- 2 months ago
- #horror
- #supernatural
Lights Out is an American old-time radio program devoted mostly to #horror and the #supernatural.
Created by Wyllis Cooper and then eventually taken over by Arch Oboler, versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 3, 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. Lights Out was one of the earliest radio horror programs, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum, and was the first to gain a large following.
Created by Wyllis Cooper and then eventually taken over by Arch Oboler, versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 3, 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. Lights Out was one of the earliest radio horror programs, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum, and was the first to gain a large following.
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00:00The National Broadcasting Company presents Lights Out, a summer revival of the famous series which many of our listeners will remember.
00:08Tonight's story, the sixth in the series, is called The Ghost on the Newsreel Negative.
00:15Lights Out, everybody.
00:18This is the witching hour.
00:33The hour when dogs howl and evil is let loose on a sleeping worm.
00:40Sit in the dark now and listen to Lights Out.
01:08Well, where do you suppose we are, Martin?
01:10I don't really know where we are. You're the driver.
01:12Yeah, I'm the driver. Only you're supposed to tell me where you want to go, you know.
01:16I told you.
01:17Yeah, you know what you said? You said we're going to a farm out on Route 330, about halfway between Dundee and Algonquin.
01:23I remember, yeah.
01:24And I'm supposed to be a mind reader.
01:26Sure you are.
01:27Well, I would be if you had a mind to read.
01:29Nuts, Mr. Wink.
01:31And nuts to you, Mr. Barnett.
01:37Well, are we about there?
01:38How do I know?
01:39Oh, I should have known that.
01:41Well, you're a wise guy.
01:43You're the great cameraman.
01:45You know everything.
01:46Oh, shut up.
01:47Well, look.
01:48We're about halfway between Dundee and Algonquin now.
01:52The sign of Dundee said five miles to Algonquin.
01:55And the speedometer said 93331.
01:58It says 93333 now.
02:02Goody, you can read.
02:04Now listen, half of five is two and a half.
02:07Uh, yeah, that's right.
02:09And 93,331 to 93,333 is two miles.
02:16Uh, yeah.
02:19Therefore, Mr. Barnett, therefore, I'll bet you that that place right up there is the place where we're going.
02:26Huh, what place?
02:27Oh, yeah, yeah, I guess it is.
02:29Now we've got that settled.
02:31What are we going to do when we get there?
02:33I am going to make a story.
02:35And you're going to catch the noise of it.
02:38Ha, ha, ha.
02:39You kill me, Martin.
02:40All right.
02:41Now?
02:42Huh?
02:42No.
02:44I mean, what kind of story?
02:47Ghosts.
02:48Ghosts?
02:50Or goats?
02:51Oh, I know that story.
02:53Ghosts.
02:54Hey, you believe in ghosts, Whit?
02:58Well, um, I ain't never seen one.
03:01Well, don't let that worry you.
03:02You're good.
03:03Ha, ha.
03:04Says you.
03:05Uh, go on.
03:05Drive in that gate there.
03:07Oh, that one, dummy.
03:08I got it.
03:10Where's these ghosts?
03:12Don't you ever read the papers?
03:14I don't get enough money to buy papers.
03:17What's it about?
03:18This here...
03:18Hey, stop right there, I guess.
03:20This here is the ghost farm.
03:22Yeah?
03:22So what?
03:24So?
03:25We come to make pictures of the ghosts.
03:28A set up above here, I guess,
03:30with the old house and the barn in a picture.
03:34I'll go see if I can find anybody.
03:36There don't seem to be anybody around.
03:37Must be somebody.
03:38I'll go see.
03:39Don't get bit by a ghost.
03:43I won't.
03:46Here, let's make it as snappy as we can, huh?
03:48So we can get back to town.
03:50What's the matter?
03:50Ghost getting your pal?
03:53No kidding.
03:54Did you ever see such a deserted-looking dump?
03:58I wouldn't be surprised if a ghost jumped right up out of the ground.
04:01What you fellas want here?
