Meshougah: Gunsmoke (February 21, 1953)

“Meshougah” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 21, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester ride to Pierceville to deliver government papers, but find the town eerily deserted. They discover that armed men have taken over the town and imprisoned all its residents in the warehouse. The leader demands that someone confess to killing his brother, threatening to kill the townspeople if no one talks.

Pierceville, a small town about 40 miles west of Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s. The story involves a warehouse where townspeople are being held prisoner.

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Bill Houghton

Listen for: The mysterious tension as Dillon and Chester approach the empty town and realize something is terribly wrong; the confrontation with the armed men who have taken over Pierceville.

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.