A wonderfully atmospheric episode, one of my favorites!

Not a bad tale. Things that have bumped in the night get bumped off. Even the hat falls off. An interesting mystery to ponder.

The twist at the end and the mystery surrounding the doctor is quite intriguing.

Not a bad tale. Things that have bumped in the night get bumped off. Even the hat falls off. An interesting mystery to ponder.

EXCELLENT! I really enjoyed this episode! Spooky and baffling. It had me guessing the whole time.

I liked this episode. I can fully understand how one can be completely disorented in the fog since we have had fog here for the last two weeks. It has not been very dense this year, but it does get depressing.

Hmmm. This is an interesting story to take apart. The title, the content and the conclusion are consistant: as a mystery (and particularily on radio) we too are in the fog here. Hearing is more relied upon than seeing. It doesn't help our protagonist that he has to deal with altered perceptions due to weather conditions and a concealed murder while being "shell shocked." Our hero here is searching for reality testing in a difficult situation. He falls in love (at first sight in this fog, he must have been mighty close) and this both helps to ground him, because she is "so real" and get him into a predicament because she is soon to be a real corpse. We soon learn she has been bumping into others before, fog or no fog. What I found interesting is the conclusion's left over mysteries. Why was the murderer not interested in framing O'Reilley? Is it because he is simply a decent fellow betrayed? Unlike many murderers, this one appears to have a conscious regarding all others outside of the victim. Who was Sprage? I like that these questions are not answered because it is also true to life, that is we often are left with less than all the answers, we must continue to search. In other words, we remain "In the Fog". Perhaps we mystery lovers are mystery lovers because we enjoy being in the fog while simultaneously working our way out of the fog (mystery, bafflement, what have you). Heck, our reviews of the weekly shows have some elements of this, no? p.s. Our murderer here is about the calmest, most self possessing fellow I've come across. He is shell shocked, or was, and had his pretty lovely betray him, and as we know this leads to murder on the CBSRMT. He commits the murder, the ineluctable consequence of his wife's perfidy, but then orchestrates circumstances afterward much as the detached observer he claims to be. Hmmm? More mystery. Things that went bump in the night were bumped off! I liked Sprage.

I thought the central character was exceptionally well developed. The "shell shock" instantly makes him sympathetic. His desire to help the woman despite his own building panic makes him admirable. The elusive Dr. Sprague was well played by Griffis and I liked the way he just disappeared in the fog. The fog was a nice setting, adding a gothic sense of eeriness to the play. I gave it a 4. Thanks for a great selection.

There are so many good shows, yet so many "not so good" shows, too. This one, as I said was great because I lived in that area of Boston for awhile. It felt right at home. The only thing missing was the dreadful accent (which I shed many years ago! whew!), "I pahked my cah in Hahvahd Squayah." As I mentioned in a post for The Horla, subjects that deal with mental stability always intrigue me and frighten me. The way the main character dealt with his "condition" in the foggy situation was uplifting. I kept waiting for him to freak or something, but he handled everything rationally and calmly. I gave it a 5 because it is one of the few episodes that kept me thinking about it after hearing it, and one of the few that I've listened to twice.

This was a great program and I think the story was enhanced for me because I recognized several of the locations from my past travels to Boston. The author did a fine job of using Boston as a setting and it occurred to me that other authors have gone to great lengths to create entirely fictious settings. Consider another terrific program we reviewed, "A Holiday Visit", which was set in Runyanville, OH. I recall looking for this location on a map only to find that it doesn't exist. I've never experienced a Boston fog but my imagination was certainly piqued when the victim of our story let out her blood curdling scream. This was a scream for the ages and I have to say, I haven't heard a more realistic presentation on any radio program. 

Runyanville, OH. I recall looking for this location on a map only to find that it doesn't exist. As I recall from the description they gave of its location, I envisioned it being somewhere near where Bowling Green, Ohio is located.

good one, i enjoyed the setting in the fog, the waterfront and the early 1900's time frame. nothing good ever comes from the fog. it reminds me of turn of the century london and jack the ripper. it's interesting, last week i listened to a book on tape . it was TO HELL AND BACK by Audy Murphy. he describes several of his comrads suffering from shell shock. they seemed normal until the enemy artillery started falling. one guy was sent back to the aid station several times but kept coming back to the front line out of sense of duty. as soon as the shelling started he freaked out . i wonder what happened to those guys when they got home. back to the fog. i was completely spellbound . i couldn't figure out what had happened or why. i couldn't believe our hero could have done it. i hoped not anyway. when i heard the real murderer's story i jumped at it. i knew he had done it. i wasn't sure if the killer was going to try to frame our hero . i was torn. it sure would have added to the plot but i didn't want our guy to go through any more bad stuff. the ending wasn't a surprise to me but i enjoyed the story very much. i gave it a 4. hey i just realised the actors didn't have boston accents! i wonder if that would have made it better or worse?

