Suspense Sundays (161) Crisis

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.

"Crisis"

Air date: August 19, 1948
Starring Martha Scott

>>Episodes here<<

The crisis is a baby's illness.  The concerned mother must stay awake to care for her baby during a bad epidemic.  It's so bad, that there are no nurses or hospitals available to take care of the baby for the mother, and the mother is so exhausted, but she must fight it to stay up and maintain a steam treatment.  In her fatigue, the mother starts to have ... a vision?  a hallucination?  Of her child growing up, and her child does not turn out well.

The child as he grows up in the mother's vision - Curt is his name - is pretty awful.  He lies, cheats and steals, and is the indirect cause of his father's death.  He's on trial for murder of another man at age 25.  But, what was strange about this story is that this is something that the mother sees, and I guess we are supposed to take it, that this is something that could happen instead of just a strange hallucination of hers due to lack of sleep.  The mother is so overcome with the idea that her child would grow up to be a bad seed, that she tries to let her baby die.  (If you listen to the episode you'll find out if she succeeds.)  But this is a strange story for that - it's not believable to me that any mother would simply "imagine" her child will turn out bad, and then act on that.