- 2 days ago
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. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster.
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00:13The Amerson Drug Company, makers of Bromo Seltzer, invites you through the creaking
00:19door for tonight's inner sanctum mystery, titled Skeleton Bay, written by Emil Tepperman.
00:27Bromo Seltzer reminds you to...
00:30Five, ten, eight, three ways.
00:38Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer.
00:55Good evening, friends of the creaking door.
00:58This is your host to welcome you into the inner sanctum.
01:03Come on in.
01:04Come on in and join the fun.
01:06We're having a game of corpse and robbers, and we can't find a soul for the corpse.
01:11Of course, we could say the magic words, abracadabra, but we don't want any of that low crowd from
01:18the morgue.
01:21Want to come in and play dead for a while?
01:26You'll die laughing.
01:33And now for our excursion into the Eerie, our little trip to Skeleton Bay.
01:40Our story opens at a swanky hotel with private cabins, situated on a storm-swept rock-bound
01:47coast.
01:48The story itself is all about, you guessed it, murder.
01:54And here is Carola Winters to give us a blow-by-blow description.
01:59I'll tell you first about the night I met Michael Barrett.
02:04It was in August at Skeleton Bay.
02:07I'd come to the hotel supposedly for a rest.
02:10That was what I kept telling myself, but in reality, I didn't know why I had come here.
02:16Skeleton Bay.
02:18I'd seen the name in an ad months ago, and since then it kept hammering, hammering, hammering
02:24at the inside of my brain.
02:25It was like the voice of implacable faith, commanding, commanding.
02:35Because I didn't like crowds, the hotel manager had given me a cabin near the beach, all to
02:39myself.
02:40It was the middle of the night, but I couldn't sleep.
02:44The wind came in from the ocean, howling like a hungry beast across the shoals.
02:50And the pounding of the surf mingled with the angry, baffled growl of the sea.
02:55I sat at the window in the dark, staring out at the beach.
02:59I was restless, excited.
03:03It was then that I saw the signal.
03:07It was just a winking little light, a few yards away on the beach.
03:12Someone was blinking a flashlight, on and off, on and off.
03:17I was able to make out the figure of a man in boots and a leather jacket.
03:21He was signaling toward the hotel.
03:23But to whom?
03:25I had the answer in a moment.
03:27A man moved past my window, going down toward the light.
03:30He had his collar turned up against the wind, and his hat brim pulled low.
03:34But I knew who it was.
03:36Mr. Field, a small, furtive man who had come up on the train with me.
03:41The two men met.
03:43Barely a stone's throw away from my window, I could hardly see them huddle closely together.
03:48This was excitement, mystery, intrigue.
03:52The stimulation I wanted, needed.
03:55I had to know what was going on, and I threw on a raincoat and opened the cabin door.
04:01The wind swept my hair in a streamer, and a salt spray stung my face as I hurried down to
04:06the beach.
04:07My blood began to race and my heart to pound, for those two men were not engaged in any conference.
04:12They were locked in a struggle.
04:14It was a deadly, silent struggle, with only a grunt now and then.
04:18And I saw the flashing gleam of a knife, but I couldn't tell who had the weapon,
04:21the tall man in the leather jacket or the furtive Mr. Field.
04:26And then I saw the blade plunge home into the throat of the furtive Mr. Field.
04:35I felt a sudden surge of wild emotion.
04:39This was murder.
04:41I had witnessed a murder.
04:44The tall man let the body of Mr. Field slide down to the sand.
04:48Then he looked up and saw me.
04:51He stood there with the bloody knife in his hand, and we looked at each other.
04:55Who are you?
04:56I'm Carol the Winter.
04:58I have this cabin here, number five.
05:01You saw me kill him?
05:03Yes, I saw you.
05:05What are you going to do about it?
05:07I'm going to help you dispose of the body.
05:13He told me his name was Michael Barrett.
05:16He lived on the opposite side of the bay, in a house high up on the cliff.
05:20It won't be so easy to get rid of the body.
05:23If I had the boat, I could take him out and drop him over, but it's too rough tonight.
05:29If there was some place to hide him for a day, I could come across in the boat tomorrow night.
05:33You can hide it in the closet in my cabin.
05:36Nobody will look there.
05:44Better lock the closet door.
