1942-1955
Known Episodes: ~450
“I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak.”
A high-quality series that led us into the heart of murder. Each week the narrator would introduce a dark happening as he walked the streets and observed. He often commented directly upon the action, taunting the characters, guilty or innocent. The Whistler was ported to a television series in 1954.
Autumn Song
An acting agent fed up with the client who is attracted to him but has blown his career uses her as a publicity stunt for a new client. She pretends to threaten suicide by jumping off a building. When the agent later dumps the actress, she threatens to go public with the sham. Now, she already has a suicide letter in her purse… why not send her off the balcony?
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
A woman kills a would-be blackmailer who remembers her from a very different life. But another woman takes the blame. By strange chance, the murderess ens up presiding over the jury at the innocent lady’s trial… but she loses the written decision deep within her black and white striped purse. Will she allow another to take the blame?
Black Book, The
(Jeanette Nolan) A London ballet dancer purposely drops his partner, ruining her career. She swears revenge. Though he flees to New York, she maneuvers him into a position where he may be the one dropped… but he doesn’t know when! He decides to kill her first. He finds the perfect opportunity by looking in her little black date book that she follows religiously. But he forgets where he is.
Black Magic
A doctor arrives at an African mine where a deadly strain of malaria is epidemic. His iron hand with his wife leads her to betray him for a man who killed the native’s chief. The curse of “The Legba” falls upon them all!
Blind Impulse
Steve Consala marries beautiful young Carol Crandall for her coming inheritance, and she doesn’t care. He’ll be her latest trinket to wrap up and take home. But when Dad’s health turns around, Stevie wants to go back to his first wife, Millie. Unless… on an impulse, A spurs his horse forward during a horseback trip into the Grand Canyon and Simon plummets to his doom! Carol was watching with the telescope! She saw it all, but there’s nothing she can do because a wife can’t testify against her husband. (A great performance by Patricia Dunlap.)
Body Wouldn’t Stay In The Bay, The
The manager of a nightclub assists a young entertainer to get revenge on her would-be killer, the club owner, by pretending she’s a ghost. Her corpse was just pulled from the bay, after all. The whole staff gets in on the act. The end is both predictable and contrived as what the audience was never told is explained by the narrator as an epilogue. (Motif #1: Gaslighting)
Cheat, The
A mining investor neglects his wife but is dependent on her for the additional 25 Grand he’s got to sink into what she believes is a swindle. Jimmy comes up with an idea when Rose starts going out, meeting with another man. He frames George Turner for the murder… but there’s something Jimmy doesn’t know about George.
Cistern, The
(Not to be confused with the Ray Bradbury story.) A geologist who wants more than his share of a silver mine believes he has found the perfect hiding place for a body. No corpus delecti, no crime. But the local sheriff has a strategy that never fails.
Coincidence
A woman commits suicide when her sister Elise steals her husband. When he rejects her, having learned the truth about his wife Francia’s death, Elise burns the suicide note so it looks like murder. Occurrences transpire in such a way, coincidentally, so that a murderous thug is seen, but the husband, Ross is fingered. But at the inquest, she gets tripped up!
Dance Team
Crime. A partner owner in a night club invites a Spanish dancing couple to headline at their Nevada club. The husband is jealous. Almost homicidal… and the owner is being held back from the big money by his partner’s emotional attachment. Paul sets Frank up to be killed by Ramon, but Frank ends up with less holes in him than the murder scam.
Dark Moon
Russel Benton gets a shot at a real Hollywood show until he discovers his agent’s wife is his ex! She tries for revenge, demanding he decline the part allowing it to go to John Bradford. Kathy delivers an ultimatum, but instead Russel plans an alibi for murder! He attends a party with 20 guests. He’s in the clear… then someone asks why Kathy couldn’t attend.
Dark Voyage
Salvage treasure hunter Jeff Denning has a map to a wreck carrying a fortune in gold! But he’s suffered a chest injury and needs to hire Steve Curtis to make the dive. Too bad Jeff’s unrequited heart’s desire, Faye, falls for Steve. When Jeff finds out, he plots Steve’s underwater demise.
Death Carries a Lunch Kit
Tension abounds in this wartime tale of sabotage and terrorism as a factory worker is paid off to leave behind a lunch box full of nitro. After a number of close calls, Peter passes out on the work floor from the stress! Time runs short! He’s in such a rush to put some space between him and the factory, he forgets his pal Pop needs a ride home. Pop calls out to him as Peter speeds out of the lot. Guess what it was Pop found that Peter had seemed so concerned about earlier?
Death Has a Thirst
Victor gets a little crazy when he drinks. He’s paranoid his wife Donna and his friend Harvey are plotting to kill him! When their yacht runs aground, he suddenly thirsts for fresh water… but all the water on the island is tainted! Should he drink from Harvey’s canteen?
