Death Is a Doll: Box 13 (1948)

“Death Is a Doll” is an episode of Box 13, the old-time radio show, first broadcast in 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Dan Holliday arrives in Baloo, Louisiana to investigate a mysterious illness afflicting Bart Lefay, a young man who is wasting away despite medical tests showing nothing physically wrong. The townspeople believe Bart is dying from witchcraft, and Bart himself is convinced he has only two days to live. Holliday must uncover who started the rumor and why it persists before the power of belief destroys an innocent man.

Baloo, Louisiana, a small town on the edge of the bayou in the early 20th century.

Characters: Dan Holliday, Doris Gordon, Bart Lefay, Dr. Brennan, Susie

Listen for: The growing mystery of Bart's wasting illness and Holliday's investigation into the source of the witchcraft rumor that is killing a man through belief alone.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.