Ghoulish Delights
500 episodes listed below
Old radio chills, judged after midnight.
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society revisits suspense, crime, horror, and supernatural radio plays from the broadcast era. Each episode frames a selected drama with historical notes, performer context, and a spirited verdict on its staying power.
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The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society is an editorial seance for old-time radio suspense. The subject is not nostalgia alone. It is the practical question of whether these dramas still hold a room. Episodes reach into programs such as Dark Fantasy, Escape, Suspense, The Adventures of the Falcon, and The Shadow, choosing stories where a curse, a locked-room suspicion, a poisonous threat, or a pulp detective premise can still put pressure on the ear. The format is steady and satisfying. First comes the file. Dates, networks, source material, writers, performers, and production oddities are placed on the table with care. A Dark Fantasy episode becomes a story of WKY Oklahoma City, Scott Bishop, local actors, and an impossible skeleton. Poison becomes a route through Roald Dahl's adult fiction and James Poe's radio and film work. Phobia brings Eva Legallion and the long prestige of Suspense into view. The Falcon arrives through aliases, novels, RKO movies, and a title strange enough to earn its own raised eyebrow. The Shadow brings pulp history, Orson Welles, Agnes Moorhead, Bill Johnstone, and the famous power to cloud men's minds. Then the program listens. The vintage drama is allowed to be theatrical, overheated, clever, clumsy, chilling, or all of those at once. Afterward, the conversation judges the machinery: the acting, the reveal, the moral weather, the unfortunate period attitudes, and the durable pleasure of a door opening at exactly the wrong moment. The show has a useful double vision. It loves the form, but it does not excuse everything the form carries. That gives the listening a lively moral and comic edge. It is especially strong when an ordinary prop becomes ominous evidence, or when a seemingly ridiculous premise turns into real suspense. The result is part archive club, part horror appreciation, part courtroom argument for ghosts, detectives, sponsors, and doomed men in darkened rooms.
Made for: Best for listeners who enjoy vintage suspense, supernatural mystery, pulp detectives, radio history, and after-the-fact debate about what still works. It also fits theater-minded listeners who like performance craft as much as plot.
What sets it apart: The show sets archival radio drama beside lively modern judgment, so each episode becomes both a listening session and a verdict. Its strength is the friction between affection, historical detail, and willingness to call out creaky writing or ugly period attitudes.
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Podcast revisits the great horror and suspense shows from the golden age of radio, including tales from Suspense, Lights Out Everybody, The Witch’s Tale, The Shadow, and more. Each episode features a classic, or maybe-not-so classic story from the scary old-time radio vault, complete with historical notes and nerdy trivia. At the end of each podcast, your hosts, Tim, Joshua and Eric discuss the merits of the story and decide whether or not it stands the test of time.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Eric, Tim and Joshua pair complete vintage radio performances with precise history and lively judgments about how the drama has aged.
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society gives vintage radio drama a careful second hearing. Eric, Tim and Joshua introduce each broadcast with production history, then let the original performance run before discussing how well it holds up.
An antique radio glows, then Eric, Tim, and Joshua help you decide whether its chills survived.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp Roald Dahl adaptation discussed with wit, unease, and period-radio grit.
Roald Dahl's dark short fiction gives the episode a hard edge, and the hosts stay close to it with curiosity and a fair amount of skepticism. They set up the story's radio roots, then let the performance carry the weight: the argument tightens, the insults get meaner, and the…
A tense old-time radio murder mystery that turns a brooch and a pin into trouble.
Phobia is a tense old-time radio murder mystery from Suspense, with a rare appearance by Eva Legallion and a plot that keeps tightening around a death in the hall.
A recovered vault episode where courtroom absurdity and old-radio dread keep colliding.
Secrets of the Mysterious Old Radio treats its release as a small event, and the appeal is easy to see. It leans into archival roughness, a superstitious old-radio story, and hosts who can land a courtroom sheep-head bit without letting the mood collapse.
Old-time radio suspense turns a boxcar and a vanished town into a tense, eerie chapter.
This installment keeps Bury Your Dead Arizona moving through a boxcar, a supposed dead body, and a strange maestro at the center of the action. The setting remains stark and uncanny, with disbelief, repeated challenges, and a dry joke folded into the menace.
A clear opening that pairs I Love a Mystery history with a theatrical freight-car scene.
The episode starts a seven-episode run through the 15-part Bury Your Dead, Arizona serial from I Love a Mystery, and it makes good use of the opening stretch. The hosts briefly trace the show back to Carlton E.
Four McElroys narrate a wizard battle-royale tournament across elimination trials on Octave Ziggurat.
A continuous Fabula Ultima actual-play campaign following one party through the world of Perpetua.
An ensemble cast plays teen superheroes through Masks: A New Generation campaigns and guest one-shots.
A recurring cast plays full Pathfinder 2E, Shadowdark, and Pendragon campaigns session by session.
A Dungeon World actual-play campaign following three comedians battling villain Callum Blackhammer.
