A well known fashion designer buys the Castle Kerfol to achieve some solitude and quiet in her life. Upon entering the grounds she discovers the place deserted save for a strange group of dogs. Picking her up her estate agent is surprised at what she has encountered and relates an old ghost tale. She begins to read through court records of a trial involving the former residents with whom she feels a particularly close connection.

The "Suddenly attacked by a pack of wild dogs" is hilariously wrong, but episode is still pretty good.

Edith Wharton provides something of a feminist twist on the Gothic tale as a wealthy woman learns the sordid history of the castle she's decided to buy to "settle down." The story-within-a-story of a previous tenant's helplessness in the face of betrayal and murder causes her to rethink her choices in more ways than one. A solid episode.

I agree with Mike that the description of "suddenly attacked by a pack of wild dogs" is inapt. However, the story was still fairly good, although the return of the necklace was never explained.

The plot description should read a woman is greeted at the French Castle by a pack of quiet and timid dogs. Castle Kerfol is a French not a British Castle.

You are right! I usually read the plot description and then forget it, so I didn't notice. This one is way off!

The worst combination possible. Mercedes McCambridge in an Elspeth Eric adaptation. Dreary writing and a lead actress in her 50s whose raspy cigarette warped voice is portraying a women in her twenties. As Leonard Pith Garnell would say, "Simply awful".

This wasn't an Elspeth Eric adaptation. Murray Burnett was the one who adapted it. I agree though that "young girl" roles don't suit Mercedes McCambridge.

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. I admire Murray Burnett’s work, particularly his adaptions of the Sherlock Holmes stories. But the story originally from Edith Wharton was better. The novelist’s ghost story had a Narrator without a name. In Murray Burnett’s version, we got a fashion designer that’s interested in the castle while the other male characters act persuasive and vulnerable. I was more interested in the mystery of the dogs and hope that they would play a bigger part to this tale. Other ways to title this would be “Dogs Of Kerfol” or “Strange Vendetta.” In our Host’s Prologue, that I had to find on other OTR websites, E.G. Marshall’s topic is about castles with ghosts. In ACT-1, meet our main character who’s interested in buying a castle. After digging into the story within the story, our Host points out the lifestyle differences of adultery from 2 different time periods. Our main character must’ve seen dogs or ghost dogs. After too many conflicts about pets getting killed in this story, E.G. Marshall mentions ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Was E.G. Marshall trying to advertise this non-profit organization into the episode? In ACT-3, he understands the reaction that our main character felt when reading the history book. When the story was over, E.G. Marshall stated that when he talked about this story to a psychiatrist and what was his take on this? Was E.G. Marshall talking about his personal life on this? Or was this something that Murray Burnett wrote for him? What’s even weirder, is the Epilogue. E.G. Marshall tells the world’s shortest horror story ever. It’s a classic, but it’s irrelevant to this particular story. E.G. Marshall wasn’t off topic with his narrations, but he could’ve saved the ASPCA mentioning, the psychiatrist moment, and the shortest horror story for other episodes. The music was OK, but the tunes for the chilling moments kept on repeating in every Act. Sound effects of birds chirping, bell ring, iron gate squeaking, footsteps, car tires screech, jewelry case, door knocking, howling wind, violin music, and unbolting the door were good. And of course, the sounds of dogs barking were helpful. And finally, our cast: Mercedes McCambridge (as Paula Randall and Anne de Cornault), William Redfield (as Herve de Lanrivain and Andre de Lanrivain), Ian Martin (as Baron Yves de Cornault), and Guy Sorel (as the Judge and the Gypsy). I like this choice of cast members. In fact, this was my favorite part of the episode. All of the actors were great. But it was Mercedes McCambridge, our leading lady, who was superb. Her performance in this reminds me of her performance in Ep. #0318-CARMILLA where she played 2 roles: The Narrator and the Woman who dealt with death. Fans of her would enjoy this episode. Check this one out, but also check out Edith Wharton’s original ghost story. Until next time…pleasant dreams.

I've always thought that William Redfield would have played an amazing hitler in TV/Films.

I am a great admirer of Mercedes McCambridge's work but I will never for my life understand why ANYONE would voice-cast her as any character under the age of 40, at the very least. It's laughable, if not distracting. There are a few mismatches along those lines with some other roles in this series (as well as in many other radio series like Lights Out, Escape, Suspense, etc.) where the actor just does NOT sound anything like the age they are supposed to be portraying. In the case of some of the CBSRMT female leads, it can be jarringly mismatched, and happens a bit more often with McCambridge's roles because of her especially raspy voice. It renders this episode a bit goofy... but it's enjoyable enough. Heck, it's CBSRMT, after all!

I don't know why they couldn't find a second female actress for this one.

For those interested in seeing Mercedes McCambridge as an actress, she was in a "Lost in Space" Episode 25: The Space Croppers.