The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

Our Patreon listener Mark recommended we pay a visit to our Listener Library to check out “The April Fool’s Day Adventure” from The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes! Thanks, Mark! In this episode, Watson recounts one of his earliest escapades with the famed detective, in which the doctor joins a conspiracy to make Holmes the target of an April Fool’s prank. But when the joke becomes a genuine crime, it’s up to Holmes to uncover the truth! Will Holmes fall for this trick? Is Joshua a fan of Sherlock Holmes or is he a super fan? Listen for...

Richard Widmark stars as a drifter named Jefferson in this episode of Suspense, “Too Hot to Live”! On a blisteringly hot summer day, Jefferson wanders into a small town only to lose his shoes and find a world of trouble. Did he commit the murder that he’s accused of committing? If not, is there any way to prove his innocence? What is Eric’s favorite book of the Bible? Listen for yourself and find out!

We are two-thirds of the way through our tour of actors who starred in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar during its initial run! This time, Edmond O’Brien is our titular investigator with the action-packed expense account in a story entitled “The Queen Anne Pistols Matter.” This episode sees Dollar hired to accompany the delivery of a pair of antique pistols. Why was the original courier attacked? What message are these pistols intended to send? Once we start talking about The Silence of the Lambs, can we stop? Listen for yourself and find out!

For this episode, our Patreon supporter Ryan joins your hosts Eric, Tim, Joshua, and special guest host Shanan live on stage at the Bryant-Lake Bowl! Ryan has brought us “A Shipment of Mute Fate,” an episode of Escape featuring Jack Webb as a passenger transporting dangerous cargo aboard a ship at sea! What deadly thing watches from inside this crate? What dangers threaten everyone aboard if it should escape? What has Eric been afraid of since 1966? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’re once again calling Candy Matson, YUkon 2-8209! In what may be her final case, Candy discovers that her beau, Lt. Mallard, may be the target of her investigation. After Mallard is behaving suspiciously, Candy secretly follows him only to discover a dead body! Is Mallard truly up to something illegal? Is this truly her last case? Is their love truly rooted in cold-blooded disdain for human life? Listen for yourself and find out!

Arch Oboler takes us deep into the oceanic depths for this episode of Lights Out entitled “Bathysphere,” recommended to us by our Patreon supporter, Mark. Thanks, Mark! The story features an authoritarian leader attempting to dive down to a record-breaking depth beneath the ocean’s surface. Accompanied only by a doctor experienced in such dives, his excellency finds this life and death journey, “very amusing.” What mysteries await them in deep? How will this script compare to other propaganda works written by Oboler? Should someone be checking on us to make sure we’re okay? Listen for yourself and find out! 

We return to test our courage and our sanity in the mysterious dream realm of Dark Fantasy for an episode entitled, “Men Call Me Mad”! The story features a scientist who has discovered a strange other world and the means to transport himself there. What adventures await him there? What unforeseen challenges must he face when he returns? Is this the pinnacle of an uncompromising artist’s work or incoherent nonsense? Listen for yourself and find out!

Our Patreon supporter, Zach, recommended we listen to “The Thing in Cabin 105” from Beyond Midnight, and we did! Thanks, Zach! The production adapts F. Marion Crawford’s short story, The Upper Berth, which tells the story of a passenger aboard a cruise ship whose cabin seems to have unnatural effects on its inhabitants. But even after being advised to relocate, this passenger is determined to find out what’s really happening. Will he discover the truth of this room? Can he avoid the same fate of previous inhabitants? Will this finally be the episode that you hear your hosts order fo...

We’re diving far back into the history of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar to listen to “The Little Man Who Wasn’t All There” featuring the first actor to play the iconic insurance investigator on the air, Charles Russell! The story features a man who claims to be taking revenge on an insurance company by killing off their clients! It’s up to Dollar to prove the crimes and put an end to the deaths! How is this man accomplishing these impossible murders? Will we enjoy Russell’s episodes as much as Bob Bailey’s episodes? What sound does the podcaster...

It’s another trip to our Listener Library! This time we’re checking out “First Contact” from X Minus One, recommended to us by our Patreon support, Mark. Thanks, Mark! The story features the initial meeting between Earthlings and aliens, who find themselves trapped in a détente, each unable to understand or trust the other. Can their mutual destruction be avoided? Can they understand each other’s jokes? Why does this episode seem so familiar to us? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’ve returned to The Chase! In this episode, an American reporter who has made himself unwelcome in Russia finds himself traveling by train to Nuremberg, sharing a car with an important figure in Soviet politics. After speaking together, the reporter soon finds himself in the custody of Russian agents. What information did he learn from that conversation? Will the Russians be able to keep him on the train until it reaches the Czech frontier? Was this guy in Negativeland? Listen for yourself and find out!

