radio playhouse

Rebecca - Orson Wells The Campbell Playhouse

The Campbell Playhouse adaptation of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, produced and narrated by Orson Welles, originally aired on December 9, 1938.
A shy and naive young woman, working as a companion to a wealthy American woman in Monte Carlo, unexpectedly meets and falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a brooding English widower. After a brief courtship, Maxim proposes marriage, and she becomes the new Mrs. de Winter.

Dead Man's Holiday -Inner Sanctum

Steve Farrell, a tough private detective, tries to take a break from crime and murder by going on vacation for New Year’s Eve. He heads to a quiet, snow-covered mountain lodge hoping for peace, solitude, and maybe a little romance.

Portrait of Death - Inner Sanctum

A struggling artist named Paul becomes obsessed with painting the perfect portrait of death itself. Paul is haunted by nightmares and visions, and he begins to believe that he must experience death firsthand—or bring someone else close to it—in order to capture it truthfully on canvas.

Death Across the Board - Inner Sanctum

Dr. John Strand, a physician, stumbles upon a mysterious pawn shop where he encounters an enigmatic old man engaged in a game of chess. Unbeknownst to Strand, this is no ordinary game—the chessboard represents a town, and the pieces symbolize real people.

Musical Score - Inner Sanctum

The story unfolds with five survivors adrift on a lifeboat after a shipwreck. Among them is a composer who incessantly hums a simple tune to comfort his injured wife. This repetitive humming becomes a source of irritation for another survivor.

Dead to Rights - Inner Sanctum

A couple commits the murder of their wealthy but mentally ill neighbour, seizing his money in the process. Although not immediately suspected of the crime, paranoia takes hold, compelling them to flee. Their anxiety intensifies as they become convinced that a policeman is trailing them.

The Black Art - Inner Sanctum

Set in Louisiana, the story follows Larry Gifford, a man wrongfully convicted of murder and awaiting execution. On the eve of his death, he is mysteriously aided in an escape by Claudine, a woman he's never met.

The Girl and the Gallows - Inner Sanctum

Karen Marley visits her father's fiancée, Laura Mason, a woman with an eerie ability to foresee the future. Laura ominously predicts that Karen will be hanged for her father's murder. Soon after, Karen discovers her father's lifeless body, and Laura vanishes without a trace.

Song of the Slasher - Inner Sanctum

Set against the eerie backdrop of deserted waterfront streets, the story follows a hard-boiled detective determined to unmask the elusive killer. The Slasher is notorious for whistling a haunting tune before each murder, a chilling signature that adds to the city's growing fear. As the detective delves deeper, he encounters a cast of suspicious characters, including a demented composer, an overprotective husband, and a seemingly helpful lackey.

The Judas Clock - Inner Sanctum

Sebastian Packer, a London-based clockmaker, has spent 30 years searching for a specific antique known as the Judas Clock. This Italian-made clock operates only when the 30 silver coins paid to Judas Iscariot are placed in its weights. Legend holds that the clock brings violent death to its owners. Sebastian's obsession stems from a traumatic event in his youth: at 14, he witnessed his father's death, which he attributes to the clock's curse.

The Bog-Oak Necklace - Inner Sanctum Starring: Mercedes McCambridge

Louisa Crane, a young schoolteacher, inherits an old country cottage and a small box of keepsakes from a great-aunt she never met. Among the contents is a peculiar and beautiful piece: a bog-oak necklace—jet-black, warm to the touch, and carved with strange Celtic symbols.

No Coffin for the Dead - Inner Sanctum

Eli Carson, a small-town undertaker, prides himself on dignity and tradition. But he harbors a secret: years ago, during a deadly fever outbreak, he buried a man without a coffin—Joseph Crandall, a drifter and loner. The town was in chaos, and Eli took a shortcut… one he deeply regrets.

Death in the Depths - Inner Sanctum

Gregory Miles, a professional diver and salvage expert with a reputation for taking risks—and cutting corners. When a sunken luxury liner is discovered off the coast, Miles is hired to lead a deep-sea expedition to recover a safe full of jewels from the wreck.
Joining him are Tommy Blake, his nervous assistant, and Judith, the widow of the ship’s former owner—who insists on being there for “closure.” But Judith may have a hidden motive… one tied to secrets buried in the wreck.

Death Is an Artist - Inner Sanctum

Victor Ames is a celebrated but tormented sculptor whose fame has begun to fade. Once the toast of the art world, Victor now struggles with creative block and growing paranoia. Critics whisper that he’s lost his touch, and galleries have stopped calling.
Then, a new muse enters his life: Celia, a mysterious woman with haunting features and an otherworldly calm. Victor is instantly obsessed. He begins work on a new sculpture, which he claims will be his greatest creation—a depiction of death itself.

