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"The Judas Clock" is a classic episode of the vintage radio horror program Inner Sanctum Mysteries, which originally aired on April 17, 1945. The story follows a quiet clockmaker who spends thirty years tracking a cursed, 500-pound Italian black marble timepiece and the man he has sworn to kill.
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00:05Lipson Tee and Lipson Soup presents Inner Sanctum Mysteries.
00:25Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum.
00:29This is Raymond, your host at the squeaking door.
00:32Come in, won't you?
00:34Well, you're shivering.
00:36Cold?
00:37Oh.
00:39Well, don't let it throw you.
00:41Just remember that many are cold, but few are frozen.
00:49Well, our story to be different tonight is about murder.
00:53Murder and a clock.
00:55So, if you've got a little time to kill, let's do it now, huh?
01:00Why, Mr. Raymond, nobody can really kill time.
01:03Well, maybe not.
01:04Did you ever hear of an alarmed clock?
01:07Mr. Raymond, someday you're going to choke on one of those puns.
01:11And won't that be nice, Mary?
01:12Then you can revive me with guess what, Lipson Tee.
01:15Oh, dear.
01:16Must this go on week after week?
01:18Why must I talk to the only person in the world who doesn't know the proper uses of Lipson Tee?
01:24Oh, don't say that.
01:25It isn't used to revive people, at least not in the way you mean it.
01:29Of course, lots of folks do find that Lipson's makes the day seem brighter.
01:33Yes, it sort of helps them through their housework to sit down now and then between meals,
01:38as well as at dinner and supper, and enjoy a cup of Lipson Tee.
01:42And the reason why Lipson's is so satisfying is because of that one little word, brisk.
01:49B-R-I-S-K.
01:51Tea experts say that Lipson's has a brisk flavor, which means that it always tastes tangy and bracing.
01:58It's never flat or wishy-washy.
02:00So folks, ask for Lipson Tee at your grocers.
02:03You just don't know how good tea can be till you've tried Lipson.
02:08Yes, and when you leave the grocer's, step next door to the clockmaker's shop and ask him,
02:12for the Judas Clock.
02:15If he doesn't have it on hand, just ask him to give you the works.
02:21Yes, the title of tonight's story is The Judas Clock.
02:26It's an original radio play by that old clock watcher, Christopher Mayo.
02:31Our star is Barry Kroger, who plays the role of Sebastian Packer.
02:42I'm a clockmaker.
02:44I carry on the profession my father taught me in London.
02:48I like clocks.
02:50All that is but one.
02:53For thirty years, I've looked for a certain clock and a certain man.
02:57The clock is known to collectors as the Judas Clock.
03:02The man I swore to kill when, as a boy of fourteen,
03:07I closed my father's glazing eyes and wiped the froth of blood from his lips.
03:14Last night, I found the Judas Clock.
03:20Tonight, I may have found the man.
03:27I'm told you're an expert clock repairman, Mr. Rowe.
03:31Back home, madam.
03:32Yes, I suppose I am.
03:33Well, I have a clock.
03:35Rather, my husband has.
03:36And it hasn't run for years.
03:38Would you have a look at it?
03:39Well, don't you bring it in?
03:41Oh, heavens no.
03:42It weighs five hundred pounds.
03:43One of those huge marble things.
03:46Italian Renaissance, I'd say.
03:48Marble.
03:49Italian.
03:50Well, can you describe it further?
03:53Well, it's rather unusual.
03:55Black marble.
03:57Heavily carved with biblical characters.
03:59The ivory face has a beautifully etched scene on it.
04:03But it's a gruesome one.
04:04Gruesome?
04:06What kind of a scene?
04:08It's a picture of a man hanging from a tree.
04:11Judas.
04:12His face is positively ghastly.
04:14The Judas clock.
04:18I knew without seeing it why the clock wouldn't run.
04:21It had been built in Italy for a prince of the House of Savoy in 1598.
04:26He conceived the idea when he discovered that his family's treasures included
04:30the thirty pieces of silver of Judas Iscariot.
04:35The clock was made to run only when the thirty silver coins of Judas were in place in the
04:42clock's hollow weights.