04:08Where'd you come from?
04:11I was right around on the other side of the wagon.
04:16What's you want here?
04:18Uh, I, uh...
04:20I'm Martin Barnett of Targon News.
04:22This is, uh...
04:24Whit, my noise patcher.
04:25Uh, hello.
04:27What you want?
04:28Well, uh, is this the, uh...
04:32Ghost farm?
04:34Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
04:36Ghost farm?
04:37Where'd you get that idea?
04:39Well, papers.
04:41Oh, yes.
04:43All them silly stories in the papers.
04:47Ha, ha, ha.
04:48Yes, I guess this here is the place you're looking for.
04:53What you want.
04:55Well, we, uh, want to make some newsreel pictures.
04:57You know, movies.
05:00Um, I was looking for Mr. Tracy.
05:02Tracy?
05:03Yeah.
05:04Guy owns a place.
05:05Oh.
05:07He ain't here.
05:09He, uh...
05:11He?
05:11No.
05:13Well, uh...
05:14Uh, maybe this guy, uh, uh, gentleman can tell us my...
05:18Oh, yeah, yeah.
05:20Say, uh, about this ghost business.
05:23Is it a real ghost, mister?
05:25Is there a real ghost here?
05:27Do you know anything about it?
05:28Do I know anything about it?
05:31Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
05:35I am the ghost.
05:37my gosh he scared me out of six years growth when he said he was the ghost man what about me
05:55i swallowed my chewing tobacco doggone old fool he's got the dirtiest laugh i ever heard in all
06:00my life ain't he though i wish he'd come back i want to get to the story made and get back to
06:06town before it gets dark you better if they're gonna get out a special on it tonight yeah i don't
06:10know why red don't think of these things soon enough i guess he's brainstormed all of a sudden
06:14then he wants to get stopped out for every theater in chicago by three o'clock yesterday after norman
06:19and the great barnett has to go out and shoot him so shut up and wind up your codex oh nuts
06:25uh-oh here comes all screwy again well it's about time hey uh what what exposure would you give out
06:32here oh about uh four or five i think uh it's getting kind of dark i think five six will do it
06:40you're the cameraman if you don't get your shots it's you red will murder maybe it better be four
06:46or five well are you ready to make your movie pitches now uh yeah yeah if you are when you
06:54want me to do well first i want a shot of the house in the barn so you better go back and come walking
07:00out of the house and i'll pan after you while you walk to the barn then you can come over here and
07:04i'll make an interview hey whit you can talk to him i suppose so i don't get paid for it though
07:09oh nuts go ahead mr hey just walk out of the house to the barn eh yeah that's right i'll holler for
07:17you to come out he he he he he yes all right he he he he he he gosh that laugh of his is enough to
07:26scare anybody goofy no wonder people think he's a ghost he's not eating a fruitcake so what so are we
07:31when we get out of the newsreel business um he's waiting for you hot shot oh you all set i've been all set
07:38for an hour oh all right all right here we go all right master okay okay all right come on back
07:50mister darn if you don't look like a ghost this whole place looks ghostly enough for me i'll be
07:57glad when you get back to food me too did you get it did you get my picture sure we never miss
08:05much what do you want me to do now well look um look you stand there no no no there that's it
08:13uh listen and when i start the camera you just telling your own words how you do this ghost
08:17business will you you want me to talk yeah that's it uh set the microphone over closer with
08:22yes mr bernard uh put on the running board yes mr bernard you just want me to talk and that's it
08:29i just tell how i'm a ghost and what i do and everything yeah yeah yeah and then in a minute
08:38or two mr witt will step up alongside you he'll ask you some questions all you've got to do is
08:41answer them see you say what's what yeah that's it just say uh what's what i'll motion to you
08:49when you're to step in uh what'll i say who do you think of something to say you're a smart sound
08:54expert nuts i ain't getting paid for that you do as you're told yes mr barnett yes mr barnett
09:00shut up yes mr barnett are you ready uh mr um yeah mr yeah i'm ready well okay now uh do that
09:11i think a dirty laugh of yours go ahead now now yeah now i'm running
09:17yes sir i'm a ghost i'm a ghost of alice this here place
09:31yes sir you're there when i do it well sir at the night i go around and look into my house
