Long before podcasts, millions of listeners turned off the lights and gathered around the radio to be frightened. The 1930s, 40s and 50s produced some of the most inventive horror and suspense ever recorded, using nothing but voices, music and sound effects.
Every show here has been repaired and remastered for modern ears by the Tale Teller, and all of them are free to listen to. Pick a series below, turn the lights down, and press play.
Lights Out
Born in Chicago in the 1930s and later made famous by writer Arch Oboler, Lights Out was famous for its grisly sound effects and its late-night chills.
Lights Out — State Executioner Sub — Basement And Come To The Bank STANDARD
Episode 865
Three tales from the Lights Out vaults, remastered in one episode.
- Lights Out: The Scoop (1942) – Old Time Radio
- Mirage (1943) – Lights Out Old Time Radio
- The Fast One – Lights Out Old Time Radio
- Nobody Died (1936) – Lights Out Old Time Radio
- The Word – Lights Out Old Time Radio
- The Signal Man – Lights Out Old Time Radio
- Heavenly Jeep (1943) – Lights Out Old Time Radio
Quiet, Please
Wyllis Cooper’s strange, intimate late-1940s anthology. Its episode “The Thing on the Fourble Board” is regularly named among the scariest radio plays ever made.
The Thing on the Fourble Board – Quiet, Please
Episode 210
The Thing on the Fourble Board: an oil-rig worker finds something invisible that came up out of the well. A perfect first listen.
- Quiet, Please: The Oldest Man Alive (1949) – OTR
- The Man Who Knew Everything (1940) – Quiet, Please
- Three – Quiet, Please Old Time Radio
- There Are Shadows Here – Quiet, Please Old Time Radio
- Kill Me Again (1947) – Quiet, Please Old Time Radio
- Bring Me to Life – Quiet, Please Old Time Radio
Suspense
CBS’s long-running “radio’s outstanding theatre of thrills” ran from 1942 to 1962 and brought Hollywood stars to the microphone for tightly wound thrillers.
Suspense: Banquo’s Chair – A Ghostly Truth
Episode 452
Banquo’s Chair: a dinner party, a staged haunting to trap a killer, and a guest nobody invited.
Suspense: The Pit and the Pendulum – Old Time Radio
Episode 353
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, adapted for radio.
- Suspense: Will You Make a Bet with Death? – OTR
- Suspense: The Defense Rests & White Rose Murderer
- Suspense 1946: The Angel of Death & Can’t We Be Friends
- Suspense: Double Entry – Remastered Radio Thriller
- Suspense: The Black Path of Fear & Thing of Beauty
- Suspense: Fear Paints a Picture & Faceless Painting
- Suspense: Singing Walls & Dime a Dance – Remastered
- Suspense: A Man Without a Body & The Palmer Method
- Suspense: The Kettler Method – Remastered OTR
- Suspense: Lord of the Witch Doctors (1942) – OTR
- The Cave of Ali Baba – Suspense Old Time Radio
- Mother’s Day Special: From “Mother Bird” Comedy to Toxic Obsession | Jack Benny & Suspense
The Haunting Hour
An anthology of murder, madness and psychological terror from the 1940s.
- The Haunting Hour: A Wife to Be Killed – Remastered
- The Haunting Hour: Nocturne & Skyscraper – OTR
- The Haunting Hour: A Bitter Old Man & No Escape
- The Haunting Hour: Jennie Daniels Must Die – OTR
- The Haunting Hour: The Thought & Uptown Express
- The Haunting Hour: Homicide House & To Date
- The Haunting Hour: Murder in the Grass & Madness
- The Haunting Hour: Ptolemy’s Grave & If the Shoe Fits
- The Haunting Hour: Murder Wears a Mask & Old Man’s Game
Inner Sanctum
Opened by a creaking door and a host with a ghoulish sense of humour.
- 🔮Inner Sanctum — The Death of Mr Putnam🔮
- Inner Sanctum: Deadly Dummy – Old Time Radio
- Inner Sanctum 1949: Devil’s Fortune – Repaired Audio
The Mysterious Traveler
A sinister narrator riding the night train invites you to hear a tale of the strange and the terrifying.
- Mysterious Traveler: The Case of Charles Frost
- Mysterious Traveler: The Queen of Cats – OTR
- Mysterious Traveler: The Accusing Corpse – OTR
- Mysterious Traveler: Beware of Tomorrow – Automaton
- Mysterious Traveler: Out of the Past – Remastered
Halls of Fantasy
A 1950s anthology of curses, ghosts and things that crawl.
- Halls of Fantasy: The Judge’s House & The Mark – OTR
- Halls of Fantasy: He Who Follows Me & Castle of Levaco
- Halls of Fantasy: The Night the Fog Came & Automaton
- Halls of Fantasy: The Thing That Crawls & Silver Flask
- Halls of Fantasy: The Shadow People – OTR
- Halls of Fantasy: The Jewels of Kali – Hindu Goddess
- Halls of Fantasy: Dance of the Devil Dolls – OTR
The Black Museum
Orson Welles guides you through Scotland Yard’s museum of murder, one object and one case at a time.
- The Black Museum Mega Episode – Orson Welles
- The Black Museum: Straight Razor Larry & Antimony
- The Black Museum: The Spotted Bed – Orson Welles
- The Black Museum: Small White Boxes & A Silencer
- The Black Museum: The Shilling & Canvas Shopping Bag
- The Black Museum: Sash Cord, Service Card & Sheath Knife
- The Black Museum: The Raincoat – Orson Welles
- The Black Museum: Prescription – Purposeful Poison
- The Black Museum: The Jack Handle
- The Black Museum: The Gas Receipt & The Glass Shards
- The Black Museum: Tartan Scarf & Bottles of Chloroform
- The Black Museum: The Car Tyre & The Champagne Glass
- The Black Museum: The Bloodstained Brick & Brass Button
- The Black Museum: Killing Bathtub & Gladstone Bag
Escape, The Weird Circle and more
Adventure that turns dark, gothic classics adapted for radio, and other rare finds.
- Escape: Finger of Doom & The Adaptive Ultimate | Old Time Radio Double Bill
- Escape: A Boy Exposed to Reality & Hammer to the Head
- The Weird Circle: The Lifted Veil & Spectre of Tappi
- Creeps By Night + Macbre | JAM Packed OTR’s!
- The Shadow: Death House Rescue – Episode 1
- The Cursed Whistler, Jacob Emory’s Art & The Swamp
- X Minus One: Love in Space & The Outer Limits
- X Minus One: A Martian in Mind & One Way to the Moon
- X Minus One: Crushing Force & Trapped on the Moon
- X Minus One: Alien Contact & The Infinite Ship
There are over 200 remastered radio episodes in the Remastered Old Time Radio category, including detective classics like Dragnet, Nero Wolfe and The Adventures of Sam Spade.