Box O' Rocks: Gunsmoke (September 23, 1956)

“Box O' Rocks” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 23, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Gunsmoke free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

When a coffin supposedly containing the body of a local man named Packy is opened at Boot Hill, Marshal Dillon finds it contains only rocks and straw. A man named Preston Hawkins had presented a will claiming Packy left everything to him, but if Packy isn't dead, the will is worthless. Dillon investigates and discovers the rocks contain silver and lead, suggesting Packy may have owned a valuable mining claim after all.

Dodge City and Boot Hill cemetery

Characters: Matt Dillon, Doc, Chester, Reverend Blaus, Kitty, Jim Cruder, Pete

Listen for: The discovery of rocks in the coffin instead of a body, and the mystery of Preston Hawkins and the mining claim.

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.