The Death Parade

Originally Aired: February 15, 1951

Suspense #416, "The Death Parade," stars Agnes Moorehead as Ellen Johnson, a meticulous office worker whose orderly morning routine is disrupted when a rude stranger deliberately spills coffee on her dress. Forced to return home to change, Ellen discovers an unsealed letter on the sidewalk addressed to a Sheila Mannox. The cryptic message warns that someone named Jack has deadly intentions, and Ellen becomes obsessed with delivering this urgent warning to the right person. When the letter's original address proves unhelpful and phone calls yield no results, Ellen's determination leads her on a desperate search through the city.

As the hours tick by on parade day, Ellen's quest becomes increasingly frantic. Her investigation eventually brings her to the rooftop of the Benson building, where a young woman falls to her death while crowds gather below. Now sitting in a police interrogation room, a shaken Ellen insists to the Lieutenant that she was only trying to help, and that the tragedy never would have happened if not for that spilled cup of coffee. The question remains: was the fatal fall an accident, or was Ellen somehow involved in something far more sinister?