Death Wears a White Cloak
Two couples take a winter vacation at a secluded cabin in the woods. One woman makes it clear to the other she’s going to reveal to her husband that she had an affair. After some sniping while the husband goes to pick up the other spouse, things turn murderous. Who will come out on top? Tense
Deadly Innocent
This starts with a great setup. A guy with an elaborate plan for revenge on the “brother’ who stole his job and life goals. He has a cover for the murder, a multi-faceted plot where people will swear the boss has it in for the poor guy. But he lets the jerk get to him at the end and gets squirrely. If only he’d kept his cool.
Farewell Party
A woman dumps her lover for another man who will help her kill her husband. They have it all planned… until the voice teacher forgets it is supposed to look like an accident and pops the guy! He runs to the getaway ship, but Julia has to kill him before he can sing to the cops. A nice twist on the cruise ship as they face off.
Fateful Friday
Crime. A mild-mannered man accidentally receives 40Gs in stolen money. He has a plan for how he’s gong to keep it when the thugs come looking for the loot… and it works! Even the police believe him! But when Shaw, the prime suspect comes to visit, can William Brown get himself out of trouble?
Final Decree
A husband has killed his wife’s lover and gotten away with it by making it look like a hunting accident. But his wife knows better, and plans to kill him in return. It’s a fun game of who will murder the other first, and both play out their strategy in earnest… a collection of guns and a hair trigger– but the bullets were removed… a car goes over a ridge, an overdose of sleeping pills, and a twist ending!
Five Cent Call
A con artist blackmails a woman after he overhears his employer’s murder over the phone. When the cops finger the real killer, (Nora,) Anne wants her money back. He then tries to blackmail Nora, only she’s wise to his other capers… she won’t sing to the cops… if he helps her out. Can he double-cross Nora to pay back Anne?
Fog
A sailor with a grudge falls while walking through a thick fog and gets amnesia. His captain fears he may have murdered while in his fugue, but his fiancee believes in him. Then another sailor shows up with threats of blackmail. Did he murder The Duke, or is it all a setup?
Girl Next Door, The
Alma Germaine turns down an acting job because she’s about to marry into money. Not so fast. Her fiancee’s sister, who owns the newspaper company he is about to take over, discovers Alma’s hidden, murderous past in Arizona and threatens to reveal it in the papers! Then sister Louise has an accident. Alma lies to protect her husband, the one who truly benefited from the death. Will she get away with murder? The ending seems contrived and tacked-on, so I’ll just pretend she did! [Motif: Secret Past]
Great Zantini, The
A trapeze artist sets up the circus owner to be trampled by an elephant, then moves in on the guy’s wife. He has almost taken over the show when a fortune teller from Mrs. Steadman’s past appears looking for a job. When she obliges, Zantini gets an idea for how to make his murder look like a suicide. But Professor Drum has his own ideas… filed away. The circus always takes care of its own.
House on Sycamore Road, The
A couple find a clock filled with moneyin a rental. When a shady guy stops by looking for the former resident, they figure murder is the only way to hide the loot. But the wife is sick of poverty and sets her husband up, hiding the cash while he hides the body.
Human Catalyst, The
An adolescent girl’s crush leads to a phone call warning Thalia away from band leader Vic Stanfield. But Thalia and Vic just killed her husband so they could run away together. Now Thalia no longer trusts Vic… a bad time for him to ask that all her assets be signed into his name! Thalia is not a woman to be taken advantage of! Young Arlene will never know what she caused!
Huntress, The
Anne is caught embezzling and promises to make amends. She meets a wealthy man in a bar and they hit it off enough that she is able to convince him to leave his fiancee. But when Mark’s father discovers her past and threatens to block the marriage, she decides to lock him in a walk-in freezer. Too bad, I liked the guy… his hobby is ham radio!
I’ll Trade You Murder
A meek bookstore employee is played for a patsy by a hunted man who loans him his coat. When he’s nabbed by a criminal, he offers to kill the target for him, free and clear, to let him go. He’s got a reason to hate the jerk who set him up. He’s successful, but the bad guy doesn’t believe him! No shots were fired! Everyone loses in the end. (I was hoping for something along the lines of Strangers On a Train, but alas, not even close.)
Killers, The
When an escaped lunatic shows up at Aunt Agatha’s farm looking for work, her niece Della, who is hungry for life in the city, decides to set things up so that she and her mother will get the money from selling the farm… after the murderer kills Auntie. But is Della next? Or did she frame a poor guy looking for a job?
Lady And The Knife, The
A grifter is just about to take a sucker named Sam Ryan for a quarter million bucks, but a mysterious woman slinks into his room and stabs Ryan dead, taking the “key” from his pocket. Morley Carr pursues her to San Francisco and tails her. He poses as Zach Chambers, PI to get the goods on Lucy Lacy, who knows she’s being followed, but doesn’t realize it’s him. He tries to cut himself in, but she decides against the deal. Morley kills Lucille before she can knife him and he takes the baggage claim check to diamonds hidden in a typewriter case. But murderers never win. Chambers’ body is found with a knife in it, and Carr had been careless on a telephone party line.
