Analytical Hour: Suspense (June 28, 1959)

“Analytical Hour” is an episode of Suspense, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 28, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Mr. Nelson, a patient, visits his psychoanalyst, Dr. Rand, late one evening and announces that he has killed his wife. The doctor doubts him, but Nelson presses the claim while describing the months of sessions that led to his conclusion that he hates her. Suspense, the series, aired this episode on June 28, 1959, with Jack Carson in a leading role. The tale is told as a conversation between patient and doctor, and their exchange grows tense as the doctor tries to decide what Nelson really means.

A psychoanalyst's office in the evening, after the nurse has gone home.

Characters: Mr. Nelson, Dr. Rand, Margaret

Listen for: Nelson's claim that he has killed his wife, and the doctor's efforts to judge whether it is true.

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.