This is a pretty thrilling episode about a lonely, old man that is haunted by both the woman that he killed and his dead wife.

This old man hasn't been the same since his wife died and has been mean to his housekeeper and the mailman (important plot point). He is haunted by the woman that he killed who claims she is one with his dead wife to get him to confess.

Yikes, first episode that I've heard about outright rape. A good Macabre tale that has that psychological/ supernatural element that mystery theater does so well. It does not go into his marriage and dead wife very much, but I think there is a subtle implication made by Robin that he was brutal to his wife too. Does anyone else pick up on that?

This is a disgusting episode where a deranged, violent man rapes a woman who reminds him of his late (wife?) and then murders her. What makes this episode disgusting isn't the fact that a rape was included, but the way the rape victim wants to be with him in the afterlife. As if it is a romantic thing to want to spend eternity with one's rapist!!! What was the writer thinking?!?!? As if that wasn't bad enough, but the rape wasn't even acknowledged as a crime. One of the WORST episodes ever! I love the series, but they aren't all winners.

Just a follow up comment. It's also ridiculous that his late wife would want to be with him after that! A totally unbelievable, stupid story! (Even though it's fantasy, it doesn't make sense for either woman to EVER want to see him again.) Also, are we supposed to feel sorry for this totally unlikable psycho?

Actually, Amy, the episode does make sense. We never quite know if it's the spirit of this woman which haunts him or if it a psychosis of some kind brought on by the man's guilt for his crimes against the young woman. She doesn't yearn for him--it's either her spirit trying to get him to confess, or it is his conscience (It appears that he has at least a bit of one) and mental state motivating him to do so in the form of these delusions. I felt this was a powerful, well-acted play which delved into both the supernatural and psychological; it let the listener decide on what s/he believed urged the man to confess (even though he had a change of heart with the letter, inevitably). A first-rate episode with just three credited actors (and an uncredited Hy Brown as the radio announcer).

Sorry, but we do know. They made it quite clear that the ghost who speaks to him is the ghost of the girl he raped. She talks about how she and his late wife love him so much and want to spend eternity with him. She tells him that if he confesses, they will "forgive" him and spend forever with him in the "wintering place" which is some sort of heaven. I don't think it's just his "conscious" talking to him. Even if it was his "conscious" (which I believe it isn't) this jerk is one of the most unlikable psychos EVER depicted on this show and the whole script is disgusting.

I should have said "conscience."

Looking over my comments, I realize that I talked more about the rape than the murder. I didn't mean to diminish the seriousness of the murder itself, and I should have talked more about both. I think that it's because this episode diminished the rape so much that it made me inclined to emphasize it. Having the women want to spend eternity with him is about as realistic as Ted Bundy's victims (in the afterlife) asking Ted to come spend eternity with them because they love him so much, lol! It's so stupid, I can't even...I can't...can't, lol!