For our first proper episode of the new year, we left the decision to fate! We chose at random from a collection of New Years’ themed episodes and wound up listening to “The First Year,” from The Whistler! The story features a wedded couple whose marriage began on New Year’s Eve and ended with murder exactly one year later. What legal machinations turned the wife against her husband? Is a random selection as good as our otherwise carefully curated choices? What was the original title of 101 Dalmations? Listen for yourself and find out!

We’re starting the new year off with a sneak peek at what awaits listeners when they become one of our Patreon supporters! Our current members voted on their favorite bonus content in the past year and this episode of Frontier Gentleman, “Random Notes,” tied for the top selection! Our supporters on Patreon already know what the other bonus episode was and if you want to find out, go to patreon.com/themorls and join! But for now, please enjoy this tale of a journalist in the Old West collecting small bit and pieces of stories filled with pathos and ab...

Happy New Year’s Eve! It’s that heartwarming time of year when we gather around the tunnel and try to discern the ghostly message being relayed from beyond. It’s another adaptation of Charles Dickens’ other famous ghost story, “The Signal-Man”! This year we gather in The Weird Circle for their version which they retitled, “The Thing in the Tunnel.” As before, this story depicts a curious stranger who encounters a rail worker beset by visions. Why does he seem to be receiving some otherworldly warning? How will this version compare to those we have already heard? What hat leads to the...

We’re spending Boxing Day with Lurene Tuttle in this Suspense episode, “The Tip”! In this production, she plays a devoted wife being held at gunpoint by a desperate man. This intruder intends to kill her husband as revenge for crimes unknown to her. As the two wait for his intended victim to come home, she engages her captor in a battle of wills. Can she outwit this man to escape? Has her husband really done something wrong? Has Joshua successfully atoned for bringing so many ape-themed episodes? Listen for yourself and find out!

Thanksgiving has passed but it’s too soon for Christmas, and that means it’s time for leftovers! Specifically, it means another live Q&A at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in which special guest Shanan Custer asks your Mysterious Old Hosts all the leftover questions from our previous Q&A! Tim, Eric, and Joshua share their opinions about classic monster movies and their earliest stage performances. What well-mannered historical figure caused their biggest argument? Who dressed as Not Batman for Halloween? Why does Tim have to pay licensing fees each year for a blank piece of paper? Listen for yourself and find...

We were joined by Shanan Custer for this live recording of our podcast at the Bryant-Lake Bowl! She brought a couple episodes of Ceiling Unlimited for us to check out! The series features Orson Welles in patriotic tales of flight sponsored by Lockheed-Vega! The first of these two scripts was written by Lucille Fletcher and features the military’s response to the endless variety of gremlins that bedevil our pilots. The second depicts a vision of the future when everyone has easy access to air travel. What do these gremlins really want? How do events in the future so qu...

This week’s episode, “The Target” was the penultimate episode of Escape and featured Whitfield Connor as Vic Kennedy, a hard-boiled insurance investigator scouring South America to track down a man named Arthur Matson. Soon the case leads Vic to a dead body and a femme fatale, as well as deceptions and accusations. Will he track down his target? Was Vic complicit in Matson’s escape? Is this guy worse than all the other terrible men in the noir genre? Listen for yourself and find out!

And with this, Joshua finally concludes his trilogy of ape-themed episodes of The Shadow with “The House of Horror”! The story features a kidnapped gorilla, a fortune teller, and a series of wealthy young socialites who vanish in a taxidermist’s shop! And a plot happens! What will young women be willing to do to find a piece of lost jewelry? How does a scientist reach this point in his career? How will this episode stack up against the previous ape episodes? Listen for yourself and find out!

Our thanks to our Patreon supporter, Lance, who suggested this week’s episode, “Little Old Lady” from Lights Out! Thanks, Lance! The story features a young college student and her friend paying an unannounced visit to her elderly aunt. But once there, the two find themselves menaced by a large cat and their aunt is behaving strangely. What’s really going on in this house? Does this remind you of any other Lights Out episodes? How many television shows can we talk about? Listen for yourself and find out!

