The Thing from the Sea: Dark Fantasy (November 28, 1941)

Dark Fantasy, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“The Thing from the Sea” is an episode of Dark Fantasy, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 28, 1941. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Judith Johnston, a film actress, sails with her fiancé Philip Hayward, her father the director, and a crew aboard Hayward's yacht the Dolphin. Their journey in the Pacific turns strange when the motors refuse to start and a man no one recognises steers the boat with no wind. Johnston dreams of a sea woman who claims her mind must enter Judith's body, and the yacht is swept toward an emerging land. The part of the story heard here ends with the party facing the mysterious figure at the helm.

The Pacific Ocean aboard the yacht Dolphin, and a sunken city rising from the sea

Characters: Judith Johnston, Philip Hayward, Johnston, Ned, Captain Webb, Lana, Boul

Listen for: The eerie steering of the yacht by an unknown man, and Judith's dream of the sea woman

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.