04:44Fifteen in each weight.
04:46And the coins had been in my possession since the day of my father's death.
04:53Somewhere inside me that clock still beats its deep-throated song.
04:58And I have but to close my eyes to hear again my father's voice.
05:03It's an evil clock, son.
05:06As evil is Satan himself.
05:09And it's cursed.
05:12There is a legend that every man who has owned it has died a violent and bloody death.
05:20Well, Mr. Packer, can you fix it?
05:22Oh, I'm sorry.
05:23I was daydreaming.
05:25Well, yes.
05:26Does Mr.
05:28Arnold.
05:29Arnold.
05:29Does Mr. Arnold know that you're having the clock repaired?
05:32No.
05:33We've only been married a few weeks and I'd like to have it working when he comes back
05:36to town tomorrow.
05:37Not of a surprise.
05:38Yes, I see.
05:40I'll be there in half an hour, Mrs. Arnold.
05:48So last night I went to the Arnold house and found the Judas clock again.
05:54I started to work.
05:57Foghorns from the East River sounded much as I remembered they did in London.
06:01And suddenly I was back there on a fateful day about a fortnight after the clock had
06:07been uncreated by my father.
06:09I was in the shop and the man from Scotland Yard stepped in.
06:13He walked straight to the clock and stared at it.
06:17Good afternoon, sir.
06:19Does the clock interest you?
06:20Very much.
06:21When did you acquire it?
06:22A cousin bought it at an auction in Italy and I'm displaying it for sale and consignment.
06:28My name's Pettibone, Scotland Yard.
06:30I've been looking for this clock for a month.
06:32It was stolen in Italy.
06:34Stolen?
06:35Yes, Mr. Baker.
06:36And worse, murder was done.
06:38Afraid you're involved in a bit of something here.
06:41Murder?
06:42I'm taking possession of the clock in the name of the crown.
06:45I shall never forget the look of horror on the detective's face a moment later.
06:50He laid his hand on the clock's carving and it froze there while his face drained white
06:56and his eyes bulged.
06:57He opened and closed his mouth soundlessly and crumpled to the floor with his hands to
07:05his throat.
07:07He was still and twisted and very dead.
07:15Mr. Pettibone had died of a heart attack the moment he took possession of the clock.
07:20I helped father drag him into the stock room.
07:23Father wanted time to think.
07:24So I went to my room.
07:26I dozed off only to wait hours later at the sound of angry voices.
07:31Well, cousin Andrew, you've done me a fine turn, haven't you?
07:34I've told you I didn't mean to kill the old girl.
07:36It was an accident.
07:37Don't talk so loud.
07:38Boy will hear us.
07:39You killed her as soon as you learned that she'd made out a will in your favor.
07:42Then when you thought it was safe, you saw all her furnishings and sent the clock to me
07:46to sell.
07:46Very well, I did.
07:47And you're in it to the ears.
07:48I'll go to the police.
07:50Oh, and how will you explain poor, stiff Mr. Pettibone lying in your stock room all this
07:55while?
07:55I...
07:56Besides, Timothy, there's nothing to fear now.
07:59Pettibone's gone.
08:00He was the only one who suspected me.
08:03Now, you're the only one who knows.
08:05I'll create this cursed black monster tomorrow and you'll leave with it.
08:08And will you also create Mr. Pettibone?
08:10I...
08:11I have a plan.
08:12Here.
08:13Sit down in this chair.
08:15Right here.
08:16I'll show you how we can solve the whole thing.
08:19My young heart beat with a wild dread as I listened.
08:22I could only see Cousin Andy's back, but I could see Father seated dejectedly in the
08:29chair near the Judas clock, his head in his hands.
08:33It was midnight.
08:35All the clocks in the shop began striking the hour, and louder than all the rest was the
08:40chime of the evil clock.
08:42If only then I had known I might have done something, but the slow strokes beat out.
08:49Eight.
08:50Nine.
08:52Ten.
08:54Eleven.
08:57Twelve.
08:59And before my horrified eyes, the heavy marble piece leaned slowly from the wall and crashed
09:03across my father's back.