Lady in the Snow
An artist is blackmailed after a woman frames him for murdering her husband. He goes along with her demands for a while, then plays an opportunity to rid himself of her forever as he leaves the gas on and hightails it… but the wimp can’t go through with murder. He races back to save her in a blizzard, right into a head-on collision. She staggers into the snow and dies. But the authorities have a surprise for him when he comes to.
Letter From Cynthia, A
Drama. A medical intern has a chance to get revenge on the drunk who ruined his relationship and almost his career. But the crash victim was only one of two passengers in the car– the patient he prepped the drugs for… was his fiancee! This Christmas episode can’t hold a candle to Creeps by Night: Those Who Walk in Darkness.
Letters in the Night
Ambrose finds letters on his nightstand in his own handwriting: “I must kill Henry” (his close friend). When Henry is found dead, his wife Doris and Doctor Fenwick reveal a new will, written by Henry… or was it? The police inspector deduces the truth!
Lucky Night
A stingy, miserly landlord couple find the body of a suspicious tenant dead in an alley and steal the envelope full of cash they find on him. Later they read of a bank robbery… but the bank’s cash were marked bills! They burn it before they get caught! The witty insults of the upstairs tenant make this a fun listen despite its predictable morality play.
Meet Mr. Death
When a philandering pharmacist is offered a quick way out of his embezzling debt, a customer overhears the plan. The prescription: Pharmacist Jerry Mason puts some extra meds in a newspaper man’s pills. Herman Arnold dies, but Jerry has dreams about a visit from Death… (the spitting image of the eavesdropping customer,) who says the victim has asked for retribution! But you can’t keep bad medicine down, and the nosy customer also ends up in the drink. The killer steals his identity… and a cruise ticket from his pocket. The writers make sure we know this happens in 1915 to fit the twist, but its way too modern a story for that year.
Quiet Sunday
When a man’s lover shows up unexpectedly, his wife tumbles down the stairs. Can they make it look accidental? Telegraphed ending, but it’s fun waiting for it. Classic.
Rawhide Coffin, The
Marilyn tries to impersonate an heiress for the inheritance money after she sees the heiress goes to jail. After killing another doppelgänger (or was it the real heiress?) and hiding the body in a leather chest, she signs to receive the inheritance… while they send for her bags to be delivered.
Seascape
A lighthouse-bound murderess confesses her guilt to her husband while explaining she no longer loves him. A would-be suitor washes ashore, but the keeper says if his wife leaves him, he’ll call the cops. Will she poison him too? A tragic, but classic, noir ending reveals her innocence… too late!
Secret of Chalk Point, The
A sea captain washes up on the beach after a shipwreck and asks the ladies’ companion who discovers him to walk him home.Turns out Captain Yeager died with the Star of Shanghai twenty years ago! Soon it is revealed he’s no ghost. It’s not a scam– but it’s designed to discredit the companion who has witnessed Mrs. Yeager meeting with a wanted felon… for a scheme of her own!
Shrunken Head, The
A woman has nightmares about a shrunken head that says “My name is Charlie.” Really.
Sleep, My Pretty One
A scientist believes he has found the cure for encephalitis, but is denied human patients to test it on. He takes his fiancee to a cabin in the woods after giving her a shot for her “cold”. He then explains that the only way to advance science is to inject someone with the disease, then cure it. Is Jean’s blurred vision and drowsiness the flu… or is she the guinea pig?
Still Death
A portrait artist falls for a model and patron who wants him to divorce his invalid, but loving, wife. But when he sees how she treats her invalid husband, he hides her portrait. So she shows up at his studio with a bullet that was supposed to kill her husband… She came to frame HIM for a double-murder!
Summer Thunder
A tension filled whodunnit. When an angry man is accused of murder, his wife covers for him by burning the evidence… then it ends up being the only way he can provide an alibi! How will they prove his innocence? …or can they?
Treasure Hunt
Crime. A man decides to play a confidence game when he hears two old biddies are sitting on a hundred grand. He seduces one, marries her… then the sister reveals a secret! Can he escape the hole he’s dug for himself? Not if the Sheriff has a say. A poisonous twist at the end!
Uncle Ben’s Widow
A gold digger allows her husband to die after a car accident in order to receive comfort from his rich business partner. When the partner runs off on a ship to South America, she’s not about to let him escape! She stows away to surprise him when there is no way to send her back home. Unfortunately she skipped out of the hospital to corner him.
Urge To Kill
Henry Drake starts having lapses of memory of late. He’s been wandering the streets at night, but can’t remember where he goes. He even sees a psychiatrist. His dog is strangled… he must have done it. Later we discover that Henry’s business partner Philip is having an affair with Rita, his wife. Henry doesn’t feel crazy. Of course, there are the psychiatrist reports.