The hosts introduce and discuss the old-time radio series Dark Fantasy, exploring its history, production details, and cast from WKY in Oklahoma City.
This episode discusses the radio adaptation of Roald Dahl's short story 'Poison' from the CBS anthology 'Escape', exploring its origins and historical context.
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society plays and discusses 'Poison,' a July 1950 episode of CBS's Escape, starring Jack Webb as Woody and William Conrad as Harry Pope, adapted from Roald Dahl's 1950 Collier's story by screenwriter James Poe.
The hosts introduce and play the 1947 Suspense radio episode 'Phobia', featuring actress Eva Legallion, while discussing its historical context and the golden age of radio.
Hosts Eric, Tim, and Joshua of the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society play and discuss 'Phobia,' a 1947 CBS Suspense episode starring Eva Le Gallienne as Emily Haven — a wealthy, wheelchair-bound woman with a metal phobia who narrates a series of intruders, a kleptomaniac sister, a blackmailing store manager, and an escaped murderer named Scorchy Hood.
The hosts introduce and analyze an episode from the 1950s radio series 'The Adventures of the Falcon' titled 'The Widow's Gorilla', exploring its historical context and suspenseful crime story.
This episode introduces and plays an old-time radio mystery story called 'The Widow's Gorilla' from the series 'The Adventures of the Falcon', discussing its history and context.
The hosts introduce an episode of The Shadow from 1939, discussing its history and context before playing the audio.
The hosts introduce and discuss an episode of The Shadow from 1939, providing historical context and analysis.
The hosts introduce a double feature comparing a 1943 short story by Anthony Boucher with its 1981 radio adaptation from Nightfall.
The hosts introduce a double feature comparing Anthony Boucher's 1943 short story 'They Bite' with its 1981 Nightfall radio adaptation, providing background on Boucher's career.
The hosts introduce an episode of the classic radio show Suspense, discussing its history and a listener's recommendation.
This is a special release of a long-lost Patreon-only episode from 2018, exploring the superstition 'The Hat on the Bed' as a companion to a main series episode.
Hosts Eric, Tim, and Joshua of the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society play and discuss a 1952 radio episode called 'A Hat on the Bed,' from the syndicated show Origin of Superstition.
The hosts introduce a trilogy of episodes revisiting their earliest picks, focusing on a rare 1945 Suspense episode 'Fury and Sound' that was an insider roast of the producer.
The hosts introduce a trilogy of episodes revisiting their first picks, focusing on the 1945 Suspense episode 'Fury and Sound' and its insider context.
The hosts discuss the history and impact of the classic radio horror show Lights Out, leading into a review of an episode.
The hosts discuss the history and impact of the classic radio horror series Lights Out, leading into a review of an episode.
The hosts introduce their podcast about old-time radio horror and suspense shows, beginning a countdown to their 400th episode with a discussion of the BBC series The Price of Fear.
The hosts introduce a countdown of their earliest episodes, starting with a 1974 BBC series The Price of Fear starring Vincent Price.
The hosts introduce an episode of The Croupier starring Vincent Price, discussing its background and inviting listeners to listen to the classic radio drama.
The hosts introduce a classic episode of the old-time radio serial 'I Love a Mystery' titled 'Bury Your Dead Arizona'.
The hosts introduce their podcast and begin a two-part episode of the classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from I Love a Mystery.
The hosts introduce an episode of the classic radio serial 'I Love a Mystery' from 1949, providing historical context before playing the story.
The hosts introduce a classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from the golden age, providing historical context and then playing the episode.
The hosts introduce a two-part episode of the classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from 'I Love a Mystery', providing historical context and setting the mood.
The hosts introduce and play episodes of the classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from 'I Love a Mystery'.
This episode continues the presentation of parts five and six of the classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from 'I Love a Mystery', originally broadcast in 1949, featuring suspense, crime, and horror stories.
This episode continues the seven-part presentation of the classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from the 1940s-1950s series I Love a Mystery, featuring suspenseful detective adventures.
This episode continues the seven-part presentation of the classic radio serial 'Bury Your Dead Arizona' from 'I Love a Mystery', originally broadcast in 1949, featuring suspense, crime, and horror stories from the golden age of radio.
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society plays and discusses Parts 3 and 4 of 'Bury Your Dead, Arizona,' the 1949 Mutual Network serial from Carlton E.
This episode begins a seven-part discussion of the 15-part radio serial 'Bury Your Dead, Arizona' from the classic adventure show 'I Love a Mystery', exploring its characters, creators, and outrageous content.
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society plays and discusses Parts 1 and 2 of 'Bury Your Dead, Arizona,' a 15-part 1949 Mutual Broadcasting Network serial from Carlton E.
The hosts introduce and discuss an episode of Inner Sanctum Mystery from 1945, providing historical context and analysis.
Hosts introduce and discuss a classic radio episode from Casey, Crime Photographer, providing historical context and trivia.