Typical Confusion Pod Cast Hosted by Jim Holliday · Jim Holliday

CBS Radio Mystery Theater The Wishing Stone

January 2, 2026·53 min·4 clips

After Jenny wishes for no school, her father arrives with news that the school mysteriously burned down in a fire.

The episode opens with host E.G. Marshall introducing the story of a young woman whose capacity to make dreams come true is imprecise and sometimes dangerous. Jenny Coulter is a 16-year-old who recently recovered from encephalitis and has been held back a grade; her family life is dominated by her father Tom's gambling addiction. Jenny discovers a shiny stone in her secret woodland spot after experiencing what she believes is a visitation from an angel who tells her she can wish on it. Her first test is accidental: she wishes for no school tomorrow, and hours later Tom comes home to announce the school burned down from a mysterious 'flaming arrow' witnessed by the drunken custodian. Jenny is disturbed that her wish caused destruction and pledges not to use the stone again unless the angel instructs her. The family's financial strain worsens: Tom steals money Marge had saved for Judd's birthday bicycle in order to gamble, and it is revealed he has also spent the money intended for a life insurance premium. When Marge tries to stop Tom from leaving to gamble again, he pushes her off and she tumbles down the stairs. At the hospital, an intern believes Marge has a broken neck and severed spinal cord, but Jenny secretly uses the stone to wish her mother well. The X-rays that showed the injury come back fogged and unusable; a fresh set shows no damage whatsoever, and Marge is released. Tom promises to reform, pawns Marge's wedding ring to replace Judd's birthday money, then immediately loses that money gambling as well. Confronted at the racetrack phone, he asks a bookie named Benny to cover one more bet on a sure thing. At the pond the next day, Tom finds Jenny and dismisses the wishing stone as fool's gold — pyrite, worthless. To prove his point he sarcastically wishes for $20,000 from 'old Nick' at the bottom of the pond. Tom then drowns. Al informs Marge that Tom's life insurance policy, which he had failed to pay, was apparently covered, and because the death was accidental it pays double indemnity — exactly $20,000. The narrator closes by noting that everyone ended up better off except Tom, and that Jenny eventually grew up and stopped believing in magic.

As heard by us

A wish story where family strain matters as much as the mystery.

The Wishing Stone keeps its tension close to home, with a wish that lands at exactly the wrong moment and sets the family on edge. Tom's gambling, Marge's worry, and Jenny's faith in the stone give the CBS Radio Mystery Theater story a clean emotional pull, while E.G.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A lucky stone, a gambling father, and one wish that refuses to stay harmless.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Typical Confusion Pod Cast Hosted by Jim Holliday