09:09Cousin Andy stood facing my father as the clock crushed his frail form and choked him.
09:14He made pitiful little sounds, his eyes begging for life.
09:18And the murderer just stood to his back to me.
09:22Cousin Andy, what?
09:23Cousin Andy, you diehard.
09:26Cousin Andy ran from the shop crying for help.
09:29He would claim an accident.
09:30I raced into the shop.
09:32My father was dead.
09:35I choked back my tears, and I closed the poor, staring eyes.
09:40I took the coins of Judas from the weights of the clock and ran from the shop, the blood-stained
09:45pieces jangling merrily in my pocket.
09:56Armed with the notion that the coins were of value, and the definite notion that I must
10:00eat, I approached one of the many dingy little curio shops in the Limehouse District.
10:06I stepped through the fog toward a shop where a dim light burned in the rear.
10:11Every inch of wall and the ceiling was hung with curio's, old armor, swords, and shields.
10:21I would have run out, but a weazened, apish man barked at me from the rear.
10:26Hey, what do you want?
10:27I have something to sell.
10:30What do you got?
10:31I have the 30 pieces of silver that belong to Judas Iscariot.
10:35I'll twist this scrawny neck off you.
10:36Pulling me leg, eh?
10:37Oh, no, sir.
10:38I'm not pulling your leg, sir.
10:39Here they are.
10:41Oh, I mean.
10:43Silver right enough.
10:44Where'd you cop them?
10:45Oh, I didn't steal them, sir.
10:47They belong to my father.
10:49A likely tale, then.
10:52Will you buy them?
10:53Buy them, he says.
10:56Buy them.
10:58Get out of here before I cause a bother.
10:59Were you scared?
11:00Get out.
11:01Oh, no, give me my coin.
11:02Get out right to my button, fetch you a sound one.
11:04The ugly brute came toward me.
11:06He held my coins, clutched in a tight, hairy fist.
11:09Before I could move, it struck me.
11:13And I hit the wall with a clatter.
11:15And then it happened again.
11:19For the second time that night, the curse of the Judas clock struck.
11:22As I hit the wall, my eye caught a metallic glint above,
11:26and a heavy object dropped from the ceiling.
11:28The man was about to strike me again when the object struck his head.
11:33And remained a part of him.
11:37He fell.
11:38His skull split in two by a hangman's axe.
11:49I clamped my mouth on a cry and pried the man's fist open.
11:54The fresh blood made it hard.
11:57But I recovered the coins.
11:59I stumbled in panic through the shop and out into the night.
12:03And the fog of London never swallowed a more frightened and lonely boy.
12:18That nasty fog swallowing a little boy.
12:22That reminds me of a little nursery rhyme.
12:25Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock.
12:29The clock struck two.
12:31Look out, it might strike you.
12:34Heavens, I'm glad I don't own that terrible clock.
12:36Oh, don't say that, Mary.
12:38Just think if you had the Judas clock, then time wouldn't hang, Evelyn.
12:42You know it would fall, Anya.
12:44Well, if it did fall and you rescued me, wouldn't that make you a time saver?
12:49Well, split my sides with an axe that Mary didn't make with a joke.
12:53Well, a very little one, Mr. Raymond.
12:55That's true.
12:55But seriously, I do have something to say about a time saver.
12:59And I'm thinking about Lipton tea.
13:02You know, Lipton's is such a handy beverage.
13:04It takes a little time to prepare.
13:07And it's always so welcome.
13:09Yes, its famous brisk flavor makes it enjoyable,
13:12not just at your own mealtimes, but between meals.
13:16And whenever folks drop in for a visit.
13:18That's why it's a good idea to buy Lipton's in the larger,
13:21more economical-sized packages.
13:23That's right.
13:23The larger packages are much thriftier.
13:26So you see, it's wise to keep on hand a really good supply
13:30of that brisk-flavored Lipton tea.
13:32Oh, sure, it'll come in handy to warm up the chills you get
13:35from these inner sanctum stories.
13:37And, brother, you're going to shiver plenty
13:39with Barry Kroger as Sebastian Packer
13:42as this story goes on
13:44about the Judas clock.