05:46Yes, of course.
05:48You sure nobody will come snooping here?
05:51Nobody comes here but the maid.
05:53All right.
05:54I'll be back tomorrow night with the boat.
05:57Did you pick up the knife?
06:00Yeah.
06:02I've got it here in my pocket.
06:06Well, I...
06:07Yes, that's all.
06:09Good night, Carla.
06:12Good night, Michael.
06:18All night, I sat up alone with the locked closet door between me and the staring, sightless body of Mr.
06:27Field.
06:32At breakfast the next morning, they had already discovered the disappearance of Mr. Field.
06:36Yes, and the maid says his bed wasn't slept in at all.
06:39I think he could have committed suicide in the ocean.
06:42Well, he was such a sneaky little man.
06:44Of course, he may just have gone for an all-night hike, but in such weather...
06:49I hurried through my breakfast, listening to the gossip all around me.
06:52Now, in broad daylight, I could hardly believe that the thing had really happened last night.
06:57And, you know, the hotel manager thinks it might be murder.
07:00I heard him phoning for the police.
07:03The police?
07:04I hadn't counted on that.
07:06Wait.
07:06Is there anything wrong, young lady?
07:08You...
07:08You look sick.
07:09I...
07:10I do feel a bit dizzy.
07:12I...
07:12I think I'll get some fresh air.
07:14Oh, dear.
07:14Poor girl.
07:15It must be quite a shock to her.
07:16She came up on the train for Mr. Field.
07:19Oh, good.
07:19It's...
07:20Out in the open air, I let the wind cool my fevered face as I hurried down toward the beach.
07:26It was only 9.30 in the morning, a whole day and a whole evening, before Michael could come to
07:31the body.
07:31And the police would be around all day, investigating, snooping.
07:36And all the time, Mr. Field would be sitting in my closet, staring blankly out of his sightless eyes.
07:44When I reached my cabin, I put my hand on the doorknob, and suddenly I went cold all over.
07:51The door was unlocked.
07:55I stood as still as a statue, listening.
07:59Yes, there was someone inside, someone moving around.
08:02But only I had my handbag.
08:04I had a pistol in it that I always carried for protection.
08:06But it was inside on the dresser.
08:09So slowly...
08:10Slowly, I pressed the door open, a half inch, an inch, and the door creaked.
08:19Is that you, Miss Winter?
08:20The maid?
08:21It was only the maid, of course.
08:23She'd be making up the bed.
08:25Why hadn't I thought of that?
08:27Miss Winter?
08:28Is that you?
08:29Yes.
08:30It's...
08:32What are you doing at that closet with those keys?
08:34They're just my past keys, Miss Winter.
08:37I was just going to tidy up the closet.
08:38I didn't ask you to do anything to that closet.
08:41But that's part of the job, Miss Winter.
08:43I'm supposed to do it in all the rooms.
08:45Well, you leave this one alone.
08:46Keep away from that closet, do you hear?
08:48Well, yes, Miss Winter.
08:50I was only trying to help.
08:52When I want your help, I'll ask for it.
08:54Now, please leave it.
08:55At once.
08:56Just as you say, Miss Winter.
08:58I'm sorry if I did anything wrong.
09:02Did she suspect anything?
09:04I hadn't liked her tone.
09:06Why had I been so shocked with her?
09:08Now she'd surely think there was something in the closet.
09:10Something she shouldn't see.
09:14At lunchtime, I didn't want to leave the cabin.
09:17I sat at the window.
09:19And I could almost feel the sightless eyes of Mr. Field staring at me through the closet door.
09:26Someone at the door.
09:28Who?
09:29Who?
09:30Okay.
09:32Just a minute.
09:36Miss Winter?
09:37Miss Carola Winter?
09:39Yes, I'm Miss Winter.
09:40I'm sorry to trouble you, Miss Winter.
09:42I'm Detective Sergeant Smith from headquarters.
09:45May I come in for a moment?
09:46Yes, please do.
09:50What can I do for you, Sergeant Smith?
09:52We're out here investigating this Mr. Field business.
09:56He hasn't turned up yet.
09:57Oh, well, I'm sure he will in time.
09:59Well, I wish I could be so sure, Miss Winter.
10:02What do you mean?
10:03We've gone through his room.
10:06Found some mighty queer things.
