Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: May 31, 1955
Suspense #600, "Beirut by Sunrise,"
Mildred Gideon, a third-grade schoolteacher from North Dakota on a Mediterranean cruise, awakens before dawn to witness the magical sunrise over Beirut. The romantic moment turns to horror when she sees an American sailor stumble from the shadows on the dock below, a knife buried in his back. Before dying, the sailor gasps a cryptic message about "Sultan's turret" and "15th step." When Mildred finds a local police officer and brings him to the scene, the body has vanished without a trace of blood, leaving her looking like a foolish, over-imaginative tourist.
Shaken but determined to enjoy her shore leave, Mildred returns to the ship where she breakfasts with her fellow passengers: the boorish Frank Grady from Akron and the sophisticated, mysterious Mr. Haroon. As she joins a guided tour of Beirut's ancient bazaars and marketplaces, Mildred can't shake what she witnessed. The sailor's dying words haunt her, suggesting she's stumbled into something far more dangerous than a disappointing vacation.

Originally Aired: May 24, 1955
Suspense #599, "I Saw Myself Running," Susan begins experiencing terrifying recurring nightmares that blur the line between dreamer and dream. Each night, she finds herself running from an unseen pursuer, but something is different about these dreams: there are two of her, both present and visible to each other. One Susan watches while the other lives through the terror, and she discovers that the frightened woman she's been seeing isn't her at all, but a separate entity trapped in her dreamscape. This other woman experiences all the fears Susan thought she'd outgrown, from childhood phobias of caterpillars to nightmares of falling from airplanes, and she begs Susan not to wake up and leave her alone.
When Susan confides in her husband Freddie and seeks help from a doctor, they dismiss her fears as simple exhaustion and overwrought nerves. The doctor prescribes sedatives for a good night's sleep, but Susan grows increasingly desperate, convinced that something terrible is about to happen. As the dreams intensify and the boundary between the two Susans becomes more fragile, she faces an impossible choice: stop sleeping entirely or confront whatever horror awaits in the shadows at the top of that endless staircase.

Originally Aired: May 17, 1955
Suspense #598, "Lili and the Colonel," presents a gripping tale of colonial tension and deadly secrets in Kenya Colony, East Africa. Lieutenant Charles Temple, a young British officer stationed to combat the Mau Mau uprising, encounters the imperious Colonel M.O.V. Abernathy at the exclusive Ribb Valley Club. When a neighboring farmer, James C. Carey, is found murdered beneath a rose bush, Temple enlists the Colonel's help in identifying the body. The investigation takes a sinister turn when Temple suspects that the Colonel's head boy, Ngambe, may not be the Jalulo tribesman he claims but rather a Kikuyu with possible Mau Mau connections.
The danger escalates dramatically when Mrs. Abernathy's cat is found hanged outside their home, a clear Mau Mau warning. During the attack, Temple shoots one of the intruders, and before the wounded man dies at a clinic, he reveals crucial information: he is Matemba, a Kikuyu with Mau Mau ties, and his brother is none other than Ngambe himself. Temple returns to warn the Colonel, only to find the household deserted except for the increasingly unstable and heavily drinking Mrs. Abernathy, who seems to harbor dark secrets of her own.

Originally Aired: May 10, 1955
Suspense #597, "Going, Going, Gone," finds newlyweds Wally and Jan Pindale making an impulsive purchase at an estate auction. Despite Wally's protests, Jan insists on buying a mysterious old trunk covered in peculiar stains for just three dollars. When a nervous little man named Mr. Minchy suddenly offers one hundred dollars for it, then two hundred, the Pindales grow suspicious. The auction house even tries to substitute a different trunk, but Jan stands her ground. Back home, the couple opens their bargain purchase and discovers it's filled with what appears to be a fortune in jewelry—diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls that Jan insists are real. When Wally scratches a ring across their window and it cuts the glass like a genuine diamond, their excitement turns to fear.
Mr. Minchy appears at their door, desperately offering first fifty thousand, then one hundred thousand dollars for the trunk, warning them ominously that "the consequences will be upon your own head." As the Pindales try frantically to reach the police, they find themselves trapped by a chatty neighbor monopolizing their party line, while danger may be lurking just outside their door.

Originally Aired: May 3, 1955
Suspense #596, "Remember Me," Harry Nora finds himself in a desperate situation when his plan to rob Mr. Leibowitz's small neighborhood store goes violently wrong. Just as Harry is leaving the scene of his crime, Ruth Shaw walks in, a former high school classmate who recognizes him immediately. Ruth has never forgotten Harry, the popular football player she once had a crush on, and she's delighted by this chance reunion. Harry realizes he's been fatally identified and must now silence the only witness who can connect him to the murder.
Carrying Ruth's groceries, Harry maneuvers his way into her apartment, pretending to reminisce about their school days while actually planning her death. As Ruth cheerfully shows him pictures from their old class yearbook and makes coffee, she remains oblivious to the danger. The elevated train rumbling past her window gives Harry a chilling idea about how to commit the murder without being heard, but the question remains whether he can go through with killing this innocent woman whose only crime was remembering his face.

