Sleep No More
Known Episodes: 19 Circulating
Turn down the lights, sink back in your chair and don’t look into the shadows. In the shadows there may be moving things. Tonight, it may be, you will sleep no more.
Sleep No More offers dramatic readings of chilling horror stories rather than dramatizations by a full cast. This was Nelson Olmstead’s modus operandi, having begun his radio career with Nelson Omstead’s Short Stories in the 1930s: “good literature, read aloud.” With spooky music and fantastic sound effects, Sleep No More ran from 1956 to 1957, first in a 15 minute format then expanding to 30 minute shows. Olmstead has a steady but emotive voice that is conductive to nighttime chills.
Downloads:
The Internet Archive
Banquo’s Chair & The Coward
Banquo’s Chair A retired detective must solve his last case by befriending the suspect, then inviting him over for dinner where he expects to trick him into a confession by faking the appearance of the ghost of his victim. The scheme, borrowed from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is successful… but the ghost actress never arrived! What was the apparition? [Adapted from Rupert Croft-Cooke. Also presented by Suspense & Alfred Hitchcock Presents]
The Coward A Psychological study in which a man grows so frightened of an impending duel that he shoots himself… before he can be shot. [Adapted from Guy de Maupassant]
Bet, The & The Clerk’s Quest
The Bet A lawyer and a wealthy business man make a deal after a heated debate over capital punishment. The lawyer will be imprisoned, willingly, for fifteen years. In return, he will be paid two million dollars. As the time of his release grows near, the rich man finds himself in a position where the loss of that amount would ruin him, so he decides to kill the lawyer. He gets a surprise when he arrives! [Adapted from Anton Checkov. Also by…]
The Clerk’s Quest An accountant encounters a perfume-scented check and becomes infatuated with the idea of the payer. He stalks her, becoming obsessed with his imagined perfect woman (and this is before Internet chat!) He becomes so distracted that he loses his job. But how can he he ever present himself to her if he is a homeless vagrant? [Adapted from George Augustus Moore]
Conquerors’ Isle
Sci-Fi. A Navy pilot recounts his last run, when his aircraft was damaged and blown off course to crash land on an uncharted island. There his crew encountered a race of Homo-Superior (yes, mutations, just like in X-Men!) They explain that just by natural processes they will inherit the Earth, but the troglodyte decides he doesn’t want to live like cattle and escapes! Will we all soon be displaced as an inferior race of mankind or will the pilot be seen as crazy? The ending is obvious. [Adapted from Nelson S. Bond]
Escape of Mr. Trimm, The
A white collar criminal escapes from a train wreck on his way to prison. The handcuffs, the grip of the law, may be his undoing. Good story about the little things having a great effect. [Adapted from Irvin S. Cobb]
Evening & The Blossoming of The Strange Orchid
Evening A lonely man falls in love with his employers housekeeper, but can only send her letters. He imagines responses and allows his fantasy to consume his life. She never returns his real letters until she wishes to buy his desk. He can’t sell it. It reminds him too much… of her. [Adapted from Zona Gale]
The Blossoming of The Strange Orchid A botanist pines for adventure and the final root obtained by his hero… a root that cost him his life! When it blossoms, it gives off a strange odor that knocks the plant lover unconscious… then begins to feed on him! Will his housekeeper save him, or be consumed as well? [Adapted from H.G. Wells]
Fishhead & The Death of Olivier Becaille
Fishhead A Lovecraftian short about a guy who looks like a deep one. Some country locals bully him and get slapped down. When they come for revenge, his dying cry sends out a call… [Adapted from Irvin S. Cobb]
The Death of Olivier Becaille A man finds himself paralyzed, and everyone thinks he’s dead! He is buried alive! Will he be able to escape? Even if he does, what life would await him if his wife has prepared to move on? [Adapted from Emile Zola]
Homecoming & Aunt Cassie
Homecoming A man plans to shoot the guy who stole his girl when he gets dumped for a war hero. There is a tension filled face-off in the girlfriend’s apartment. [Adapted from Dorothy B. Hughes]
Aunt Cassie Auntie freaks everyone out with her prudish comments… while she speaks to dead people. First Uncle Horace, then… Dad? Is she crazy? [Adapted From: Virginia Swain]
Horsehair Trunk, The & A Friend to Alexander
The Horesehair Trunk A wealthy man learns astral projection and overhears his wife plotting to leave with another man. Determined to kill her lover, he teaches himself telekinesis, then books passage on the same ship just in the next cabin over… [Adapted from Davis Grubb. Also a Night Gallery Episode: The Last Laurel]
A Friend to Alexander A lost episode. (A ghostly dream about the duel between Hamilton and Burr.) [Adapted from James Thurber, Also by Suspense]
Marius
See: The Horsehair Trunk
I Am Waiting & Browdean Farm
I Am Waiting Almost science fiction. A man has premonitions about the future that come true. Then he seems to travel in time and reads a bird fancy magazine. Too bad he couldn’t find the stock report page! But he’s ready for what will come next! [Adapted from: Christopher Isherwood]
Browdean Farm Two men discover the house they bought cheap had been the scene of a murder! A strange man taps at the windows… it appears to be the ghost of a hanged man. Does he have something to tell them, some horror to show them? (Poor sound quality.) [Adapted from: A.M. Burrage]
Jilting of Granny Weatherall, The & Escape
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall On her deathbed, an old woman reminisces. Her final wish: to tell George that despite his leaving her at the altar, she went on to have a wonderful life and loving family. A sweet, teary tale. [Adapted from Katherine Ann Porter]