10:08Queer things?
10:09Seems this Mr. Field was in some sort of racket.
10:12There's a good chance he may have been murdered.
10:16You don't say.
10:17Yeah.
10:17I understand you came up on the train with him.
10:21Yes, that's true.
10:22Did you have any conversation with him on the train?
10:25No, none at all.
10:26Um, you're the Carol of Winter who writes the mystery novels, aren't you?
10:31The same.
10:32Well, I've read every one of them.
10:35They're darn good, Miss Winter.
10:38You think you'll get a plot out of this?
10:40I mean, Mr. Field?
10:42Oh, well, I can't tell yet.
10:45Sergeant, I wish you'd keep me posted on developments in case it does turn out to have a plot.
10:50Oh, I sure will, Miss Winter.
10:52Oh, by the way, we found this picture among the papers in Field's room.
10:56I'm showing it to everybody around in case they might recognize it.
11:00It's an old newspaper item, ten years old.
11:05Can't figure out why he was carrying it around.
11:08It's about a guy named Wycliffe that's wanted for murder.
11:12Here, take a look at him.
11:15I felt the blood racing in my veins, pounding at my wrists.
11:19The picture of the man named Wycliffe who was wanted for murder
11:24was a picture of Michael Barrett.
11:32Well, it looks as if Michael Barrett is a lucky guy
11:36with a beautiful woman ready to commit murder for him.
11:40But what will he do when she runs out of victims
11:43and begins looking at him with a calculating eye?
11:49Oh, by the way, you don't have to worry about our eerie spirits bothering you anymore.
11:54Now, I've made a resolution that ghosts will not be allowed out of their graves after dark.
11:59Unless, of course, they have a pass to leave the ground.
12:06Now, let's get back to the rock-bound coast of Skeleton Bay
12:10and see how Carola entertains the grisly guest in her closet.
12:16I don't remember now how I got rid of that Detective Smith.
12:20I told him I had never seen the man in the picture and sent him away.
12:25The day was interminable.
12:28From my window, I could see the guests moving about the beach,
12:31but none of them went in swimming.
12:32The weather was too rough.
12:33And I wondered if Michael would be able to bring the boat over tonight.
12:36If not, how much longer could I sit guard over Mr. Field in the closet?
12:43Now and then, I'd see Detective Smith poking around on the beach.
12:47And then, without warning,
12:49he was standing over the very spot where Michael had stabbed Mr. Field.
12:55I watched him bend down and examine something.
12:58Was there blood there?
13:00Did Smith know that that was the murder spot?
13:04I saw him frown,
13:05then he stood up and walked quickly away.
13:08I had to know what it was he had seen there.
13:11Swiftly, I slipped on the coat and went off.
13:14I started toward the spot on the beach.
13:16Going somewhere, Miss Winter?
13:18Oh, it's you, Detective.
13:20Going anywhere in particular?
13:22Oh, I know.
13:22I was just going up to the hotel for dinner.
13:26It's almost dinner time, you know.
13:28Well, fine.
13:28I'll walk up with you.
13:30If you don't mind.
13:31Not at all.
13:32Can I help you?
13:33Take your arm.
13:36The sand is so soft.
13:37It's still wet.
13:38We had high tide last night.
13:42Miss Winter.
13:43Yes?
13:44Are you a sound sleeper?
13:47Why do you ask?
13:48Well, I just thought maybe you might have heard something last night,
13:52like a fight or something.
13:54A fight?
13:54I was just looking at the sand back there,
13:57down near your cabin.
13:58And it's all messed up, stamped around.
14:02Oh, what has that got to do with me?
14:04Well, nothing at all, except I think there was a fight there last night.
14:09Maybe that's where Mr. Field was killed.
14:12You think Mr. Field was murdered?
14:14It's beginning to look more and more like it, Miss Winter.
14:22Somehow, I don't know how, I managed to get through with dinner.
14:26I hurried back to the cabin,
14:29and I stopped at the door, shocked and unbelieving.
14:32There was a light inside.
14:35Someone was in there.
14:37This time, I had my handbag with me.
14:39I took the pistol out, and once more, I inched the door open.
14:42It had happened.
14:43The thing I feared, the closet door was open,
14:46and there was a maid stooping over the body of Mr. Field.
