The Light Switch

Originally Aired: May 12, 1949

Suspense #340, "The Light Switch," stars Claire Trevor as Mrs. John Winston, a wealthy banker's wife who makes a fateful decision to visit a run-down detective agency on East Main Street. Hiring the down-on-his-luck private investigator Skid Webb to follow her husband John, she insists nothing is wrong but simply wants to check on his late nights at work. When Webb reports back with evidence of another woman, their contentious relationship takes a dark turn. The bitter detective's cruel observations about her age and fading marriage strike a devastating nerve, pushing Mrs. Winston toward a desperate act.

As the episode unfolds, Mrs. Winston finds herself trapped in a gas-filled room, waiting for the voices in the hallway to disappear so she can escape. Through her increasingly dizzy recollections, she pieces together how her meeting with the insolent Skid Webb set everything in motion. She has rigged a light switch to spark at exactly 7:30, designed to blow up everything she despises in the world—yet also everything she loves. As the gas overwhelms her senses, time is running out.