Old-time radio suspense · two new episodes a week
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Standalone channel One series, every episode in the order it first aired. Part of The Midnight Exchange, where all the series play mixed.
4 episodes, in the order they first aired. Each plays on to the next. Subscribe in any podcast app with the feed.
141 more episodes are waiting: Potato Plus members play them all now
Mostly mystery, horror and murder stories, by our guides to 143 episodes. Inner Sanctum Mysteries: 145 episodes of the old-time radio mystery and suspense series, 1941-1952. Free, live around the clock and as a podcast (two new episodes a week), every episode in the order it first aired.
Inner Sanctum Mysteries is the old time radio horror show famous for its creaking door, and you can listen to it free online here or as a podcast. Created and produced by Himan Brown, it ran from 1941 to 1952, first on NBC's Blue Network and later on CBS and ABC. Each episode opens with the slow squeal of that door and a host who welcomes you inside with a joke so morbid, and so cheerfully bad, that you groan and keep listening.
The first and best-remembered host was Raymond, played by Raymond Edward Johnson, who sent listeners off with a long, drawn-out Pleasant dreams; Paul McGrath later took over as host. The stories are murder, madness and the seemingly supernatural, often with a twist that turns out to be all too human. Big names came to the microphone, including Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. The title came from Simon & Schuster's Inner Sanctum line of mystery novels, and the show inspired a series of Universal films starring Lon Chaney Jr. in the 1940s.
Inner Sanctum is the classic horror radio drama for a dark night: campy, creepy and great fun out loud with friends at Halloween. The episodes play right on this page in the order they first aired, two new ones reach the podcast every week, and Inner Sanctum is also part of The Midnight Exchange, Stupid Potato's live 24/7 channel of suspense, mystery and the macabre from old time radio.
The Inner Sanctum Mysteries recordings here come from the Old Time Radio Researchers' Inner Sanctum Mysteries Singles set (145 episodes), hosted by the Internet Archive. Our thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers, the volunteers who found, dated and assembled the set, and to the Archive and the collectors whose uploads it rests on. The sound is our remaster of those files (rumble, hiss and hum cleaned out, levelled to steady broadcast loudness); the recordings themselves are theirs. About our sources.
Every Inner Sanctum Mysteries episode: the full list, with air dates and stories
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Inner Sanctum Mysteries. Each episode opened with the sound of a slowly creaking door, and the effect became the show's trademark.
The first host was Raymond, played by Raymond Edward Johnson, famous for his puns and his closing Pleasant dreams. Paul McGrath later hosted the show.
From 1941 to 1952. It began on NBC's Blue Network and later aired on CBS and ABC. Himan Brown created and produced it.
Yes. Universal made a series of Inner Sanctum mystery films in the 1940s starring Lon Chaney Jr., taking their name from the radio show and the books behind it.
Yes. Inner Sanctum Mysteries is free to listen to, live around the clock and as a podcast: no sign-up, no app and no subscription. Potato Plus is optional and never required.
No. It is an internet radio channel, live 24 hours a day: press Listen live, no sign-up and no app needed.
No modern ads, and we promise none until Valentine's Day 2027 (February 14). Nothing breaks into the show to sell you something you never asked for. Any commercials you hear are the original sponsor spots that aired with the broadcast.
Press Listen live on https://stupidpotato.com/inner-sanctum/ , or open the stream address https://stupidpotato.com/inner-sanctum/live in any audio player (VLC, a smart speaker app, a car's web player). New episodes come out as a podcast: https://stupidpotato.com/inner-sanctum/feed.xml in any podcast app.
Inner Sanctum Mysteries is a Stupid Potato channel (https://stupidpotato.com/), made by Stupid Potato Studios and powered by MonsterCast. The other channels and the Stupid Potato cartoons are at https://stupidpotato.com/.
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