14:50Oh!
14:50What are you doing there?
14:52The body!
14:53It's Mr. Field!
14:54You killed him!
14:55Suppose I did!
14:57Oh!
14:57What are you doing with that gun?
14:59What do you think?
15:00Oh, no!
15:01Look!
15:04The wind was high, and the weather was rough.
15:07Fortunately, no one heard the shot.
15:13I pushed her body into the closet next to the body of Mr. Field,
15:18and closed the door.
15:24Now I was a murderer, too.
15:33Who is it?
15:34Let me in, Carla, quick.
15:36Yes, yes.
15:38Michael.
15:39Michael, I thought you weren't coming.
15:41It's been a dreadful day.
15:42What happened?
15:43Come here, and I'll show you.
15:47Is he still in there?
15:48See for yourself.
15:51A woman?
15:53Who is she?
15:54The maid.
15:55She opened the closet while I was out.
15:57You killed her?
15:58Yes, Michael, I had to.
15:59There are detectives at the hotel looking for Mr. Field.
16:02Hmm.
16:04I suppose if I was smart, I'd kill you, too.
16:07And there'd be no one to talk.
16:11Yes, Michael, that would be smart.
16:14Go ahead, kill me.
16:16If you can.
16:20I knew he couldn't kill me,
16:22because I had seen it in his eyes.
16:25We were two of a kind.
16:27Both wild, both reckless,
16:29both eager for the thrill of danger.
16:31He, too, wanted to be like the wind.
16:34We had both been brought together
16:36by some force stronger than either of us.
16:40And we loved each other.
16:42Carol, darling.
16:43Michael.
16:45No, no more, Michael.
16:48We have work to do.
16:51I'll take them down to the boat.
16:53I'll help you.
16:59We carried Mr. Field and the maid
17:01down to the boat.
17:03There.
17:04I'll take them out of the way and dump them.
17:06And after that, Michael?
17:08After that?
17:09Then I'm going home.
17:10To your house on the cliff
17:11on the other side of the bay?
17:12Yes, Carol.
17:13Michael, take me with you.
17:15What?
17:16Take me with you
17:16to your house up there on the cliff.
17:18I'm sorry, I can't.
17:20You can't?
17:21Why can't you?
17:23There isn't anything I can tell you.
17:25What are you hiding up there
17:26in that house on the cliff?
17:27You mustn't ask.
17:28Now, please, Carol, you mustn't ask.
17:31You're married.
17:31You have a wife up there.
17:32No, I haven't.
17:33Then what?
17:33I can't tell you.
17:35But are you going away?
17:37Are you leaving me forever?
17:38Not forever.
17:41You go back to the city.
17:43I'll come to you soon.
17:49I returned to the city
17:51and waited.
17:52I waited a week,
17:54a month,
17:55but Michael Barrett did not come.
17:58I wrote to him,
17:59but there was no answer.
18:02And then one evening,
18:03I saw him.
18:04I was returning home in a taxi
18:06and I saw him standing across the street
18:08looking up at my window.
18:09And when he saw me get out of the cab,
18:11he turned and started to hurry away.
18:14Michael?
18:15Michael!
18:16Michael, please, don't go away!
18:20Oh, Michael,
18:21why did you try to run away?
18:23Don't you know?
18:24You're afraid.
18:26Yeah.
18:27Let's call it that.
18:28But you love me, Michael.
18:30Don't you?
18:31Carol, it's no good.
18:33There's nothing but ruin for us both if I stay.
18:36We'll be together forever.
18:37It's impossible.
18:38I won't let you go back to that house on the cliff.
18:40I don't care what it is you're hiding up there.
18:42I won't let you go back.
18:43Goodbye, Carol.
18:44Wait.
18:44I'm going.
18:45You better forget about it.
18:46Don't go yet, Mr. Wycliffe.
18:49So you know about that, too.
18:52I saw the old newspaper clipping Mr. Field carried.
18:55I see.
18:56Why are you looking at me like that?
18:59You know why I killed Mr. Field?
19:02Because he tried to blackmail me about that old murder.
19:06But, dear Michael, I'm a good deal smarter than Mr. Field.
19:10You see, I write mystery novels, so I know how to handle such things.
19:15What do you mean?
19:16It wouldn't do you any good to kill me.
