- 4/26/2025
Inner Sanctum Mystery, also known as Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952.
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00:00Inner Sanctum Mysteries
00:27Good evening, friends of the creaking door.
00:30This is your host to welcome you into the Inner Sanctum once again.
00:35Come in.
00:36You know, so many people have asked me to explain the significance of the creaking door,
00:41but I don't really have to.
00:43You see, the door creaks for itself.
00:49I was going to have a friend of mine here tonight to give you a short explanation.
00:53Being an undertaker by profession, he's an authority on the subject,
00:57but he couldn't make it. He's been so busy.
01:00Poor chap.
01:01He's literally buried in his words.
01:04All right, friends.
01:17Let's get dreadful.
01:19Now remember, don't scream back at the radio.
01:21It won't do you any good.
01:22All set.
01:25Then listen as we hear our star, Anne Seymour, in the role of Catherine Brine.
01:31Tell us this story in her own words.
01:33Flash of lightning, like a giant white electric light, lit up the sky that night as I went up the walk.
01:46And Brine Mansion looked like a huge gable tomb, standing there on the hill.
01:53For a moment, I wanted to run.
01:55But much as I hated it, I'd come back.
01:59Not because I lived there.
02:01Not because I wanted to be there.
02:04But because of this house, I should find out if I was going to live.
02:08Or if I was going to die.
02:15I let myself in quietly.
02:18Made my way to the living room.
02:20There was a rustling of skirts.
02:22And Mother suddenly appeared in the dim, shadowy light.
02:26Cassie.
02:27Cassie, dear.
02:28Hello, Mother.
02:28Oh, you're so late.
02:29I was getting worried.
02:31Was my stepfather worried, too?
02:33Why, yes, dear.
02:34Mark is still up.
02:36Here, you've got to take your coat off.
02:37It's so true.
02:38Don't you touch me, Cassie, darling.
02:40And don't start sniveling over me again, Mother.
02:43I can't stand it.
02:44I was just trying to help you.
02:46Always trying to help me.
02:48Why didn't you think of helping me before you married that man upstairs?
02:52But no.
02:53You're such a pretty woman, Mother.
02:55You couldn't possibly be without a husband.
02:58What would people say?
02:59Catherine, please.
03:00You can't go on like this.
03:02No, I can't.
03:03I can't go on very much longer without destroying myself.
03:07You must not say such things.
03:08And why not?
03:09It'd make you and Mark very happy if I should die.
03:12Wouldn't it, Catherine?
03:13No one in this house wants me to go on living.
03:15Good evening, Catherine.
03:16Mark.
03:18I didn't know you were here.
03:20I'm aware of that.
03:21I heard you.
03:22Mark.
03:23She didn't mean it.
03:24She didn't mean a word of it.
03:25Oh, but I did.
03:26Now that you're both here, there's something I must find out tonight.
03:29It's very important.
03:31What is it?
03:32Ten years ago, my father died.
03:35Catherine, we can't discuss that now.
03:37We must.
03:38I've got to know certain things.
03:40Why?
03:41Because if I don't, something quite dreadful might happen to me.
03:45Now, Catherine, you're exaggerating.
03:47Dr. Wells doesn't think so.
03:49I've been going to him for months now.
03:51He knows there's grave danger that I'll go completely out of my mind if I don't find out about this.
03:56My poor darling.
03:57Don't pity me, Mother.
03:58Help me.
03:59Tell me how my father died.
04:01You know you were there.
04:02But, Catherine, there's nothing to tell.
04:04Your father was killed in an accident.
04:06He was a doctor.
04:07That will be enough, Laura.
04:08But, Mark.
04:09We'll call Dr. Wells the first thing in the morning and discuss the matter with him.
04:13Why don't you let her tell me?
04:15What have you got to hide?
04:16We are not going to discuss this until I speak to Dr. Wells.
04:20Now, Laura, I suggest you come upstairs as soon as possible.
04:25Good night, Castle.
04:28Mother, he's gone.
04:30You are going to tell me.
04:32Where was this accident?
04:33How did it happen?
04:35Who was involved?