Even though the ending is unsurprising, it is a well-done conclusion to a solid episode. The plot adheres fairly closely to the short story it is based on, but in the original tale the protagonist does not report the crime to the police.

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. What’s great about Roy Winsor’s writing, is that he wrote intriguing ghost stories for CBSRMT such as #0358-FIVE GHOSTLY INDIANS, #0802-THE GOLDEN AMULET, and #0868-THE LOCKED TRUNK. But for this adaptation of Algernon Blackwood’s ghost story, it was somewhat different. In the original story by Algernon Blackwood, he titled it as “A Confession” and he wrote it in the Third-Person View. There were many details on what the main character was feeling as he felt the presence of the fog, the look of the woman, the view of the house, the shocking sight of the dead woman’s body, the surprise visit of the compassionate doctor, to the astonishment of the twisted ending. In this CBSRMT adaptation, Roy Winsor wrote it in the First-Person View and added miscellaneous characters. Entertaining, but the original story was hauntingly better. The music was entertaining as well, with its suspenseful tunes to build up the mystery. But not enough sound effects. What we heard was a buoy, ship horns, bell tolls, the woman screaming (which is the exact screaming sound effect from #0363-STAY OUT OF DUTCHMAN’S WOODS and #0396-BURN, WITCH, BURN), footsteps by the stairs, door closing, telephone, and rain drops…that’s pretty much it. Anyway, move on to the good stuff; like our Host. In E.G. Marshall’s Prologue, he introduces the main character to us where he’s been shell shocked during WWI. In ACT-1, the understanding of shell shock. In ACT-2, the notion of Coincidence, followed by the notification that we are all 2 persons. In ACT-3, after revealing the surprising ending, E.G. Marshall narrates about the weather on how it’s a factor on our behavior. In his Epilogue, the subject on Coincidence again. Very descriptive, very informative in his narrations. And another good thing, the cast: Gordon Gould (as Captain Terry O’Reilly), Martha Greenhouse (as the Woman and May Collard), Ian Martin (as Dr. Henry and Dr. Sprig), and William Griffiths (as Sergeant O’Malley and Jeff Collard). Both Ian Martin and William Griffiths did well in their double roles. Martha Greenhouse’s voice was delicate and perfect for this mystery. Bravo to Gordon Gould for his leading role. If you’re a fan of Algernon Blackwood’s writing, read the short story “A Confession” but also check out CBSRMT’s adaptation of his work such as #0334-NIGHT OF THE HOWLING DOG and #1224-TOY DEATH. Also, check out ESCAPE’s radio adaptation of this mystery tale (aired on December 31st, 1947). Until next time…pleasant dreams. =0)

One of my all time favorites!

Captain Terry O’Reilly is told by his doctor that he is well enough to visit some friends on Boston’s Beacon Hill. Emerging from the subway, O’Reilly walks into a dense fog and meets a strange, beautiful woman. Together they grope their way to Beacon Hill. She enters a house, and when O’Reilly hears a scream he follows her in, only to find her lying on a bed, stabbed to death. He rushes away in a panic, leaving his hat in the bedroom.

Oh wow - I just listened to this one last week. It was fabulous. I think this radio show is my very favorite. It still astonishes me that they were doing stories on the radio into the 70's. I don't know why - I guess when I grew up, everything was television. I'm so thrilled that I finally discovered OTR.

Great story, love it!

I was astonished at the universally strongly positive reviews of this episode. I agree that the atmosphere is good and character development good, but the coincidences are so preposterous as to make it beyond credible. It should be obvious that the jealous husband would have been caught. Also, very unlikely that the captain would have been instantly recognized by “Dr. Sprague“ as being in shell shock. I found the ending very unsatisfying.