I now blog over at The Eyre Guide! This blog is an archive of my past posts.


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Suspense Sundays (89) The Dead Sleep Lightly

Posted by Charlene // Tags: ,
Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"The Dead Sleep Lightly"
Air date: March 30, 1943
Starring Lee Bowman & Susan Hayward
>>Episodes here<<

Mr. Templeton, an ambitious businessman, and his secretary must attend a funeral but wind up in the wrong place.  Where Mr. Templeton notices the gravestone of his late, estranged wife whom he perhaps treated wrongly.  He's shocked, but quickly recovers and later receives a phone call purporting to be from his dead wife.  She tells him to watch for her as she will be dropping by to visit him soon.  Of course later his housekeeper assures him that the phone has been disconnected because Templeton is soon to move house.  Templeton goes to a friend who debunks supernatural occurrences, and tries to get him to come by his house.  The friend promises to drop by as soon as he can.  When he does he finds Templeton has just had a stroke from apparently seeing a vision of his dead wife.

I love when there is a rational explanation behind the sinister ghost stories.  Which is the case here, though I totally pegged the wrong person as the culprit.  It was easy to see how it was all done after the fact though, and towards the end the episode got really over the top emotional for some reason, and I thought that after such a wonderful buildup (especially when the friend has to go into the house and see what happened to Templeton) that that change in tone kind of marred a pretty great episode. 

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6 comments:

  1. You like Old Time Radio too? Awesome! :D I remember listening to an OTR series about scifi because I am such a horror wuss. This series sounds really cool though. :) What other series do you love?

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    1. You don't know how happy I am to know other people who love to listen to OTR! Was the scifi series called X Minus One? I use to listen to that a long time ago! There's one episode in particular that really sticks in my mind but I can't remember the title. It was about an alien who could read minds. I used to listen to The Shadow and Inner Sanctum. I like the scary ones! How about you?

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    2. No, but I have heard of X Minus One! I have the series episode page bookmarked! I can't remember the other series' title for the life of me, but it was something very similar. I'll have to ask my friend who recommended it to me.

      I really like the scifi ones. In the series I listened to, there were some bits were they were talking about machinery and had all these crazy names and sound effects. Haha, I loved it!

      I may decide to pick up X Minus One again, now that you've brought it up. :D

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  2. I sometimes listen to Old Time Radio in the car! So interesting to imagine the stories as they are played out by their voices, words, and the music that sets the tone. :) I haven't listened to the episode you mentioned here- but it sounds awesome!
    ~Jess

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    1. Oh that's so great! I haven't been able to find them on the radio though I remember they used to air them at night on AM. But I love to listen to them in the car as well - usually through a podcast! They really do transport one to a specific time. I think they are really fun!

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  3. Oh well if you do remember, let me know! I'm curious to know what the show was! I think X Minus One had some great episodes so it should be worth a re-listen!

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