Episodes

This episode is a fascinating psychological thriller that centers on a unique premise: a man’s own voice becoming his greatest enemy. It is a standout example of the "radio-noir" style Orson Welles helped pioneer. Episode Overview Title: "The Voice of Death" First Aired: December 26, 1937 Network: Mutual Broadcasting System Sponsor: Blue Coal Cast & Voice Actors The Shadow / Lamont Cranston: Orson Welles Margot Lane: Agnes Moorehead Commissioner Weston: Traditionall...

This episode is famously cited by historians as a stylistic dry run for one of the most significant events in broadcasting history. Episode Overview Title: "The Death Triangle" First Aired: December 12, 1937 Network: Mutual Broadcasting System Sponsor: Blue Coal Cast & Voice Actors The Shadow / Lamont Cranston: Orson Welles Margot Lane: Agnes Moorehead Announcer: Ken Roberts Dr. James Evans: Supporting cast member Organist: Elsie Thompson Episode Summary ...

Today we dive into one of the most atmospheric chapters of Nathanial Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. Chapter 13 is a fascinating story within a story that highlights Hawthorne’s obsession with ancestral guilt and the supernatural. The Legend of Alice Pyncheon In this episode, we step away from the present-day tension of the Gables as Holgrave reads an original manuscript to Phoebe. We are transported back three generations to meet Alice Pyncheon, the beautiful and haughty daugh...

This episode is a high-stakes urban thriller that finds the Shadow tackling a modern terror: a serial bomber. It is one of the surviving recordings from the legendary first season. Episode Overview Title: "The Circle of Death" First Aired: November 28, 1937 Network: Mutual Broadcasting System Sponsor: Blue Coal Cast & Voice Actors The Shadow / Lamont Cranston: Orson Welles Margot Lane: Agnes Moorehead Commissioner Weston: Traditionally played by Dwight Weist or Ray ...

This episode is a quintessential Halloween classic, leaning heavily into the "ghostly" reputation of the Shadow to stop a psychological crime. Episode Overview Title: "The Three Ghosts" First Aired: October 31, 1937 (Halloween Night) Network: Mutual Broadcasting System Sponsor: Blue Coal Cast & Voice Actors The Shadow / Lamont Cranston: Orson Welles Margot Lane: Agnes Moorehead Announcer: Arthur Whiteside (stepping in for the usual Ken Roberts in some listings) O...

This episode is widely considered one of the most exotic and atmospheric of the Orson Welles era, leaning heavily into the "Eastern mysticism" that provided the foundation for The Shadow’s powers. Episode Overview Title: "The Temple Bells of Neban" First Aired: October 24, 1937 Network: Mutual Broadcasting System Sponsor: Blue Coal Credits Host and Producer Gizelle Erickson Executive Producer Jon Hagadorn Music: Thanks to Sound Gallery By Dmitry Taras "Scary Horror Mus...

Tonight we peel back the moss-grown layers of Nathaniel Hawthorne's gothic masterpiece, The House of the Seven Gables, to examine a most peculiar resident in Chapter 12, “The Daguerreotypist.” While the shattered Clifford seeks rest, dreaming of a childhood long lost, Phœbe finds herself drawn into the company of the enigmatic Holgrave—a man whose past is a kaleidoscope of identities, ranging from a traveling peddler of cologne-water to a public lecturer on Mesmerism. Though he speaks of a brigh...

This episode is a haunting early entry in the series that plays with the boundary between the natural and the supernatural. It is one of the "lost" episodes of the original run, meaning no original recording survives, though scripts and modern recreations exist. The story centers on a series of impossible murders where the victims appear to have been killed by individuals who are already dead. A wealthy recluse dies under mysterious circumstances, and the evidence at the scene points directly...

Episode Summary The story follows Paul Gordon, an innocent man who is hours away from execution for a murder he didn’t commit. Gordon’s only "crime" was being desperate for work and unknowingly accepting a job as a getaway driver for a pair of bank robbers, Red Sloan and Lefty. During the robbery, a policeman was killed, and Gordon was framed as the triggerman. As the clock ticks toward 11:00 PM—the time of the execution—Lamont Cranston visits the "Death House" in disguise as a prison gua...

We are happy to announce some exciting things we’ve got going on this year. Starting this week, we will be bringing you “The Shadow” every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We will continue with Nathon Hawthorne’s classic, “The House of the Seven Gables” for our Friday Fright Night, releasing every Friday at midnight using the Libravox recording by Mark Smith. We are making this change in order to bring you more variety and content on a regular basis, including the fantastic character of the The Sha...

In Chapter 11, “The Arched Window,” of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables, the secluded life of Clifford Pyncheon is shockingly interrupted by the vibrant movement of the outside world. From the gloom of the upper story, Clifford peers out, observing the modern age and the rush and roar of the human tide. While he finds childish delight in relics of the past, he grapples with terrifying impulses. This constant struggle between a desire for connection and a profound sense of estr...