04:35Cathy, you're in no state of anything right now.
04:38Mark was right.
04:39We should speak to Dr. Wells about it first.
04:40Yes.
04:41Speak to him so you both can make up an appropriate lie to tell me.
04:45I don't want any lies.
04:47I want the truth, Mother.
04:48And I'm prepared to go to any length to get it.
04:51Look at this now, Catherine.
04:53Look at it, I tell you.
04:54Look at it.
04:56What?
04:57What is it?
04:59A woman sold it to me today.
05:01A strange little woman.
05:06It's a sort of tiny painted tile.
05:10Not just an ordinary tile, Mother.
05:13It comes from the audience, the woman said.
05:17Do you see this very odd design?
05:19If you look at it long enough, she said.
05:23A strange thing will happen.
05:26You'll find yourself able to talk with the dead.
05:29See them wherever they are.
05:32Touch them.
05:33Care for it.
05:35I'm going to talk to my father.
05:37You can't be serious.
05:39You won't tell me what I want to know.
05:41Then maybe the dead will.
05:51Mother left the room.
05:54And I sat down in front of the fireplace.
05:57Just as I used to when I was a child.
06:00I looked at the tile.
06:02At the design.
06:05The parallel lines and dots began to dance before my eyes.
06:08I stared at it.
06:12It seemed to hold, control my day.
06:16And then almost at once.
06:18I felt an icy chill.
06:21And the design vanished.
06:23In its place there was black, infinite space.
06:27Filled with shadows and still shadows beyond shadows.
06:33Then I noticed a thick of gray come out of that blackness.
06:35There was a strange, sulfurous odor in the air.
06:40As it came toward me.
06:42At first, very slowly.
06:45And gradually faster and faster.
06:48As though it were coming to me through endless years of space.
06:55Suddenly there was an ear-shattering thunderclap.
06:58A streak of lightning zigzagged through the room in an insane dance.
07:02And I heard the front door close.
07:07I heard footsteps approaching.
07:10I turned around.
07:12Faced the doorway.
07:13And then I saw him.
07:16Don't scream.
07:18Who?
07:19Who are you?
07:21You are Kathy.
07:22Kathy Brine.
07:24You know me?
07:25I did.
07:26Ten years ago.
07:28Where did you come from?
07:29Tell me.
07:31How do I appear to you?
07:34How you appear?
07:35Yes.
07:37Please.
07:39You have white hair.
07:43White beard.
07:45But your eyes.
07:47No, it can't be.
07:48What can't be?
07:50That my eyes are the eyes of a corpse.
07:53That I look more like a dead man than a living one.
07:57Yes.
07:58That should not be so strange.
08:01Who are you?
08:03Did you know my father?
08:04Dr. Brine.
08:05Very well.
08:07Very well indeed.
08:08How did he die?
08:09I want to know that.
08:11He was murdered.
08:14Murdered?
08:14Yes.
08:15Murdered.
08:17How do you know?
08:18I saw it all.
08:21You?
08:22I was punished for it.
08:25You murdered him?
08:25No.
08:26I didn't kill him.
08:28He was the only friend I had in the world.
08:31That's why I came back here tonight.
08:34Didn't you ever know how your father died?
08:37No.
08:38Would you like to know?
08:40More than anything in the world.
08:42He was the kindest of men.
08:44And that's what led to his destruction.
08:48He took a man under his care.
08:50A man who had been given up as a raving maniac.
08:53And rather than see this man placed in an institution,
08:57he kept him in the guest cottage of his house.
09:00Wait.
09:01Wait, I remember now.
09:03The man was a poet.
09:05Yes.
09:06His name was Dennis D'Amour.
09:09Your father believed this man was a great poet
09:12and struggled to save him.
09:14Did this man murder my father?
09:16No.
09:17No.
09:17One evening when your father came in to treat D'Amour,
09:21there was a third man in the darkened cottage.
09:24This man leaped at your father and drove a knife into his back.
09:28The poor madman, frightened,
09:30ran over the countryside until he was caught by the police.
09:34And he was charged with the murder of your father.
09:38You...