13:50I hadn't touched those horrible coins of Judas Iscariot.
13:53Since the day the storekeeper was killed,
13:56by now I half believed the legend that death followed them.
14:00I began to feel that the only way I could escape their curse
14:03was to find the Judas clock
14:05and put the coins back in its weights where they belonged.
14:09One day, as I read the notices in the Times,
14:12my heart skipped a beat.
14:14It said, auction of clocks,
14:18a choking place, auction room, Saturday at seven,
14:21rare items, one of them fine Italian Renaissance piece of black marble,
14:27rare treat for collectors, come early.
14:30Interested in something, young man?
14:32Oh, why, yes, well, that is nothing in particular.
14:36Just looking at these splendid pieces,
14:38I thought I might stay for the auction.
14:41Look about.
14:42Auction won't start for a bit yet.
14:44I sauntered toward the black clock.
14:46My hand had scooped all the coins from my pocket.
14:49I would have to work fast and noiselessly.
14:52My sweating fingers began to unscrew the small cover on one of the weights.
14:56I would soon have the coins put back to his foot.
15:00Look.
15:00What have you got in your hand there?
15:01Let's have a look.
15:02No, no, nothing.
15:02Nothing at all.
15:03I was just examining.
15:04You're examining my foot?
15:05You've got a flock of coins there.
15:06You must have taken them from somewhere in the clock.
15:08Oh, yes.
15:09No, no.
15:10Give them to me.
15:11Sometimes when things happen quickly,
15:13the mind retains details that would otherwise escape notice.
15:17As the man and I struggled,
15:19I dropped the clock's weight.
15:22It hit a short, round bit of metal directly below it.
15:25The man had a vice-like grip on my clenched hand.
15:28Be lost it, little wretch.
15:29No.
15:30I'll wrench your handle for you.
15:32I heard a whirring sound within the clock,
15:34and before my horrified eyes,
15:35the supporting panel at the front of the clock's base
15:37slowly lifted on hinges.
15:39The clock was off balance and began to fall forward.
15:42I screamed a warning.
15:49The auction man was dead,
15:51mashed to a pulp of bone and blood beneath the clock.
15:55As my father had been.
15:58I ran to the door and ran out into the street.
16:01I was right back where I'd started.
16:05Only now I knew that my father had been murdered
16:09by Cousin Andy.
16:19I walked for miles, trying to pull myself together.
16:22I wandered aimlessly.
16:24So I thought.
16:26But fate had traced my path before me.
16:29Because I was startled to find myself staring into the shop window
16:32of a rare coin dealer named Megaroid.
16:36I walked into the shop.
16:38Mr. Megaroid was a nice little man.
16:41He smiled a bit quizzically at my firm belief
16:43that I possessed the betrayal coins of Judas.
16:47I poured them onto his counter.
16:49Oh, I see.
16:50You could be right, you know.
16:52Well, these are the right era.
16:54I see.
16:55Suppose they are.
16:56Let me put a glass to them.
16:57Mr. Megaroid, would they be worth a great deal?
16:59Even if they weren't the...
17:00Well, let me see.
17:01Let me see.
17:04Yes, gracious, yes.
17:05They should be worth a great deal as collector's items alone.
17:08Well, Mr. Megaroid, I...
17:09I feel that there's something I should tell you about these pieces.
17:14They...
17:14Yes.
17:16Oh, it's not important.
17:17Oh.
17:18Well, now, just a moment.
17:19I have a catalog on this here in my show window.
17:21I'll fidget just a chiffy.
17:23The coins lay on the counter.
17:25I watched Mr. Megaroid run down the aisle.
17:27As he approached the display window,
17:29his foot caught in an electric wire,
17:30which lay across the floor.
17:31The lights went out, and I saw him pitch forward, and...
17:33Mr. Megaroid!
17:35Mr. Megaroid!
17:43The streetlight peered through the broken plate glass
17:46and played across a grotesquely sprawled form in the show window.
17:51I needed no more light than there was to see what had happened.
17:55The upper half of the heavy plate had broken
17:58and dropped flat against the solid lower half.