Happy Halloween! We’re celebrating the spooky season with CBS Radio Mystery Theater’s adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”! Kevin McCarthy stars in this story of Roderick Usher, a man consumed by nameless fears even as his sister falls in and out of catatonic states indistinguishable from death. What horrific obsession terrifies the siblings to such an extreme? Can anything survive the madness and rot within this house? Would this be improved if the family were simple Midwestern folk? Listen for yourself and find out!

Our Patreon supporter Zachary sent us to the Listener Library to check out “The Book of Hell” from Nightfall! Thanks, Zachary! The episode features a publishing house struggling to survive which is presented with a strange manuscript from an author who apparently died two years ago. Allegedly, the text is an actual message from hell! Even as they debate the morality of publishing the text, they discover the manuscript itself has strange qualities. Was this book literally written in hell? What truths about damnation does it describe? Has Eric secretly been a fan of Nightfall all along? Listen for your...

This week we’ll be reflecting upon the Screen Director’s Playhouse adaptation of the film, “The Dark Mirror”! Olivia_de_Havilland recreates her dual role as a set of identical twins who come under suspicion for murder. But it’s unclear which was at the scene of the crime, and which had an alibi— and the twins refuse to reveal which was which. The pair are researched in depth by a specialist in the psychology of twins, but soon a romance blossoms between the scientist and one of his subjects! Did one of them commit the crime? Is there really...

For this week’s trip to the Listener Library, one of our Patreon supporters sent us to Mars! Thanks, Mark! We’re listening to Escape’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “The Earth Men”! A band of brave astronauts have arrived on Mars and, while they wait to report back to Earth, they encounter the planet’s inhabitants. But the Martians’ reactions to the newcomers is neither hostility nor the hero’s welcome the men expected! Why are the Martians behaving so strangely? Are these really the best men Earth had to offer? Will we remember this episode three years from now? Li...

It’s time for another thrilling adventure of The Shadow! This time we’re listening to “The Night Marauders,” in which a series of home invasions attracts Lamont Cranston’s attention when the perpetrators break into Margo’s home! Even as their crimes grow more brutal, the police remain unable to solve the crimes! Will Commissioner Weston accept Lamont’s help in the investigation? Who is behind these robberies? Pumpkin or punkin? Listen for yourself and find out!

Our 350th episode celebration continues with a live Q&A at the Bryant-Lake Bowl! Special guest Shanan Custer interviews your Mysterious Old Hosts to find out the true origin of the MORLS and to learn their secret opinions on a wide range of topics! We collected questions from Patreon and the audience and here are the answers! What’s the best way to get cast in a show at the Bryant-Lake Bowl? How long is the podcast obliged to continue? Which host can actually name a film from 2024? Listen for yourself and find out!

It’s our 350th episode and we’re celebrating with live recording of our podcast at the Bryant-Lake Bowl! Our audience joined us for the Suspense adaptation of “The Most Dangerous Game” based on the short story by Richard Connell! The production features Orson Welles as General Zaroff, an eccentric big game hunter who lives a reclusive life on a private island. When a fellow hunter is shipwrecked and washes up on the shore of this island, Zaroff invites him to participate in a hunt for an unusual quarry! Will Zaroff capture his prey? At this point, does anyone not know...

It’s that time again! Join us as we celebrate the glorious triumphs and the embarrassing whoopsies of 2023! We’re revisiting all the episodes we listened to last year. Then, based on listener polls, the keen insights of esteemed special guests, and our own incoherent ramblings, one episode shall travel a Long Distance to The Black Tie Affair and another will be forced to Hideout in the Junkyard! Will your hosts go to the Black Room in the Cabin? Will they get Milwaukee Deep in the Devil’s Workshop? And which host will be arrested for taking a standardized test nude...

This week, we take a gamble on a new-to-us series, Diary of Fate! “David Dexter” is the story of a grifter trying to con a recently remarried widow. But Fate has other plans for the man who calls himself David Dexter! When past crimes come back to haunt him, there are no guarantees for who will get the better of whom! Will this woman discover his true intentions before it is too late? What happened in the past that connects these two? Why is Fate so judgy? Listen for yourself and find out!

Joshua’s old college friend John suggested we listen to “The Gorilla Man” from The Shadow. So we did! Thanks, John! The story features a man who takes care of a large gorilla at the zoo. He finds himself growing to resemble the beast in his care, and the more he does, the further he retreats from the rest of humanity. But when Lamont, Margo, and Shrevvy find a corpse at this zoo, it’s up to the Shadow to uncover the truth! Is the Gorilla Man really turning into an animal? How exactly does the staffing in this zoo work...