09:38You said you saw it.
09:41I did.
09:43Then you are...
09:45The man.
09:46Dennis D'Amour.
09:50You...
09:51You're dead?
09:53Perhaps I am.
09:55The murderer.
09:57Who was the person who murdered my father?
09:59You know him quite well.
10:01He's the man who's now married to your mother,
10:04Mark Weldon.
10:05No.
10:06Can you prove this?
10:09Your father is the only one who can prove this.
10:13My father.
10:14Can you bring him back here?
10:15Bring him back?
10:16You came back.
10:18If you could only bring him and prove this.
10:21Prove it?
10:23Perhaps I can.
10:26Perhaps I will bring him back tonight.
10:29Good night.
10:34Just then, there was a tremendous thunderclap and the electric lights failed.
10:40I tried to see him by the firelight, but he wasn't in the room.
10:45I ran to the door, stumbling over furniture in the shadows and screaming for him to wait.
10:49I opened the front door, but he wasn't there.
10:53Kathy, we heard you screaming.
10:54Did you, Mother?
10:55What happened?
10:56I...
10:56I found out how my father died.
10:59Really?
10:59How?
11:01He was murdered.
11:02Laura, did you tell her anything?
11:04No, not a word, Mark.
11:05I swear.
11:07Kathy, how did you find out?
11:08I told you how I'd find out.
11:10That...
11:10That tile.
11:12Yes.
11:13It worked.
11:14That's impossible.
11:15Of course you'd say that.
11:16But I discovered tonight that you, Mark, murdered my father.
11:20That you cleverly arranged that a poor patient of his named Dennis Damore would be arrested for the crime that you committed.
11:26Who told you this?
11:27Dennis Damore.
11:28Damore?
11:29Was he here?
11:30Yes.
11:31He told me everything.
11:33And you believed him?
11:33Why shouldn't I?
11:35Why, the man's a maniac.
11:36I don't know how he ever got here.
11:38He should be at the state institution for the criminally insane.
11:42Number, please.
11:43Hello, operator.
11:44Will you put through a call to the state institution for the criminally insane at Blyton?
11:49I wish to speak to whomever is in charge.
11:51And call me back as soon as you get them.
11:53It's urgent.
11:53Yes, sir.
11:54I understand.
11:56Now, Catherine.
11:58You claim you actually spoke to this man.
12:01Yes, Mark.
12:02He told me he saw you murder my father.
12:04Why, you're lucky you escaped with your life.
12:06Well, the man is a homicidal maniac.
12:08Jack, I find it shocking that you should even begin to believe this fantastic story.
12:14But it seems to be true, Mark, doesn't it?
12:16My father was murdered.
12:18And Dennis Damore was sent away for the crime.
12:20Yes, yes.
12:21That part of it is true.
12:22But to accuse me?
12:23Flora, we tolerated her in this enough.
12:26But this is...
12:26Hello?
12:29Hello.
12:30This is Dr. King, the night supervisor of state institutions.
12:32Oh, yes.
12:33Hello, Dr. King.
12:34This is Mark Weldon speaking.
12:36Has one of your patients, a Dennis Damore, escaped?
12:41Dennis Damore, the poet.
12:43Yes, that's right.
12:43A homicidal maniac.
12:45He hasn't escaped, Mr. Weldon.
12:46He was one of the patients who was killed in a fire that broke out in this place two years ago.
12:52What's that?
12:54Didn't you hear me?
12:56Yes.
12:58Yes, I heard you.
13:01Goodbye.
13:04Mark, what is it?
13:07Dennis Damore is dead.
13:10He was killed two years ago.
13:25Well, Fred.
13:27How'd you like to have a little Chinese tile that can produce dead men for you?
13:32Hmm.
13:34Oh, don't you think that Dennis Damore is a ghost?
13:38Perhaps you think he's just an old Popeye's poltergeist?
13:41Well, we'll know in a moment, as we hear Catherine Bryan tell us the second half of her weird story.
13:50My stepfather's hand trembled as he hung up the phone.
13:58And even in the red glow of the firelight, I could see his face just suddenly turn snowy white.