Originally Aired: April 26, 1955
Suspense #595, "Sight Unseen," Colin Farragut, a journalist for the Times, experiences a disturbing encounter while relaxing in the park one evening in 1926. Two ordinary-looking men in bowler hats approach him, addressing him by name and insisting he come with them. Though they refuse to identify themselves or explain their purpose, they speak with eerie certainty that he will eventually comply. When Farragut demands answers and threatens to call for help, they calmly respond that he will come "sooner or later" before mysteriously disappearing into the shrubberies. Convinced it's a prank by his friend Richard, a Scotland Yard sergeant, Farragut tries to dismiss the incident.
Later that evening, after meeting with Richard and confirming the sergeant had nothing to do with the strange encounter, Farragut takes Ellen, a restaurant worker he's been seeing, to the Palace dance hall. The evening takes an uncomfortable turn when they run into her employer, Mr. Wimper, a shifty Cockney character Farragut thoroughly dislikes. As the story unfolds through a letter Farragut writes to Richard, the journalist finds himself caught in circumstances that grow increasingly ominous.

Originally Aired: April 19, 1955
Suspense #594, "Speed Trap," follows rookie highway patrolman Art as he learns his new mountain beat from veteran officer Craig Hollister on a treacherous, rain-slicked night. While Hollister shows Art the deadly curves and hairpin turns that have claimed numerous lives, he reveals personal details about his wife Debbie, whom he caught speeding on this very road years ago. The routine check-out takes a devastating turn when a speeding convertible nearly runs them down. As they give chase through the dangerous mountain curves, Hollister makes a shocking discovery: the reckless driver weaving all over the road is Debbie herself, apparently intoxicated and out of control.
The tension escalates as the two patrolmen race to stop Debbie before she reaches the most dangerous curves on the mountain. Hollister, tormented by his wife's condition and the isolation that drove her to drink, desperately urges Art to catch up to her before it's too late. The chase becomes a desperate battle against time, weather, and the deadly mountain road as Craig faces the nightmare of potentially witnessing his own wife's destruction on the same curves where so many others have perished.

Originally Aired: April 12, 1955
Suspense #593, "The Lunch Kit," Jonathan reluctantly helps his embittered father construct a devastating weapon disguised as an ordinary thermos bottle. Filled with nitroglycerin and fitted with a timer set to detonate at 6:30 in the morning, the deadly device goes into Jonathan's lunch kit as he heads to work the night shift at an industrial plant. His elderly coworker Mike carpools with him, completely unaware of the lethal cargo. Once inside the plant, Jonathan leaves the lunch kit in his locker and tries to work normally, but his nerves betray him. He obsessively checks the time, makes careless mistakes, and eventually collapses from the strain. When the plant doctor confines him to the dispensary and gives him sedated milk to help him rest, Jonathan's panic escalates. Unable to access his locker with the ticking bomb inside, and fighting against medication forcing him to sleep, he faces a desperate race against time as the deadly detonation hour approaches and his control over the situation slips away.

Originally Aired: April 5, 1955
Suspense #592, "Zero Hour," presents Ray Bradbury's chilling tale of an innocent children's game with sinister implications. Mrs. Morris watches with mild amusement as her energetic daughter Mink and the neighborhood children obsessively play a new game called Invasion, gathering odd items like pots, pans, and tools while following mysterious instructions. Mink excitedly explains that a being named Drill is teaching the children how to help Martians invade Earth, using kids under eleven because adults are too busy to notice what happens under rose bushes and on lawns. When Mrs. Morris receives a call from her friend Helen in New York, she learns that children across the country are all playing the same game, each one preparing for "Zero Hour" at five o'clock.
As the afternoon wears on and five o'clock approaches, Mrs. Morris grows increasingly uneasy. Mink casually mentions they'll have to "get rid of" the grownups after the invasion and recites strange sequences of numbers and instructions. What began as charming child's play takes on an increasingly ominous tone as Mrs. Morris realizes that perhaps Drill isn't imaginary after all, and the invasion the children are so eagerly preparing for might be terrifyingly real.

Originally Aired: March 29, 1955
Suspense #591, "Give Me Liberty," follows Paul French, a man who embezzled a quarter of a million dollars and managed to hide it before his conviction. As French is being transported to prison by a detective, handcuffed for the journey, fate intervenes in the form of a spectacular train wreck. In the chaos and flames, French sees his opportunity for freedom, but there's one critical problem: he cannot find the key to his handcuffs. In a desperate bid for survival and escape, he makes a brutal choice, switching identities with the injured detective before fleeing into the darkness.
What follows is a harrowing odyssey as French struggles to survive in the countryside while shackled by the very symbol of his captivity. Exhausted, starving, and unable to remove the handcuffs, he encounters a suspicious farm woman and her watchful dog, faces armed pursuers, and finally resorts to scavenging through garbage behind a roadside diner. When a young boy discovers him in this degraded state, French must decide how far he'll go to secure his liberty and reclaim his hidden fortune. His carefully planned future hangs in the balance, dependent on breaking free from the steel that binds him.