Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: October 16, 1956 Suspense #669, "The Prophecy of Bertha Abbott," young Ernie finds himself fleeing into the night aboard a freight train with his friend Whitey, running from a crime that has turned deadly. As the two frightened boys huddle in a dark boxcar, hungry and uncertain of their destination, Ernie's mind drifts back to a terrifying childhood memory. Years earlier, he and Whitey attempted to steal peaches from the yard of Bertha Abbott, a strange old woman the neighborhood children believed to be a witch. When she caught young Ernie, she cursed him with a chilling prophecy: bad boys like him would end up dying in the gas chamber like rats. Now, that prophecy seems to be coming true. What began as a simple robbery of a local establishment has spiraled out of control when Whitey shot the proprietor, Goofy, during their escape. As police swarm the railroad yards and the boys desperately seek a train out of town, Ernie wrestles with whether Bertha Abbott's dark prediction is finally catching up with him, wondering if fate has already sealed his doom.

Originally Aired: October 9, 1956 In Suspense #668, "The Digger," Carton tracks down Roger Fabian, a disgraced mining engineer known as "the Digger," to a squalid rooming house in the native quarter. Two years earlier, Fabian led thirty men into the Tabora mine during a cave-in, and only he made it back alive. Now drinking himself to death and haunted by nightmares of the men he left behind, Fabian has become a shadow of his former self. Carton brings him a job offer from Sandy McGregor: five thousand pounds to return to the very mine where the tragedy occurred. The mine has been reopened, and McGregor has found traces of a new vein. Despite his terror and the natives' taboo on the cursed mine, Fabian reluctantly agrees, seeing it as his last chance to escape his desperate circumstances. The journey back to Tabora proves torturous for the alcoholic Fabian, but he arrives to find McGregor waiting with news of rich ore samples. As Fabian prepares to descend once again into the mine that destroyed his life and reputation, he must confront both the physical dangers below and the ghosts of thirty dead men who haunt his conscience.

Originally Aired: October 2, 1956 Suspense #667, "Waiting," presents a tense vigil as three women count down the final hours before Norman Landon's scheduled execution for the murder of Sheila Warren. His wife Aline, his sister Harriet, and his mother-in-law Mrs. Martinson gather in agonizing suspense as attorney Mr. Mailer makes desperate last-minute attempts to reach the governor with new evidence: a witness who claims to have seen a woman fleeing the victim's apartment that night. As the clock ticks toward eleven o'clock, tensions mount between the women, revealing painful secrets about Norman's troubled marriage and a diary that detailed his affair with the murdered woman. While Harriet maintains unwavering faith in her brother's innocence and Aline insists she loves him regardless of his guilt, Mrs. Martinson's cold acceptance that divine judgment has already been rendered creates bitter conflict. The women's vigil becomes not just a wait for news of a reprieve, but an emotional reckoning with loyalty, doubt, and the devastating question of whether Norman Landon is truly innocent or guilty of murder.

Originally Aired: September 25, 1956 Suspense #666, "A Case of Identity," Harry Burton and his wife Edna have hatched an elaborate scheme to collect $100,000 in life insurance. After Harry secures a large policy from the skeptical Mr. Croyd, he picks up a down-on-his-luck drifter named Wallace from the park—a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to Harry. The plan seems foolproof: stage an accident in the mountains, leave Wallace's body to be mistaken for Harry's, and disappear with the insurance money. Harry drugs Wallace, switches clothes and identification with him, and sets up a fiery car crash on a remote mountain highway while Edna waits nearby to pick him up. But things quickly go wrong when Edna's getaway car runs out of gas on the isolated mountain road. Desperate, they coast to a rundown gas station, only to find the surly attendant unwilling to help. With Edna hiding in the back seat and the unconscious Wallace still unaccounted for, Harry must convince the hostile station owner to give them fuel before their carefully constructed plan unravels completely.

Originally Aired: September 5, 1956 Suspense #665, "The Security Agent," presents a gripping tale of desperate men plotting an audacious escape from behind the Iron Curtain. In 1956 Poland, two middle-aged friends face a life-changing decision: Joseph Ostrovsky, a bus works superintendent, and Frederick Zilonko, a radio broadcasting executive, meet for their regular Saturday chess game when Frederick reveals a startling plan. When Frederick learns he'll be traveling to a mechanical exhibition in Prague by plane, he sees an opportunity to flee to freedom in Austria by hijacking the aircraft. Though Joseph initially dismisses the idea as madness, Frederick is deadly serious and claims to have found a mysterious third man willing to join their conspiracy. As Frederick's travel plans solidify through his meeting with radio manager Comrade Kozun, the stakes become real. Frederick must convince his reluctant friend Joseph to take the terrifying leap with him, risking execution for a chance at freedom. The tension builds as the plotters prepare to transform a routine business trip into a daring flight to the West, knowing that one misstep could mean their deaths.