14:04It's impossible.
14:05The dead can't come back unless you're making up this whole thing, Kathy.
14:10Why should I invent a story like this?
14:12Because you've always been insanely jealous.
14:15You've always hated your mother for marrying me.
14:17Isn't that true, Laura?
14:19Isn't it?
14:21Yes.
14:22It's true.
14:23There.
14:24You see, Catherine?
14:26Your mother loves you.
14:27She wouldn't lie.
14:28Now, tell us the truth.
14:31You made up this whole wild tale about Dennis Damore, didn't you?
14:35No, Mark.
14:35I didn't invent it.
14:37Dennis Damore was here.
14:38He couldn't have been.
14:39He's been dead for two years.
14:40Then how would I know the things I told you?
14:42I don't know.
14:44And that's what you've got to explain.
14:45Mark, why does this upset you so?
14:49If you didn't murder him, what difference does it make about Damore?
14:53Why are you so frightened?
14:54I'm not frightened.
14:56I'm just determined to get to the bottom of this thing.
14:58What was that?
15:00Just the thunder mark.
15:04Laura, why are you looking at me like that?
15:09Like what?
15:11Staring at me.
15:12As though you've seen me for the first time.
15:16Do you believe this mad story Catherine's told us?
15:19Do you think I murdered her father?
15:21I just remembered certain things, Mark.
15:27I can't help it if I think of them now.
15:30What things?
15:31Tell me what things.
15:32Two days before the murder, you told me you were in love with me.
15:36I sent you away.
15:37Told you never to come to this house again.
15:39Go on.
15:40On the night of the murder, I saw you standing in the moonlight.
15:44Near the guest cottage.
15:45You did?
15:46I thought I was mistaken, especially since you claimed you were at home that night.
15:50Oh, Mark, don't be angry with me.
15:52I can't help it thinking of these things now.
15:54It's only natural.
15:56Natural?
15:57Is it natural for a man's wife to accuse him of a crime like murder?
16:01And on the basis of what?
16:03The word of a psychopathic girl who should have been confined long ago.
16:08She talked to a man who's been dead for two years.
16:11I suppose you believe that too.
16:13And who is this man, even assuming that he's alive?
16:17A madman.
16:18A homicidal maniac who took your first husband's life when your husband tried to cure him.
16:24Well, I've had enough of this.
16:26Mark, what are you taking out of that drawer?
16:29Kathy, come here.
16:31Why?
16:32Mark, put the gun away.
16:33Shut up, Laura.
16:35Now, Kathy, I won't hurt you unless you try something dangerous.
16:40I'm holding this gun because I believe your mother and I are no longer safe in the same room with you.
16:49Now, I want the truth.
16:51You were lying to us before, weren't you?
16:55No.
16:56Very well, then.
16:57Where is this man you saw?
17:01I'd like to see him too.
17:03I don't know.
17:04Of course you don't, because he doesn't exist.
17:06He does.
17:07He appeared when I looked at the Chinese tile.
17:09The Chinese tile.
17:10Good.
17:12Look at your Chinese tile now.
17:15Make him appear.
17:16You're trying to make a fool of me.
17:17A liar.
17:18You'll do it, I tell you.
17:20Look at that tile.
17:21Go on.
17:23All right, I...
17:25I will.
17:25Now, what do you see?
17:32Nothing but the design.
17:34Yes, and that's all you're going to see.
17:37No.
17:38The design is safe.
17:41It's getting dark.
17:43Dark.
17:45Nothing but black.
17:53Mark!
17:54I heard the front door.
17:55Someone just came in.
17:57Yes.
17:59Your footpitch.
18:01That's dark how he came in the last time.
18:03Perhaps, but I doubt it.
18:05Good evening.
18:06Oh!
18:07Oh!
18:08It is, De Mors.
18:09You remember me, Laura?
18:12Yes.
18:13You...
18:14You've changed a great deal, but...
18:17It is you.
18:19Mr. Weldon.
18:20It's been ten years since I've seen you.
18:24There more.
18:25Then you're not dead.
18:27There must have been some mistake when I identified you.