Desert Death - Inner Sanctum

Tom Harbin, a mining engineer, travels to the scorching American Southwest to scout a newly discovered silver vein. But he’s not alone: he's joined by George Mallory, an old friend—and former rival for Tom’s late wife, Laura.
The trip starts uneasily. The two men set up camp near an abandoned prospector’s shack, surrounded by nothing but sand, bones, and silence. Locals had warned them: this part of the desert is cursed—a place where men have gone mad or vanished without trace. And as the temperature rises, so does the tension.
Tom begins to suspect that George knows more about Laura’s death than he ever let on. Laura died in a mysterious fall two years ago… and Tom now believes it was no accident.

The Color Blind Formula - Inner Sanctum

Dr. Julian Vance, a brilliant but erratic chemist, has developed a new chemical compound—a formula that induces temporary colour blindness in those exposed to it. Originally designed to help scientists isolate light frequencies in research, Julian begins to imagine other uses… darker ones.
He tests the formula on animals, then—secretly—on himself. The results are unnerving: the world turns into shades of grey, and his sense of perception begins to warp. But instead of discarding it, Julian sees potential in deception—invisibility through confusion. In the wrong hands, the formula could allow a person to go unseen in plain sight.

The Voice on the Wire - Inner Sanctum Starring: Mercedes McCambridge

The story follows Ellen Drake, a woman still grieving the mysterious drowning death of her fiancé, Philip, a year earlier. She has moved to a lonely cliffside house to recover, far from the city. But late one night, she receives a telephone call—from a voice that sounds exactly like Philip’s.
The voice is distant, warbled, and eerie. It simply says:
“Ellen… I’m coming back… wait for me…”Then the line goes dead.

Dead Man's Vengeance - Inner Sanctum

Adam Kent, a cold, calculating businessman, has built a quiet life of wealth and respect. But his success hides a secret: years ago, he betrayed and killed his business partner, Carl Denny, during a mountain trip, shoving him off a cliff and reporting it as an accident.

Death Is a Joker - Inner Sanctum

Larry Gilbert is a once-famous stage comedian whose career has fizzled. Bitter, broke, and trapped in a failing marriage, he finds himself performing at second-rate clubs, recycling old jokes no one laughs at anymore. But Larry still has one thing: his sharp tongue—and a growing temper.

The Skull That Walked - Inner Sanctum

Martin Rayner, is a nervous art restorer working at a museum, known for his fragile temperament and morbid fascination with death masks and bone relics. One day, a strange package arrives—containing an ancient skull, supposedly from a disinterred grave in South America. The skull has peculiar carvings and an odd, almost smirking expression.

The Horla - Inner Sanctum

Adapted from Guy de Maupassant’s classic horror tale
Jean, a wealthy and cultured man living in France, begins keeping a diary to document the strange changes he’s experiencing—insomnia, fatigue, and a growing sense of being watched. He hears whispers, feels cold presences in his room, and notices objects being moved, though no one else is there.
At first, he attributes his condition to nervous exhaustion. But the feeling intensifies. His flowers wilt without reason. His water jug empties by morning. One night, he dreams—or believes he dreams—that a shadowy presence enters his room and sits on his chest, breathing deeply while sapping his will.

Black Sea Gull - Inner Sanctum

Ann Clay, a young woman recovering from a nervous breakdown. Her doctor recommends she rest at a remote seaside cottage, far from the city’s noise. The location is wild and desolate, with stormy cliffs, cold mist, and an almost unnerving silence… except for the constant cry of gulls.
One gull in particular—a black sea gull—seems to appear wherever Ann goes. It perches on the windowsill. It watches her from the cliffs. The locals say it's an omen, a creature that appears when death is near.

Study for Murder - Inner Sanctum

Dr. Paul Ferris, a brilliant but emotionally cold psychologist who has spent years researching the criminal mind. Frustrated by theory alone, Ferris decides to take his work further—not in a lab, but in real life.
He chooses a subject: Roger Hillman, a quiet, seemingly normal young man who once attempted suicide but recovered with no memory of the event. Ferris moves Roger into his home under the pretence of rehabilitation.

Dead Reckoning - Inner Sanctum

Jerry Mason, a young merchant marine officer, takes a job aboard a rusting cargo freighter, the SS Valkyr, bound for South America. The ship’s atmosphere is grim and the crew is surly, led by Captain Thorne, a cold and secretive man with a heavy past. Almost immediately, Jerry senses something is wrong: the navigational charts are outdated, the ship is deliberately off-course, and no one will tell him what’s really in the hold.

Death Has Claws - Inner Sanctum

Gilbert Morgan, a nervous and reclusive zoologist, returns from a lengthy expedition in the Amazon jungle, where he had been studying wild cats—particularly jaguars. Since his return, Gilbert has been deeply unsettled, claiming he’s being stalked by a creature with claws that he cannot see. His wife Helen thinks it’s just stress—until the house cat turns feral and slashes Gilbert’s arm without warning.