The Case of the Failing Eyes: Nick Carter, Master Detective (August 29, 1948)

“The Case of the Failing Eyes” is an episode of Nick Carter, Master Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 29, 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Nick Carter receives word that his old friend Fred Thomas has died under suspicious circumstances on a farm in western Pennsylvania. Arriving in the small town of Westville to investigate, Carter discovers that Fred's apparent suicide may be murder, and uncovers a scheme involving fraudulent eye examinations being conducted in the area.

Westville, Pennsylvania and surrounding farmland, 1948

Characters: Nick Carter, Patsy Bowen, Sheriff Parsh, Fred Thomas, Blake, Ransom, Mr. Thomas

Listen for: The clever deduction about the fingerprints on the gun revealing murder rather than suicide, and hints of a mysterious racket involving false eye examinations targeting the townspeople.

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.