949 They Died Screaming
April 19, 1949 Out of the Past Listen (MP3)
A wealthy woman with a buried secret pays off a blackmailer, but each fresh demand tightens the screws toward a breakdown.
April 26, 1949 The Hot Seat
May 3, 1949 Murder Begins at Home
May 10, 1949 Escape Into the Future
May 17, 1949 The Corpse Comes Home
May 24, 1949 Behind the Locked Door Listen (MP3)
Two archaeologists break into a sealed cave and find themselves trapped in the dark with the degenerate descendants of a lost wagon train.
May 31, 1949 Meet Me at the Morgue
June 7, 1949 Die Once, Die Twice
June 14, 1949 No Grave Can Hold Me Listen (MP3)
A condemned stage magician vows revenge on the jury that convicted him and returns from the grave to keep his promise.
June 21, 1949 Murder Has a Voice
June 28, 1949 She Walks with Death
July 5, 1949 The Case of Charles Foster
A henpecked man seizes the chance to be free of his wife and marry his true love -- and tells the whole story from the dock, on trial for murder.
July 12, 1949 The Locomotive Ghost
Two thieves wreck a train for its payroll and are warned of a phantom 'judgement special' that hunts down men who murder trains.
July 19, 1949 Murder Is So Fatal
July 26, 1949 Voice from Tomorrow
August 2, 1949 Planet Zevius Listen (MP3)
Space explorers land on a planet that fell silent after distant explosions years earlier, and find a cautionary lesson waiting for them.
August 9, 1949 Brain Guy
August 16, 1949 Murder Spins the Plot
August 23, 1949 Why Don't You Die?
August 30, 1949 Treasure of Superstition Mountain
September 6, 1949 Flight from Fear
September 13, 1949 The Cat Died Twice
September 20, 1949 Destination Death
September 27, 1949 You Only Hang Once
October 4, 1949 The Knife
October 11, 1949 The Last Survivor Listen (MP3)
A rocket designer and an atomic scientist build a ship for the first interstellar voyage, hoping to turn the bomb's power toward Mars instead of war.
October 18, 1949 Nightmare House
October 25, 1949 No One on the Line Listen (MP3)
Plagued by silent wrong-number calls and a distracted wife, a jealous husband rigs a fatal 'accident' for the man he suspects.
November 1, 1949 The Witness
November 8, 1949 Appointment with Death
November 15, 1949 Mirror of Count Cagliostro
November 22, 1949 Mortal Clay
December 6, 1949 Why Don't You Stay Dead
December 13, 1949 The Man No One Knew
December 20, 1949 Luck of the Irish
December 27, 1949 Death Comes at Night