09:42and wait till they see the stairs and eyes all over the lifers
09:48yes sir what do you see the screen shiver and light the pans out yes sir i'm a ghost
10:03a doggone good ghost if you ask me
10:10go ahead wait and uh how long have you been haunting this farm mr ghost
10:19more years than you'd think i've been a haunted yes sir
10:27that's long well uh you suppose you could give us a sample of your uh very ghostly slap
10:34i wish you keep you like that that's fine uh and uh do you believe in ghosts yourself
10:51do i do i do i i am a ghost
11:00yeah okay oh okay that's that's enough my gosh mr what's the matter i scare you
11:12i don't scare you you don't huh what's that behind you
11:17i'm sorry don't do that again i won't and don't do any more of that laughing again mr
11:36what's that what's that there there that's my sister
11:44sure he helps me haunt the place
11:49have you got a sister sure she's in the house there
11:54she's bedridden low she's been on the bed for 29 years
12:00so she uh she ain't done alone she's screaming right well enough though don't she
12:08she she sure does hey martin uh listen that would make a swell shot too the
12:15the old gal and him in that old rattle trap house yeah yeah yeah only how we gonna do it
12:20well i'll put some photo floods in a reflector and run them off the battery huh well yeah you
12:25want to take some pictures of my sister uh yeah well go ahead let oh sure this ought to be as well
12:36welcome me sure go ahead oh well where till i get the lamps yeah she'll be tickled my sister will
12:47go ahead uh go ahead shall i take the sound on this too might as well uh got a long enough line
13:03yeah yeah you go ahead with the camera hey step right this way mister
13:08well martin suppose the old gal's as nutty as he is we're gonna be glad to get out of this
13:16yeah me too right in here careful of the back porch the board is kind of rotten
13:23ellie i brought a couple of young fellas wants to take your picture
13:36that's fine stanley i'll hold the door open go ahead here feller kind of dark we ain't got no electric
13:48lights which way now right in here careful you don't bump yourself yeah where are you wit i'm coming
14:00hey ain't you got no lights at all not a darn thing
14:03well hurry up with them photo floods wit i'll be right there you brung your own lights mister yes
14:10ma'am i hope they won't blind you they're pretty bright
14:14shall i set him up here get off my foot oh is that your foot what'd you think it was
14:19i thought it was a suitcase you'll be careful now stanley you tell him to be careful i don't want you to
14:25to set fire to nothing yeah they'll be careful ellie this is the darkest place i've ever been in my
14:32life think i like it where's the lights don't set fire to nothing we won't just a minute now
14:39i'm gonna have my picture too
14:45you can talk once they're making the picture ellie gonna make a moving picture of me
14:51all ready martin all ready turn your lights on
14:54all right honey party there oh my god just be patient she may be a bright slide
15:07there's nobody in that bed oh sure yeah
15:12that voice i heard her don't you boys worry now them lights may be just a little bright ellie never was
15:22one to shine out very strong martin what do we do now i know what i wanted to start making your
15:29picture that's what you come in here for ain't it picture of what why ellie of course but there's
15:36there's nobody there well i guess there is if you don't believe me uh uh just look at these covers
15:43martin those covers they they move yeah i saw them there young man maybe that'll convince you
15:50well let's get on with it yes thanks stanley is my hair all right sure ellie
15:59looks real pretty look mister are you sure young man i'm losing my patience you wanted to come in
16:08here and get the picture of my sister well take it i don't see anything
16:16well she's there just as plain as the nose on your face
16:19uh plainer than your nose well but i think you'd better take the picture
16:31if you just might disappoint him he'd have to start haunting you too oh no no no no no no we'll take the picture
16:40uh with you get ready to make the interview when i turn him over okay but how can i ask questions
16:46of someone that isn't even there i'm still here young man never mind we'll just stand by
16:52okay okay go ahead uh hello hello
17:05uh would would you mind telling me your name i sure would thanks
17:10uh well can can you tell me just uh how you go about this haunting business