19:18I've written all about you, your real name, and about that old murder.
19:23It'll be found if I should ever be killed.
19:26I see.
19:28Michael, darling, I'm blackmailing you, but there's only one thing I want from you.
19:32Your love.
19:33It shouldn't be so hard for you to meet my terms.
19:37All right, Carola.
19:39You win.
19:41We'll be married tomorrow.
19:50Soon after we were married, Michael began going out evenings.
19:55Once, sometimes twice a week, and staying out all night.
19:59He'd return late the next day.
20:01When I asked where he had been, his temper would flare up into something terrible.
20:07I stopped asking, but I couldn't rest.
20:09I had to know where he went.
20:12One evening, I followed him.
20:15He boarded a train for Skeleton Bay.
20:24At Skeleton Bay, he set out to walk from the station, and I followed him.
20:29It was no longer summer.
20:31The trees were bare, and the night was forbidding.
20:34I kept behind him when he skirted the bay to the narrow road, which led up toward his house high
20:39on the cliff.
20:41It was a small stone house.
20:43The wind whistled around it and against it and above it.
20:47I stole to one of the windows.
20:49It was barred like a prison.
20:53Carefully, I raised my head above the sill and peered into a lighted room.
20:58Michael was there with a woman.
21:03For the first time in my life, I knew the meaning of frustration and jealousy.
21:10Michael had told me he wasn't married, but this woman, I had helped him to do murder.
21:17I had killed for him.
21:18I had lied to that detective for him.
21:19And all the while, this was the secret he had been keeping from me.
21:24I opened my handbag and took out the pistol.
21:27I looked into the room again.
21:29The woman was alone now.
21:31Michael was gone.
21:32So you came up after all.
21:35Michael, you sneaked out.
21:36You knew I was here.
21:37I'm sorry you saw through that window.
21:40Is that your secret, that woman?
21:42Part of it.
21:43But it's the part you mustn't know.
21:45But I do know it.
21:47That's why I've got to kill you.
21:49That knife.
21:50You've still got that knife.
21:52Yes.
21:52And I've got this, Michael.
21:59He fell at my feet and I looked down and watched him die.
22:04And now I knew why I had really come to Skeleton Bay that first day.
22:09It was for this.
22:11To kill Michael Barrett.
22:14So he's dead at last.
22:16You killed him.
22:18You.
22:19The woman in that house.
22:20You saw me kill him.
22:21Yes, I saw you.
22:23What are you going to do about it?
22:26Help you dispose of the body.
22:29Of course.
22:31Help me dispose of the body.
22:35Those were the very words I had said to Michael Barrett down there on the beach.
22:39And now this woman was saying them to me.
22:43Who are you?
22:44I'm Elizabeth Whiteley.
22:46I'm Michael's sister.
22:48Your sister?
22:50And you want to help me dispose of the body?
22:54You see the bars on those windows?
22:57Yes.
22:58I have been a prisoner in this house for ten years.
23:03What?
23:04Michael killed the man I was going to marry ten years ago.
23:09He murdered him.
23:11But this house, this prison...
23:13Michael brought me here.
23:15He kept me prisoner.
23:17Because he knew if I got free, I'd tell the world he was a murderer.
23:22Then that's the secret.
23:24The secret you wouldn't even tell me.
23:31I shot her.
23:33Yes, I killed her too.
23:36There outside the house.
23:39And she fell beside Michael.
23:42And I rolled both bodies over the cliff.
23:45Down into the sea.
23:53This is the end of my book.
23:56The best mystery novel I have ever written.
23:58I know that in writing it, I deliver myself into the hands of the law.
24:04But I can't stop.
24:06I can't help myself.
24:08So now I am finished.
24:11I will mail it to my publisher.
24:14And wait for Detective Sergeant Smith to come and get me.
24:30It looks as if Carola's mystery novel will earn a lot of money after she's executed.
24:35But I'd say it's, uh, tainted money.
24:39Hmm?
24:39Why tainted?
24:41Because she'll be dead and a ghost can't own money, so taint her.
24:48You know, Carola would have been better off if she'd remember that the pen is mightier than the sword.
24:53Because the sword is leading her right back to the pen, anyhow.
24:58Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
25:02ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
25:03ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
25:03ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
25:03ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
25:07ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
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