(1950-1952)
Circulating Episodes: 31
Produced by Chick MacGregor in 1950, these quality mysteries focused on the human mind and how an obsession with a twisted, singular idea can lead a person to a bizarre and horrifying end.
Case of The Living Dead, The
On his Honeymoon to England, Investigator Bill Christopher and his wife Pat are asked to help prevent another death of the archaeologists who opened the tomb of the Pharaoh Amon Ra-Tep. Sir Richard believes they are cursed for profaning the tomb, as the six who entered before him have all died suddenly! He’s right. Death follows the Egyptian servant Aram Sed as he offers a scarab ring to each of the transgressors!
Cousin Charlie
Jake Crowley has embezzled ten grand from work, and he and his wife Trina have until Monday to come up with replacement cash. By chance, Cousin Charlie comes to visit and has just sold some property for exactly $10,000 in cash! Jake and Trina try to fake his suicide and fail, so they cut the brakes on the car. Then comes a heads-up phone call from a friend at work: investigators are on their way over right now!
Holiday House
When a buyer arrives to take possession of a mansion put on the market after the owner Mrs. Holiday, “accidentally” shot her husband during a hunting party. The buyer, Mr. Marshall, is prevented from conversing with Mrs. Holiday by her doctor and family friend Lloyd, who immediately has her committed to an asylum. Mr. Marshall discovers phony prescriptions… and a bullet still in the chamber of the gun that supposedly killed Mr. Holiday! (Turns out he kinda deserved it.) But Lloyd just wants what’s his!
Paranoia
(Vincent Price) During transport to prison, a prisoner gets the best of his guard, and when a woman has to share their train car, she wonders why the man handcuffed to the officer is bleeding… and dead. The killer coerces her to unlock the cuffs, then jumps out the window on a slow curve, planning to steal the cops’ identity. The criminal is supposed to be “paranoid;” they use the term improperly, but its superfluous to the story. No plot and a tacked-on spin ending, but Price makes the tension fun.
Raised From the Dead, The
Crime. A trio fake a friend’s death to break him out of prison, but once he draws a map to where the loot is buried, it all goes for nothing. One by one, the rest of the mob drops, and the moll stands alone. Her crazy voice is something else!
Shadow of Huntley House, The
A woman decides she’s got a chance at her twin sister’s newly acquired inheritance… by taking her place! She kills her husband after he aides in dumping the body. She is almost successful, but murder runs in the family!
Solitary Genius, The
A bizarre rendition of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven and an extremely condensed version of Fall of The House of Usher. The framing story is a biopic of Poe. It’s a creepy little short, the highpoint being the sound bite of an actual bird cackling something that sounds like a strangled “nevermore”
Windsong
Anne has second thoughts as a debonaire young man lures her away from her plain, safe-bet fiancee. Her brother-in-law tries to get rid of Brad by saying she’s not interested, but Anne finds out. Anne follows her heart in the end.