Beyond Midnight – OTR Plot Summaries

Beyond Midnight

Crystal Ball, The   C

A woman’s husband has an affair with a mistress that flaunts it over her. Despondent, the wife finds a crystal ball… and sees herself killing their daughter! Could she really do such a thing? She takes some sleeping pills to prevent it!

Don’t Joke in The Morgue   B

A jokester in the police department thinks it’s funny to prank old Pop Henderson, the night watchman at the morgue. When he goes out for a drink after his shift, the policeman gets socked by a guy who doesn’t appreciate a hot foot… and his vertebrae get knocked out of alignment, paralyzing him! That ends him up back at the station on a slab in the morgue. Only this time, Pop isn’t going to get in trouble when he starts hearing voices.

Green Vase, The   A

A man buys the Lanceford House, in which there sits a vase that cannot be moved lest horrifying repercussions befall the one who touched it. He plays with the vase by only placing a coin underneath. Dumb move.

House, The   C

A tyrannical old sea captain is haunted by his daughter’s ghost. Old coot. Am I Going Crazy?

House Was a Sphinx, The   C

A woman can’t forgive the man who married her daughter after the young woman promised to kill herself if her mother forbid their love. She only pretended to kill herself, but the new husband didn’t know about her weak heart! After the funeral, his mother in law decides she has some responsibility for his welfare, so she gifts him a house that was to be her daughter’s. But it’s not a gift. It’s a setup! [Adapted From Henry Slesar “The Right Kind of House” (1957). See also: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, CBS Radio Mystery Theater (“The Locked Room”).

Insect Man   B

Realizing insects are the eyes of evil, a man devotes himself to ridding the world of them… but forgets the most prolific bug of all. Good corpse scene.

Lanceford House, The

See: Green Vase, The
 

Let Me See Your Face   C

A man rents a room in Paris and sees a woman, downcast, in the courtyard. He is warned against speaking to her… as she is a ghost who has driven men mad! [Adapted from A.M. Burrage’s “One Who Saw”]

Man Who Sold His Soul   B

The caretaker of an abandoned mansion relays the story of a wealthy man who sells his soul to a stranger in the woods rather than lose his fortune. Seventeen years of wealth and gambling and womanizing… and then he belongs to another. He repents in the final year, then living a pious life, but when midnight comes and no devil appears, he reverts to his gambling ways. Then someone reminds him it’s a leap year. A very uninspired basic Faustian tale, but the creepy delivery regarding a blood-stained rock makes it worth a listen.

Marble Knights   B

A couple move into a house with a bier walk to an old church where it is said that statues come to life once a year and destroy whatever crosses them. On Halloween, the man dismisses the timid housekeeper, and forgets what day it is. Walking aimlessly through the church, he notices the marble slabs are empty, and the murderous pagan statues gone. What will he find at home? [Adapted from Edith Nesbit’s “Man-Size in Marble”. Also by Hall of Fantasy]

Night in the Murderer’s Den, A   C

A close retelling of the classic about a journalist looking for a headline by spending the night in a wax museum’s Hall of Horrors. He begins hearing things, his eyes playing tricks on him. Until the worst, most savage murderer in the displays walks toward him and speaks! [Based on the A.M. Burrage story, ‘A Night in the Murder’s Den’ (1931). Also: The Price of Fear, Sleep No More, Suspense, “The Waxworks”.]

Paxton’s House, The (House at Brickett Bottom)   C

Two girls go on a house exchange with their father. When one decides to visit an elderly couple, she is never heard from again. The End. [Adapted from Amyas Northcote’s “Brickett Bottom”]

Rupert Orange   C

An actor fades from the limelight and is offered five years of wealth, health… and revenge in classic Faustian fashion! When his time is up, turnabout shapes his fall. His comeuppance is dealt by the last person he’d guess. [Adapted from Vincent O’Sullivan]

Smee   B

A party game played in the dark has an extra player. Predictable but fun. All ages. [Adapted from A.M. Burrage]

Something Haunts This House   D

Sounds like this might be a really good episode, but I can’t make out a single word of it because the surviving sound quality is so bad. I wonder if there is a script transcribed anywhere?

Thing in Cabin 105, The   B

A vacationer is advised to take a different cabin when his roommate goes missing on an ocean voyage. When he refuses, he finds something damp in the upper berth. Why is the porthole open again? [Adapted from F. Marion Crawford’s “The Upper Berth”]

Under The Hau Tree   C

A man vacationing in Hawaii looks for a couple who he sees in a photograph taken recently at the resort where he is staying. He reveals that one of the couple, who seem to have mysteriously been erased, was his uncle. [Adapted from “Under the Hau Tree” by Katherine Yates (Weird Tales, Nov., 1925).]

Vulture People, The   A

The incapacitated leader of an African expedition is tricked by the local brujo into ordering the death of their guide when his wife runs off with him. The headhunters return with a full basket! [Adapted from “The Smiling Face” by Mary Elizabeth Counselman (1950).]

Yarrow   B

A child murderer beats the rap because of a lack of evidence, but keeps his job as chauffeur to the deceased girl’s wealthy father. Who happens to be a scientist that does brain experiments on the pituitary gland. If you thought he was a monster before… [Adapted From Charles Lloyd Birkin) “An Eye for an Eye” (1932)]

Yellow Room, The   C

A man agrees to spend a night in a haunted room for one Grand. His candles blow out. The priest finds him gibbering in madness at sunup! [Adapted from H.G. Wells’ “The Red Room” (not to be confused with Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”).]