18:02There was no need to ask how he was.
18:05No guillotine could have done the neater job.
18:09Mr. Megaroid...
18:11Had no head.
18:13Had no head.
18:14No else, but death can own the coins of Judas.
18:28Tonight, I shall find out if Mr. Arnold is Cousin Andrew.
18:34If he is, I shall feel no remorse in killing him tonight.
18:40Because while working to repair the Judas clock last night,
18:44I discovered how my father's accidental death
18:46had been well-conceived, diabolic murder.
18:50When the right-hand weight reached the thaw of the clock
18:54on the twelfth stroke of midnight,
18:56it tripped a trigger which collapsed the base of the clock
19:00and caused it to fall forward.
19:02My father had tied on the twelfth stroke of midnight.
19:08Have you finished, Mr. Packer?
19:10No, Mrs. Arnold, I shall have to come back tomorrow night.
19:13What time do you expect, Mr. Arnold, tomorrow?
19:16About eleven, I say.
19:17Will you be finished by then?
19:18Well, I think so.
19:21I'll have to take these weights to the shop with me, though.
19:23Something has to be added to them.
19:24Well, of course, Mr. Packer.
19:26Mr. Arnold will be so surprised to see the clock running, won't he?
19:31He'll be very surprised, Mrs. Arnold.
19:43I've put the coins in their place within the weights.
19:47Not fifteen in each weight, but fifteen in one and ten in the other.
19:52The other five coins are in my pocket.
19:55In another pocket.
19:57I have a small thirty-eight, although I don't plan to use it.
20:04Eight o'clock.
20:06And I have a thirty-year-old date to keep.
20:11Good evening.
20:12Oh.
20:13Mr. Packer?
20:14Yes, but I'm closing now.
20:16I see you are.
20:17My name is Arnold.
20:19Just came in from Chicago.
20:21Sorry to spoil your little surprise.
20:23Or my wife's, rather.
20:25You, uh, you surprised her instead?
20:28Yes.
20:29She had to confess.
20:30I wanted to go out, so she had to tell me
20:33about engaging you to repair the Judas' clock.
20:35You don't want it repaired?
20:37By all means, I insist.
20:38It's a splendid idea.
20:40But what I came for, really,
20:42was to tell you that you and I have much to talk about.
20:45Oh, do we?
20:46Yes.
20:47But look, close your place and bring along whatever you need
20:50to fix the clock, and we'll talk about it at my place.
20:53I'm all set.
20:53Let's go.
21:00Let's go.
21:05Do you think you'll have it fixed in time to strike midnight?
21:08Oh, yes.
21:08Yes, it will strike at midnight.
21:10Yes.
21:11Well, there we are, Mr. Arnold.
21:13Waits are in place.
21:15Let's see.
21:16It's exactly ten minutes before midnight.
21:20Set the hands.
21:23And just a little shove on the pendulum.
21:26So.
21:29And the Judas' clock ticks again.
21:32It's an evil clock, son.
21:36Evil as Satan himself.
21:39The Judas' clock wakes from a thirty-year sleep.
21:43Hey, cousin Sebastian.
21:45Cousin?
21:45What?
21:46That's what I wanted to tell you.
21:48My wife told me your father owned this clock in London.
21:51Oh, I...
21:52Yes.
21:52I was your father's cousin.
21:55You're Sebastian Packard, the little boy who ran away that night.
21:58Cousin?
21:59Yes.
22:01I wonder how much you know of that horrible night when your father was killed.
22:05Well, I...
22:05I know the clock fell on father.
22:08I heard the sound from my room and I...
22:10I'm so frightened.
22:12And on the rear steps in time to see them carry father away,
22:16he...
22:17was all covered up.
22:19So that was why I didn't find you in your room afterward.
22:22It happened so fast.
22:24We were sitting, talking.
22:26The clocks were striking twelve.
22:28Suddenly, the base of the clock seemed to cave in and...
22:32I know.
22:33I bought the clock at an auction a few years later.
22:37And it all fixed.
22:39It's good and solid now.
22:41I saw to that.
22:44Yes, sir.
22:45Well, I...
