The House in Cypress Canyon: Suspense (December 5, 1946)

Suspense, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“The House in Cypress Canyon” is an episode of Suspense, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 5, 1946. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Jerry, a real estate agent in Cypress Canyon, tells his friend Sam, a detective, about an unfinished house whose number matches a horror manuscript he once found in a shoebox on a beam. The manuscript, written by James A. Woods, describes a couple who rent the house just before Christmas and soon hear strange cries and find blood under a locked closet door. Jerry is uneasy because the house now stands finished, matching the story's description. The broadcast is Suspense, presented by Roma Wines in 1946, starring Robert Taylor with Kathy Lewis as his wife Ellen.

Cypress Canyon, a hillside area near Los Angeles, Hollywood, California, around Christmas 1946

Characters: Jerry, Sam, James A. Woods, Ellen Woods, Dr. Wesley

Listen for: The closet door that cannot be opened and the blood seeping from beneath it, the noise heard in the night, and Jerry's realization that the finished house matches the manuscript

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.