Escape The man didn’t look insane. But Mr. Gannett is planning an escape from the asylum. He is delicately building a something that no one else can see. Despite the device’s invisibility, it allows him to disappear himself. [Adapted from: Paul Ernst]
Mr. Mergenthurker’s Loblies & August Heat
Mr. Mergenthurker’s Loblies A man walks into a newspaper office predicting a murder. He does it again, stating that his invisible ‘loblies’ told him. [Adapted from Nelson S. Bond]
August Heat An artist who has on a whim, sketched a murderer, meets a tombstone carver on a sweltering summer day. The artist has drawn the carver, and the stone worker has somehow not only embossed the artist’s name on the gravestone, but guessed his correct birthday and predicted his death… today! [Adapted from W.F. Harvey]
Over the Hill & The Man in The Black Hat
Over the Hill A story about a man who dreams he drove away into a world where his family and life were perfect, and returns to find days have passed! He goes back to work… where he finds a surprise! [Adapted from: Michael Fessier]
Man in The Black Hat, The A gambler is gifted a free car by a man with gray eyes. He turns it over into a fortune with a run of good luck. The odd man keeps popping up even after the gambler witnesses him commit murder and be sentenced to death! Who is the man in the black hat? I don’t want to know. [Adapted from: Michael Fessier]
Passenger to Bali
Drama. A mysterious man buys passage on a ship to Bali. An imposing, charismatic, yet dangerous figure, he quickly gains the favor of the crew. Turns out he’s a political trouble-maker and no one in Bali or Shanghai, where they started, will allow him to land! Is the captain stuck with him forever? Will the stranger take control of the Roundabout? [Adapted from the Broadway play by Ellis St. Joseph, also by Escape and Mercury Theater, and on TV by Studio One in Hollywood…]
Storm, The & Annabel Lee
Storm, The This classic scare (adapted from a woman mystery writer) is so smoothly narrated you will easily lose yourself in the story. The best presentation yet, it clearly ties mysterious letters and the probability of adultery gone bad to the corpse in the basement! The sound of rain in the background won’t let you forget the tension of the storm itself framing the mystery: was he reaching out to hug her… or to strangle her? [Adapted from McKnight Malmar. See also: Episode of Thriller (1962)]
Annabel Lee A reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem about a man’s grief at the loss of his true love. It reflects the loss of Poe’s own wife. [Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe]
Three O’Clock
A concussion leads a man to plot the demise of his wife when he grows suspicious of an affair. He builds a fertilizer bomb in the cellar and sets the timer for 3:00, but then gets jumped by robbers… who tie him up in the basement! All sorts of situations one after another bring him close to being saved, but not! The ending is perfect. [Adapted from William Irish (Cornell Woolrich)]
To Build A Fire & Three Skeleton Key
To Build a Fire A slice-of-life story about a man traveling the far north where he gets caught alone in deadly temperatures. The dog doesn’t die! High tension in a situation of possible instantaneous death. [Adapted from Jack London]
Three Skeleton Key (Three Skeleton Quay?) Probably the best horror short story ever. Not as good as the Suspense adaptation, but the image of a tall ship covered in thousands of starved rats is gut-churning all the same! [Adapted From: George G. Toudouze]
Thus I Refute Beelzy & The Book Shop
Thus I Refute Beelzy A young country lad tells stories about an imaginary friend who protects him from harm, but his dad is a pragmatic down-to-earth man who doesn’t appreciate imagination. When the son refuses to repent the truth about his friend, Dad takes him upstairs to tan his hide. The description of what his wife discovers on the landing is unforgettable![Adapted from John Collier]
The Book Shop An author finds his way to an obscure little book shop during a rainy day. There he discovers unknown works by renowned authors like Poe, Shakespeare, and Lovecraft! Then he finds his own unfinished manuscript… complete and perfect! When it clicks– he runs! [Adapted From: Nelson S. Bond]
Waxwork & The Man and The Snake
Waxwork A reporter does a gimmick piece spending a night in a wax museum. One of the life-like creepy figures, a murderer, begins talking to him. Seems like the real McCoy happened to be in the neighborhood. [Adapted from A.M. Burrage. Also by Beyond Midnight, The Price of Fear, Suspense, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.]
The Man and The Snake After reading a book about how snakes hypnotize their prey, a man’s mind begins to play tricks on him. He sees a snake under the bed! It’s not an absurd idea, he’s at a friends house, a scientist who keeps a menagerie of reptiles, and snakes often escape. The problem comes when he feels himself hypnotized to crawl on the floor like a snake himself. Followed by a great scream! [Adapted from Ambrose Bierce]
Woman in Gray, The & A Suspicious Gift
The Woman in Gray A made-up story about an invisible woman who takes revenge on anyone who a man hates takes on reality when people he name die! Too bad he’s a drunk… who ends up hating himself! [Adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell]
A Suspicious Gift A set-up. A visitor arrives offering a man ten grand not to ask any questions. To witness the receipt, he runs upstairs to find his neighbor… murdered! Returning back downstairs, evidence has been planted including blood stains that get on his hands. A knock at the door: The police. [Adapted from Algernon Blackwood]
The story of terror can be as simple as a sheeted ghost rattling chains. It can be a complex and hidden world of horror lurking in such unholy dimensions as only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse. Or it can be those terrible, fathomless shadows which lie buried deep in the primitive mind of ‘civilized’ man.