17:16no i don't mind well i i mean uh uh how do you do it well first i start out by being invisible
17:26you mean like you are now you mean ain't i showing at all uh no no you ain't showing yes like that then
17:34and then when i find someone i want to share i just make myself visible like this
17:43and i scream like this
18:03hey can't we go any faster shut up i'm scared myself now don't use that word all right
18:12we'll soon be back in town now i never thought that they would come when i'd be glad to see
18:17wabash avenue what happened to you back there i don't know she screamed the lights went up and i
18:23started running fine thing so what did you do i just grabbed the camera started running that was
18:29better huh well at least i got the camera honestly if red strobinger ever sends me out on another
18:35assignment like this i'll i'll i'll quit and if we don't get a bonus for this strip of film i'll i'll quit too
18:50well where's the film here red here house get this in the soup and make it snappy okay you need
19:03have a take over it michael there's a soundtrack on it wait i uh think so you think so you think so
19:10what's a double bell i think it is red red you got a drink what's the matter with you two lubins yeah
19:16you tell them uh uh you tell them i didn't you get the picture go on there harrow get that film
19:25into the soup and don't turn on no red lights either that's super x okay
19:31well speak up what's the matter with you didn't you get the story uh i think we got it you think so
19:40what uh we got it uh we got it uh can we have a drink there's the water cooler oh red all right
19:48there's a bottle in my dear come on wait a minute wait a minute what's this all about right that place
19:54gives us the willis well ain't that just sandy did you see a ghost he won't hear something martin
20:01gosh red we sure thought we did i should say so well it's just junkie so what you first been
20:08sucking on a bottle if you have no no no i haven't had a drop yeah well what happened then well listen
20:15let i'll tell you that old guy out there what old guy out where the old guy out at the ghost
20:21barn well what about him he he was tell him uh yeah yeah he he's the scariest looking guy i've ever seen
20:30he's our old screwy guy not yet on a noise catcher hey shut up and he's a ventiloquist never mind his
20:37religion go on well he he's the ghost goes around and hollers boo and he looks just like
20:42a real ghost and he scared the dickens out of him wait a minute now one at a time what did he do
20:48well that thornest thing he thought was taking us into the house where he said his sister was and we
20:51could hear the talking to him and him too and when i turned on the light there was nobody
20:54oh what look at that red he run out on us have you been drinking again when i told you guys
21:01tell the boys take it on up in your life okay wait right here you two
21:07hello aragon news oh this is red help here oh hello mr tracy what say that again oh they didn't
21:21huh they're right here now yeah both of them sure wait a minute where did you birds say you'd been
21:28this afternoon well at the ghost farm right yeah at the ghost farm yeah sure about that
21:31they say they were there all afternoon mr tracy huh well call me back in about 10 minutes i'm
21:40going to find out about this okay yeah now you two monkeys what's this all about you're trying to
21:48rip on me what's the matter red yeah what's the matter that was tracy the guy that owns the ghost farm
21:54he said he's been waiting since 11 o'clock for you two to show up and there ain't been a sign of a
22:00newsreel man out there all day so what's the answer to that one
22:18honest but i thought we were there sure he was there yeah we'll find out whether you were there
22:22not in about two minutes you first are trying to hey how about that film just coming out of the dryer
22:29red did i have them getting ready for the print no bring the negative in here first and run us
22:33through the movie over oh so we could have been at the wrong place red the old guy said he was a ghost
22:38yeah sure he says he's on your probe to do yeah well we'll see i tell you red you ain't telling me
22:45nothing listen you make a sound of that interior what interior the interior where you say you heard
22:51the old lady and then she was gone oh that is it did you make a shot of that well yeah yeah we started