We step into a deceptive pocket of peace in Chapter 10, “The Pyncheon Garden,” of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. This green, secluded nook offers a fragile sanctuary for the delicate, shattered soul of Clifford Pyncheon, who finds momentary relief from his deep-seated torpor. As Clifford experiences these delights, his spirit momentarily revives, seeking the Beautiful that was his original nature. However, even here, in the shadow of the old house, the oppressive, mysteriou...

In Chapter 9, “Clifford and Phœbe,” of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables, we witness the tragic battle waged by love against the inherited gloom of the Pyncheon house. Hepzibah, though endowed with a high and noble "heroism" by years of sorrow, finds her fierce, devoted affection utterly incapable of saving her brother, Clifford. Yet, a powerful, contrasting influence arrives in the form of Phœbe, a creature of "thoroughly wholesome" simplicity. Tune in to discover whether thi...

We invite you back into the decaying world of The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne for our newest installment, Chapter 8, “The Pyncheon of to-day.” The episode focuses on the immediate, unsettling crisis caused by the arrival of the wealthy and ostensibly benevolent Judge Pyncheon. A chilling transformation forces young Phœbe to confront the terrifying suspicion: that the ruthless qualities, the moral diseases, and the inveteracy of purpose that defined the ancient ancestor, Colo...

Today we present Chapter 7, “The Guest,” of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. The ancient Pyncheon House is gripped by frantic, trembling preparation as Hepzibah undertakes an heroic test of sentiment. Racking her nerves to create a beautiful meal from a musty, antique cookery book for an unnamed arrival. Hepzibah’s emotional state is terrifyingly volatile. As she meticulously positions the table to catch both shadow and sun for her visitor, the suspense is drawn out by the gu...

Welcome back to 1001 Ghost, Chiller, and Lovecraft Stories! Today we go deeper into the atmospheric gloom and ancestral secrets of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterful Gothic “romance,” The House of the Seven Gables, featuring Chapter VI, “Maule’s Well”. In this unsettling episode, the bright, cheerful Phœbe ventures into the old Pyncheon garden—a place of rank decay and strange order—where she encounters the mysterious daguerreotypist, Holgrave, whose conversation reveals chilling insights into the ...

Welcome back to 1001 Ghost, Chiller, and Lovecraft Stories for Chapter V, “May and November,” of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. The ancient, decaying Pyncheon mansion is suddenly illuminated by the arrival of young Phœbe, whose sunny disposition immediately begins to purify chambers long tenanted only by spiders, and mice, and rats, and ghosts. As the cheerful newcomer attempts to bring life back to dusty antiques, including a harpsichord that looks more like a coffin than ...

Step back into the chilling, atmospheric world of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables as we descend into Chapter IV, “A Day Behind the Counter,” presented in the thrilling style of 1001 Ghost, Chiller, and Lovecraft Stories. Hepzibah Pyncheon continues her agonizing trial, navigating the indignities and blunders of her newfound trade, when the formidable shadow of her affluent cousin, Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon, looms over the shop. This is more than a relative’s visit; it is a conf...

Welcome back to 1001 Ghost, Chiller, and Lovecraft Stories! Join Gizelle Erickson this week for a spine-chilling journey into Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic, The House of the Seven Gables, as we delve into Chapter III: “The First Customer.” The reclusive Hepzibah Pyncheon faces her greatest challenge: opening a humble cent-shop to support herself. Experience her overwhelming anxiety as the shop bell heralds not just a customer, but the dramatic collision of her genteel past with the harsh realit...

In Chapter 2 of The House of the Seven Gables, entitled, “The Little Shop-Window,” we delve deeper into the solitary world of Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon, as she reluctantly prepares to open her cent-shop, an act of sheer desperation after twenty-five years of seclusion. This chapter captures the profound inner conflict of Hepzibah, a woman of "old Gentility" forced by poverty to engage with the world she has long avoided. Her famous scowl, often mistaken for ill-temper by the townspeople, is in fact...

WELCOME TO FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHT AT 1001! Hello, fellow seekers of the strange and the spine-chilling! Are you ready to pull back the curtain on a truly ghastly classic tale? Today we delve into the haunting origins of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "The House of the Seven Gables," where history itself is soaked in dread. Chapter 1 opens with a rusty wooden mansion in New England, its gables pointed like accusatory fingers towards a sky that has witnessed centuries of human folly and shadowed secrets. W...

It's "Back to School" time for Anne Shirley of Green Gables- as well as your kids and neighbor's kids-Coming Sunday Aug 10 (tomorrow as I write this) at noon EDT -Chapter 1 of the 3rd 'Anne of Green Gables' story- called 'Anne of the Island'- narrated by Gizelle Erickson- who is introducing herself soon over at 1001 Stories From The Gilded Age. Its a combination romance/adventure/coming of age story that will take you back to a simpler time! Join us at 1001 Stories From The Gilded Age Apple Us...

Lights Out is an American old-time radio program devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural. Created by Wyllis Cooper and then eventually taken over by Arch Oboler, versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 3, 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. Lights Out was one of the earliest radio horror programs, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum,[1] and was the first to gain a large following

Two spine-tingling terror tales for your listening pleasure