This week we’re listening to an episode of X Minus One recommended to us by our Patreon supporter, Evan. Thanks, Evan! “The Lifeboat Mutiny” is an adaptation of the Robert Sheckley story of the same name. The plot features a crew of space travelers who get a bargain on a used lifeboat. But when the automated lifeboat decides the crew is in peril, it becomes a bizarre battle to retain control of the ship! Why does this intelligence think the crew is being threatened? Why does it do such strange things to “care” for them? What made the podcast ho...

We’re checking out a new-to-us series this week, The Eleventh Hour for an episode entitled “The Tomb!” Robbers take a hostage to help them break into a jewelry shop’s safe, but lives are on the line when the plan takes a turn for the worse! Will their hostage survive? Will the heist ultimately succeed? Is there anything that will make Joshua truly happy? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week we pay our first visit to The Adventures of Sam Spade for an episode entitled “The Mad Scientist Caper”! The story features Dashiell Hammett’s famous detective working for an inventor who believes that that the secrets of one of his creations have been stolen. But the inventor himself may be a bit unhinged! Who exactly is a murderer and who is a madman? Will Spade end up in a mental institution? What elaborate selection process did Eric use to bring this episode? Listen for yourself and find out!

As we head into August, we’re listening to the Suspense adaptation of W.F. Harvey’s story, “August Heat”! Ronald Colman stars as an illustrator who inexplicably starts drawing a man on trial. It’s a man the artist has never seen before. Caught up in a strange sense of foreboding, the artist wanders out into the oppressive heat to discover the bizarre fate that awaits him. What is the meaning of this drawing? What madness does this summer heat inspire? What hilarious TikTok content are we considering? Listen for yourself and find out!

Special guest Shanan Custer joined us at the Bryant-Lake Bowl for this live recording of the MORLS as we listened to “The Edge of the Shadow” from Dark Fantasy! The story features a farmer investigating a strange cut on his cow’s leg, which of course leads to a romantic betrayal, strange omens of the future, and an exciting eye rinse. What is the secret behind this bovine injury? Can this farmer avert inevitable disaster? Can Scott Bishop? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week we’re paying a visit to the Hermit’s Cave to listen to “The Search for Life”! A scientific breakthrough has enabled a doctor to extend human life, but he may also be able to raise the dead! His colleague hopes to step away from the work, as a way to show his devotion to the woman he loves. But what does he really intend to do? What will be the ultimate result of reviving the dead? What would Mark McKinney do? Listen for yourself and find out!

Your hosts are taking the weekend off to celebrate July 4th, but we do have a treat for you! We’ve been performing live radio shows on stage at Crooners Supper Club for a while now, and here’s two examples of our work, starring Shanan Custer, Joshua English Scrimshaw, Tim Uren, and Eric Webster ! First, we present “The Cabin” a classic episode from the series, Gunsmoke! Our second performance is “The Silence of Death” from the MORLS original series, Mr. & Mrs. Nighthawk! Our supporters on Patreon have access to all the shows we’ve recorded over the years, and you […]

Suspense began its run with an adaptation of John Dickson Carr’s novel, “The Burning Court” and this week, we’re tuning in to give it a listen! A man discovers an image of a notorious 17th century poisoner who looks like exactly like his wife. And as fate would have it, his friend’s uncle has just been killed by poison! Is his wife somehow the same woman as he saw in the illustration? Can the amateur detective Cross deduce some less phantasmal explanation for the crime? Do all comedians want to be blaggards? Listen for yourself and find out!<

All aboard for this adaptation of an Arthur Conan Doyle mystery that does not feature Sherlock Holmes! “The Lost Special” from Escape depicts the mysterious disappearance of a train that has Scotland Yard utterly baffled. But once they eliminate what is impossible, they begin to see how the crime could have been committed! What happened to the train? How was the apparently miraculous disappearance achieved? Did the Cub Scouts help defeat the French at the Battle of Agincourt? Listen for yourself and find out!

This week, we’re taking our place once again in the Weird Circle! This episode, “The Old Nurse’s Story” features an adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s short story of the same name. In this tale, a daughter’s ill-conceived marriage drives a wedge between her and her father, leading to a bitter grudge and a promise of revenge. What death will lead to a second oath? Will this family ever be reconciled? How hard would it be to use child actors borrowed from a Victorian orphanage? Listen for yourself and find out!