22:57to shoot we got about 50 feet when all at once this gal screams our lights go on so we just grabbed
23:04the equipment and scrapped we were scared i think the folder floods are still there well for your sake
23:08i hope they ain't oh yeah bring it in here oh yeah yeah give me now hey you birds we'll see
23:21let us through the movie all and if you got a picture okay but if you ain't you better get your
23:29hats and coats on and we did make a picture that out of you and we'll see in a minute but we did yeah
23:34yeah yeah yeah we'll find out but listen you trying to talk me out of this give it no shut up then
23:40all right turn out the lights turn out the lights
23:49now we'll see
23:57get your skull out of the way so i can see wit
24:02just a couple of old ghosts house and barns the old guy will be there in a minute i hope so
24:10canning from the house to the barn well i can see here i don't see nothing yet
24:16focus wait
24:19changing now
24:22why can you listen
24:25i don't know look background's out of focus now
24:29oh it's focusing on him yeah well where is he
24:32i don't know
24:35he'll be there in a minute yeah
24:39what happened red i shut it off oh listen you love you think for one lousy minute you can get
24:44away with that but yeah he was there yeah he was red gonna stick together huh well you're both
24:51fired oh jeez if you don't get out of my sight before i can't wait wait wait
24:55what's the matter the soundtrack red well what about it there's something on it what let me see
25:02yes sir voices i can tell rewind it quick red rewind it you're pulling all right
25:14you didn't have the speaker turned on red keep your mitts yourself i'll turn it on go ahead
25:19red turn it on for the local moment you're trying to okay here it goes
25:27no sound yet no that's that's just the martin's hand to follow him from the house to the barn
25:34now wait till the background jumps out of focus that'll be the second scene with the old guy which
25:38is
25:44yes sir i'm the ghost i am the ghost that haunts this here place you want to know how i do
25:57well there and now i go around and look into the windows and when now what i want to know is how
26:08you're done man oh my gosh red i don't know i only know that it's in front of the camera not eight
26:12speed away honest that's what he said
26:16red
26:20all over wide open like this holy moses when they see me they scream and shiver
26:32and like to pass out yes sir i'm a ghost a dog gone good ghost if you ask me
26:46me
26:50go ahead and uh how long have you been hopping this farm
26:55that's what
27:00oh four years than you think i've been a whore
27:05is that so well do you suppose you could give us a sample of your very ghostly
27:10ghostly as long
27:14i sure did
27:20you like that
27:24that's fine and do you believe in ghosts yourself
27:28do i
27:32that's fine
27:40did you see red my gosh holy mackerel
27:44look
27:46look look look oh
27:48there beside the screen
27:50it's it's it's it's it's him
27:52who are you
27:54who
27:56who
27:58who
28:00i
28:02am
28:04a ghost
28:06all
28:16right
28:18you can turn them on now
28:20you have just heard lights out
28:22there'll come a revival of the famous series
28:24tonight's story the sixth in the series was called
28:28the ghost on the newsreel next year
28:30the ghost into that way was played by just two
28:34and his sister under the shroud
28:36was played by harriet allen
28:38martin the cameraman was played by lou krugman and his noise catcher assistant was married for
28:44red was portrayed by boris aflon
28:46now before we close the shutters and uh... shut up shop for the night
28:50let me give you a little info about next week's story
28:54of course you'll want to be listening so i'll just give you a few hints
28:58the story is a very unusual one
29:00takes place entirely inside the confused heads of a hunted man
29:04nails malone is a bad man and a killer
29:07he has no conscience
29:09but there's something there that keeps bothering him as he sits in his dingy boarding house hideout
29:14and what finally happens will not only surprise you but we'll guarantee we'll give you a goose crumples as well
29:19so make a note on your cuff to listen next saturday night
29:22lights out is produced and directed by albert crew
29:25this is nbc the national broadcasting company
29:31a
29:38public
29:39this is a very good question
29:40it is a very nice
29:42it is a very nice
29:43we shall enter the
29:45Luca
29:47this is a very calm
29:58thank you
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