1950

January 3, 1950 Golden Future
January 10, 1950 Survival of the Fittest Listen (MP3)
A debt-ridden man fakes his death and returns to the family estate, where he and his brother begin a patient contest over who will kill the other first.
January 17, 1950 Shadows in the Night
January 24, 1950 A Dead Man's Story
January 31, 1950 Extra, Extra
February 7, 1950 The Man Who Tried to Save Lincoln Listen (MP3)
A scientist sends a historian's mind back through time to inhabit Lincoln's bodyguard and stop the assassination -- and misses.
February 14, 1950 The Big Hand
February 21, 1950 Double Sixes
February 28, 1950 Journey Into the Unknown
March 7, 1950 Death Rides the Wind
March 14, 1950 The Big Brain Listen (MP3)
A professor programs a computer to pick winners at the track, then to predict a plane crash he means the blackmailing mobster to board.
March 21, 1950 The Dark Underworld
March 28, 1950 No Grave So Deep
April 4, 1950 The Man from Singapore Listen (MP3)
Facing ruin when his partner sails home from Singapore, a man and his greedy girlfriend plot to bury the returning partner before he reaches port -- then a fellow passenger who knows their secret starts bleeding them dry.
April 11, 1950 Operation Tomorrow Listen (MP3)
A man volunteers to travel into the future for knowledge and lands in a war-torn, post-apocalyptic America where he is taken for a spy, racing to carry the truth home before the door closes -- a cautionary tale.
April 18, 1950 Death at 50 Fathoms Listen (MP3)
A disguised Hitler flees by submarine to rebuild the Reich, but the souls of those his crew murders drag the boat toward a bottomless deep.
April 25, 1950 I Died Last Night Listen (MP3)
A man murders his brother to seize control of a charity, dies in a struggle moments later, and finds himself a ghost no one can hear.
May 2, 1950 S.o.s. Listen (MP3)
Three thieves hold an ocean liner and its uncut-diamond cargo hostage under threat of blowing it apart, until the captain metes out an old sailor's justice.
May 9, 1950 The Big Dive
May 16, 1950 Voices at Midnight
May 23, 1950 The Lady in Red Listen (MP3)
A newspaperman keeps seeing a woman in red at mob killings -- even at a witness's hospital bedside -- and corners her only to hear her claim innocence.
May 30, 1950 Beyond the Law
June 6, 1950 Killer at Large Listen (MP3)
A wealthy man overhears his wife and her doctor plotting to have him committed, and turns their own scheme into the perfect cover for murder.
June 13, 1950 Death Has Two Faces
June 20, 1950 Die She Must
June 27, 1950 Journey Through Time
July 4, 1950 Five Miles Down
July 11, 1950 Ring Twice for Death
July 18, 1950 Killer Come Home Listen (MP3)
Two escaped convicts flee to one's boyhood home, a stolen car and a dead owner tightening the noose until a mother's frail voice forces a choice.
July 25, 1950 Gun for Hire
August 1, 1950 Footsteps Behind You
August 8, 1950 Blood Money
August 15, 1950 Vacation from Life
A husband and wife each secretly plan to collect on the other's new life-insurance policy -- turning their seaside holiday into a race to see who dies first.
August 22, 1950 Nightmare
August 29, 1950 Murder Has a Price
September 5, 1950 Mind Over Matter
September 12, 1950 Tomorrow Is Forever
September 19, 1950 Design for Death
September 26, 1950 Into the Unknown
October 3, 1950 What's in It for Me?
October 10, 1950 The Final Hour
October 17, 1950 The Cat's Paw
October 24, 1950 House of Silence
October 31, 1950 Their Cold Companion
November 14, 1950 The Big Money
November 21, 1950 Escape to 2480
November 28, 1950 13 Steps to Death
December 5, 1950 Two Lethal Ladies
December 12, 1950 A Present for Santa
December 19, 1950 The Survivors
December 26, 1950 Between Two Worlds

1951

January 2, 1951 Never Say Die
January 9, 1951 Death Cancels All Debts
January 16, 1951 Diamond Fever
January 23, 1951 Easy, Easy Money
January 30, 1951 I'll Dance on Your Grave
February 6, 1951 Death Is but a Dream
February 13, 1951 Money in the Bank
February 20, 1951 When Killers Meet
February 27, 1951 The Ivory Elephant
March 6, 1951 World of Tomorrow
March 13, 1951 Knives of Death Listen (MP3)
Two mystery-novel-loving old ladies get a real case when a friend swears her husband means to kill her -- and they crack his method by studying the murder weapon.
March 20, 1951 A Coffin for Charley
March 27, 1951 The Man Who Died Twice
A jealous husband beats a murder rap on a technicality, then delivers the victim's body to the very judge who sentenced him.
April 3, 1951 X Marks the Spot
April 10, 1951 50,000 B.c.
April 17, 1951 Little Man Who Wasn't There
April 24, 1951 Chance of a Lifetime
May 1, 1951 The Planet Zevius Listen (MP3)
Space explorers land on a planet that fell silent after distant explosions years earlier, and find a cautionary lesson waiting for them.
May 15, 1951 Death in the Swamps
May 22, 1951 Judgement Day
May 29, 1951 Fatal Mistake
June 5, 1951 The Unexpected
June 12, 1951 Big Jackpot
June 19, 1951 Another Man's Murder Listen (MP3)
June 26, 1951 I Won't Walk Alone
July 3, 1951 Restless Skeleton
July 10, 1951 Death Writes a Letter
A dead spiritualist seems to write, through his skeptical brother's hand, a letter foretelling two deaths -- and the brother races to cheat a fate he cannot escape.
July 17, 1951 They'll Never Believe Me
July 24, 1951 Visitors from Infinity
August 7, 1951 Terror by Night
August 14, 1951 The Chase
August 21, 1951 When the Dead Return
August 28, 1951 Fire in the Sky Listen (MP3)
Convinced a radioactive comet will end the world, a professor kidnaps a couple and two infants to 'save' them underground -- and the radio seems to prove him right.
September 4, 1951 Death Has a Thousand Faces
A much-younger wife with a lover and a well-insured husband engineers a holiday to some remote caverns, where nothing plays out as expected.
September 11, 1951 Strange Destiny
September 18, 1951 Some Only Sleep
September 25, 1951 Four Fatal Callers
October 2, 1951 What Happened Last Night
October 9, 1951 The Man Who Knew Everything Listen (MP3)
A mobster steals a psychic's mind-reading formula and builds a blackmail empire with eyes on the governor's mansion, but his impatient partners want their cut.
October 16, 1951 Death Needs a Substitute
October 23, 1951 This Is Murder Calling
October 30, 1951 Miracle on 10th Avenue
November 6, 1951 Behind the Locked Door Listen (MP3)
Two archaeologists break into a sealed cave and find themselves trapped in the dark with the degenerate descendants of a lost wagon train.
November 13, 1951 Speak of the Devil
November 20, 1951 The Most Famous Man in the World Listen (MP3)
Two travelers from the future rent a room to film a coming dictator's rise, and one of them shatters their own timeline -- with a machine that is no camera.
November 27, 1951 Murder Has a Price
December 4, 1951 Token of Friendship
December 11, 1951 Hide Out Listen (MP3)
A small-time driver stays loyal to his jailed mobster boss and arranges the hideout for his release, setting up a horrific twist he never sees coming.
December 18, 1951 Make Mine Murder
December 25, 1951 Christmas Story Listen (MP3)
A passenger learns his driver stands to inherit a fortune, and after a crash he assumes the dead man's identity -- gambling everything the title gives away.