22:45I suppose I'll run along now, cousin Andy.
22:47Nonsense, nonsense.
22:48Nonsense, let's make up for lost time and get acquainted.
22:52Well, come now.
22:53I have some fine old port from England here.
22:55Have a...
22:56Sit down a while.
22:57No, no, no.
22:57Not that chair.
22:58No?
22:59This one's a lot more comfortable.
23:02That's a funny thing.
23:04When you work with clocks, as long as I have,
23:08you'll get to philosophizing about time.
23:12That's all.
23:13How?
23:15How?
23:15Well, here I sit, by the big clock,
23:20just as my father sat thirty years ago.
23:25You know how many seconds ago that was, cousin Andy?
23:29No.
23:30Do you?
23:31Well, 315,360,000 seconds in ten years,
23:37that'd be 9,460,000,800,000 seconds in thirty years.
23:47You've got quite a mechanical mind, Sebastian.
23:50Here.
23:51Try this port.
23:55Here's to my father.
24:04What's the matter, cousin Andy?
24:07Are you ill?
24:08No.
24:09Your face is quite drawn and gray.
24:13Shut up.
24:27Well, cousin Andy, it's late.
24:29I guess I best go.
24:31You know, you do look awfully sick.
24:33Oh, don't get up, old man.
24:34Sit down and relax.
24:36Take my chair.
24:37It's the more comfortable.
24:38Why, you're shaking like a leaf.
24:40Now, just sit quietly.
24:42I'll see myself out.
24:43Thundering sinners.
24:45I...
24:45Good night, cousin Andy.
24:51Oh, Sebastian.
24:53Sebastian.
24:55Get it off.
24:57It's back.
24:58It's never been there.
25:03Poor, cousin Andy.
25:05You're choking to death.
25:08You die hard, too, don't you?
25:11It was just a matter of timing.
25:13I set the hand a minute fast and the weight didn't touch your clever little spring device
25:17till just now, because it's lighter by five pieces of cursed Judas money.
25:29Rest easy, father.
25:36And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.
26:03Oh, now listen, that's very sad.
26:08But a fine chime was had by all.
26:13Uh, anybody want to buy a large grandfather clock?
26:17I'm in the market for a sundial himself.
26:20A sundial?
26:20Well, my, they are old-timey.
26:23Mm-hmm.
26:23See, Mr. Raymond, if you're afraid of clocks that tick, why don't you try to get hold of
26:27one of those old Egyptian water clocks?
26:29Oh, Mary, now you're going to tell me that when tea time comes around, the water begins
26:33to boil and the clock...
26:34Well, that would be quite an invention.
26:36Mm-hmm.
26:37But no, Mr. Raymond, right now I'm not going to talk about Lipton tea.
26:41Instead, I'm going to tell our listeners about an important job that lies ahead.
26:46A fight that's far from finished.
26:48Yes, the battle for Japan.
26:51Our government says that this Pacific war will be one of the most bitter and difficult
26:56in history.
26:57Never before has a nation fought so far away from its own shores.
27:01And to support this fight, we at home must work even harder at our home front activities.
27:07We must keep on buying more and more bonds, and we must hold on to them.
27:12And above all, we must stay on our war job until the job in the Pacific is over.
27:26Well, I'll leave you with a cheerful, timely moral.
27:30Well, that goes with tonight's story.
27:32No extra charge.
27:33Now, you can figure out how many seconds you've lived.
27:38All right.
27:39That's your pastime.
27:41But you can't figure out how many you've got left.
27:45That's just that.
27:46Sometime.
27:47You know what I mean?
27:49Well, I'll see you in just 604,800 seconds from right now.
27:54Hmm?
27:55Well, that's next Tuesday night at nine o'clock, of course.
28:01By the way, this month's Inner Sanctum Mystery novel is The Lucky Stiff by Craig Rice.
28:07Well, now it's really time to close that there squeaking door until next Tuesday night
28:11when Lipton Tea and Lipton Soup bring you another Inner Sanctum Mystery, directed by Hyman
28:17Brown.
28:18So, until then, good night, pleasant dreams.
28:25Hmm?