18:29You're not dead.
18:31You escaped.
18:32Someone must have been identified instead of you.
18:34That's the only explanation.
18:36It depends on what you choose to believe, Mr. Weldon.
18:39I've got a guest with me.
18:42My father.
18:43Dr. Bryan, I'm sure you know these people quite well.
18:48Of course you do.
18:49What's he saying?
18:51He's talking to my father.
18:52That's right, Kathy.
18:54Unfortunately, you cannot see him.
18:56But he's here.
18:58Aren't you, Doctor?
18:59Dear Mors, what are you up to?
19:01What do you think?
19:02If you come back here to make trouble...
19:04Buffle?
19:05No.
19:06I've come back because someone wanted to know the truth.
19:10And I've brought the doctor back for the same reason.
19:13Doctor, before these others, I want you to tell us who murdered you.
19:20Who murdered you?
19:23Sir.
19:25Locke!
19:26You shot him!
19:28Yes.
19:29Why?
19:30Why?
19:30He's dangerous.
19:32A maniac.
19:33That's not the reason.
19:34It's because you murdered my father.
19:36And you don't want us to know.
19:37All right, Kathy.
19:39I did kill him.
19:40Mark!
19:41Doesn't make any difference now.
19:44This maniac has planted suspicion in your mind.
19:47You would have found out sooner or later.
19:48Mark!
19:49Yes?
19:49I killed him.
19:51For you, Laura.
19:53I love you.
19:55But that's over now.
19:56It's been over for a long time.
20:00I know what to do now.
20:01And it's going to be very simple.
20:05Thanks to our friend lying there.
20:07What are you going to do?
20:09Don't you know, Laura?
20:12It's so simple.
20:14Your bodies must be found in such a condition that they will be certain Damor killed you.
20:20And then I'll tell them how I shot the homicidal maniac to protect myself.
20:24It's the same way she killed my father.
20:27Yes, Kathy.
20:28You won't die, Kathy.
20:30Damor!
20:31Did you think you could kill me, Weldon?
20:37Damor!
20:39Do you think those shots will stop me?
20:42Don't you come near me.
20:44Stand back!
20:44Nothing will stop me, Weldon.
20:49The gun!
20:51It's empty!
20:53No, don't!
20:54Let go, Paulie!
20:55Yes!
20:55Let go!
20:58I saw the bullets strike Damor.
21:01They hit him, but they didn't stop him from lurking toward Mark and seizing him by the throat.
21:06As they fell to the floor, the kerosene lamp fell off its table.
21:09It might have been the wind, but I believe otherwise.
21:12I'm almost certain it was my father.
21:15In a moment the grave fell on fire and the whole place was blazing.
21:19I screamed to my mother to leave.
21:21She ran with me out of the blazing building into the storm that raged outside.
21:32Two weeks later, my mother came into the hotel room where we were staying.
21:38I've just come from the police, Kathy.
21:40Well, mother?
21:42Only one body is positively identified.
21:45Whose?
21:46Mark's.
21:47The other body?
21:48They haven't been able to find it in the rubble.
21:51I don't believe they ever will.
21:53But, Kathy, the police checked with the authorities at the state institution.
21:57It seems that some of the patients did escape at the time they had the fire there two years ago.
22:02Well, it's possible that Damore was among them.
22:06It's possible.
22:07But I doubt it.
22:09You think Damore died two years ago?
22:15Yes, mother.
22:17Don't you?
22:18Well, friends, I guess you've met ghosts before, but I'm sure this is the first time you've ever met a crazy spook.
22:35Oh, don't you think Dennis Damore was a ghost?
22:39Hmm?
22:40Well, there's only one way to find out if ghosts really exist.
22:44Just ask one to haunt you sometime.
22:49You'll be sure to listen, don't you?
22:51Until next week, then.
22:54Good night.
22:57Pleasant dreams.
22:58Hmm.
22:59Hmm.
23:26Hmm.
23:26Hmm.
23:27Hmm.
23:27Hmm.
23:28Hmm.
23:28Inner Sanctum has come to you through the worldwide facilities
23:34of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
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