1952

January 1, 1952 Stamps from Eldorado
January 8, 1952 It's Only Money Listen (MP3)
A con man secretly buys a whole field of racehorses to rig one big payoff, then flees to Paris and a counterfeiting scheme his bookie won't forgive.
January 15, 1952 Key Witness Listen (MP3)
A syndicate's photographic-memory accountant becomes a liability when the federal men close in, and the boss decides the only safe ledger is a dead one.
January 22, 1952 Change of Address Listen (MP3)
A man goads his overbearing wife into a country holiday and rents a house made for murder -- not knowing she has already set the law on its last owner.
January 29, 1952 Stranger in the House Listen (MP3)
A couple gets a grand old house cheap, never asking why it keeps changing hands -- until the resident ghost sets her sights on the husband.
February 5, 1952 The Man Who Frightened Himself
February 12, 1952 Death Plays the Tune
February 19, 1952 Strange New World Listen (MP3)
Two castaways wash up on a deserted Pacific island menaced by a giant crab, and realize too late they have landed on an atomic test site.
February 26, 1952 Appointment to Die
March 4, 1952 The Betrayer
March 11, 1952 Man of Destiny
March 18, 1952 The Black Door
March 25, 1952 Two of a Kind
April 1, 1952 April Fool
April 8, 1952 Money Isn't Everything
April 15, 1952 Murder in Haste
April 22, 1952 The Fourth Dimension
April 29, 1952 Murder in 2952 Listen (MP3)
May 6, 1952 The Gun Fighter
May 13, 1952 Death Rides the Storm
May 20, 1952 In the Depths
May 27, 1952 Wheels of Murder
June 3, 1952 Haunted Trailer Listen (MP3)
A cross-country traveler's trailer is commandeered by the ghost of a hoboing tramp, and getting rid of the freeloader takes a very lucky family connection.
June 17, 1952 The Green Plague Listen (MP3)
A scientist's formula to grow crops overnight promises an end to famine, until his 'controlled' test refuses to stop spreading.
June 24, 1952 When Dead Men Speak
July 1, 1952 Bird of Prey
July 15, 1952 Sands of Death
July 22, 1952 Time Is Running Out
July 29, 1952 The Big Fog
August 5, 1952 Death Points a Finger
August 12, 1952 Temporary Corpse
August 19, 1952 Day of Reckoning
August 26, 1952 The Big One
September 2, 1952 The Treasure of Superstition Mountain
The Story

Every week a distant locomotive whistle heralded the arrival of the Mysterious Traveler -- a sardonic, unnamed stranger riding a midnight train who invited listeners to settle back, get a good grip on their nerves, and share a tale of murder, the supernatural, or the uncanny. Maurice Tarplin gave the host his genial-yet-sinister voice, sometimes stepping down off the train to play a part in the story itself. The show ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from December 1943 to September 1952 and was the flagship of writer-producers Robert Arthur and David Kogan, who met in a Columbia University radio class and became one of the era's most awarded teams -- their mystery work won multiple Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. From the same shop came near-twin anthologies The Sealed Book and The Strange Dr. Weird, and the brand spilled over into a digest magazine and Charlton comic books. Only about 70 of the original 370 broadcasts are known to survive, and this collection gathers the circulating recordings -- crime, science fiction, and ghost stories built around the sting in the tail.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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