Lights Out debuted in 1934 and was radio's premier horror series. Director and writer, Wyllis Cooper's writing was characterized by grisly stories always matched with the appropriate acting and sound effects, he conceived in 1933 the idea of writing a dramatic midnight mystery serial catchy enough to the listeners' attention at a time when the competition was mostly airing music. It was however dropped in favor of an anthology emphasizing crime thrillers and the supernatural. He stayed with this program until June 1936 when another Chicago writer, Arch Oboler, took over. By the time Cooper left, the series had inspired about 600 fan clubs.
Arch Oboler was eccentric and ambitious when he took over and picked up where Cooper left off, following the latter's general example but investing the scripts with his own concerns using streams of conscious narration and sometimes social and political themes that reflected his commitment to anti-fascist liberalism. Although Lights Out would be closely associated with Oboler later on, he would always credit Wyllis Cooper as the series' creator and spoke highly of him as "the unsung pioneer of radio dramatic techniques" and the first person he knew who understood that radio drama is an art form.
"Burial Service", Oboler's first script in 1936, was initially flooded with outraged response but was followed with the more accepted and frequently repeated "Catwife" and Caligula-inspired "The Dictator". This set the pattern for Oboler's run of two horror episodes followed by a drama on more serious subjects dealing with moral, social and political issues
| Air Date |
Title |
Synopsis |
| 1942-12-01 |
Story Of Mr Maggs |
| From an auction, a man buys an evil trunk. |
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| 1942-12-08 |
Scoop |
| An investor buys a loosing newspaper and decides to cut on manpower by dismissing staff members above 50 years old--prompting an old columnist to jump out of the window. Later, the owner gets a visit from the columnist’s ghost at the highway when his car breaks down. (Plug: The Axis war effort) |
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| 1942-12-15 |
A Knock At The Door |
| A protective mother is murdered by her son’s girlfriend but her ghost keeps haunting whenever her son is at home. |
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| 1942-12-22 |
The Meteor Man |
| A meteorite is found by a stargazing couple. Opening it, they find it is made of flesh and transforms into a head that speaks. It tells them that it was the first among the many to arrive on the planet, and why they are coming. |
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| 1942-12-23 |
Valse Triste |
| Two girls on a camping trip, and while rowing docks their boat on an island to pick some flowers when their boat drifts away finding themselves lost. They are drawn to into a strange house where a psychopath lives who demanded that the other marry him and that the other must die. |
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| 1943-01-05 |
The Fast One |
| A man consumes a formula that speeds-up humans and starts a criminal spree. |
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| 1943-01-19 |
Devi L And Mr Alleycat |
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| 1943-01-26 |
Protective Mr. Drogen |
| A report to the police claims that a man just killed someone. Scenes flashes back to a party where they serve unusual drinks. A man tries drinking all the drinks then falls and hits his head. When he awakens, all his wishes magically comes true. His doctor couldn’t do anything about it until the idea of blackmailing the whole world sets in. His doctor however suggests, as per recommendation of his lady, as to why not wish that all Nazi army die during the war. |
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| 1943-02-02 |
Until Dead |
| A murdered girlfriend’s voice torments her boyfriend as if asking for justice. Her boyfriend sets to avenge her but was found guilty of attempting murder; he escapes prison to hunt the murderer again. |
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| 1943-02-10 |
Oxychloride X |
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| 1943-02-23 |
They Met At Dorset |
| Unsure of his location, the German rescue mission tries to free Rudolf Hess from his English captors but are. Thinking they have found the house, they are surprised to find people laughing inside. When they asked for him, the party denies holding him so they decided to murder all the English occupants. |
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| 1943-03-03 |
The Ball |
| Two party-going men find themselves in a strange Parisian party. |
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| 1943-03-14 |
The Dream |
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| 1943-03-25 |
Flame |
| Two conversationalists discusses fire comparing it to a living organism. The first man takes out an encyclopedia and reads to the second an entry about fire worshipers who could conjure spirits out of flames. The second man begins to doubt the sanity of the reader. He becomes more concerned due to the fact that he’s engaged to the other man’s sister. After the second man leaves, the first man proceeds with his incantation--offering his girlfriend’s engagement ring as a sacrifice. |
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| 1943-03-30 |
Money Money Money |
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| 1943-04-06 |
Superfeature |
| A guy travels with his assistant guy showing movies to interested audiences. When an audience clamors for a monster film, a real monster appears from the movie. |
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| 1943-04-13 |
Archer |
| A girl finds a tool which saves her from the gangsters who are hiding her away. |
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| 1943-04-20 |
Kill |
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| 1943-04-27 |
Execution |
| During WWII, a German Officer reports being fired upon by a woman in a French village. In retaliation, the Germans will hang 50 women unless the suspect comes forward. During the execution, the soldiers noticed that all the women they’re hanging acts weirdly. When the fourth and fifth women are to be executed, the German Captain realizes they all look the same. (Narration: War and war bonds reminder.) |
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| 1943-05-04 |
Heavenly Jeep |
| When the jeep the soldiers are riding is blown up by a landmine, the soldiers realize they are eventually not hurt at all. |
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| 1943-05-11 |
Murder In The Script Department |
| Two office clerk-typists become trapped in office after working hours. They notice that equipments and facilities automatically shut down. To their surprise, the typewriters start to write independently, the furniture breaks loose and a shrill scream is heard. |
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| 1943-05-18 |
Spider |
| In a treasure hunting expedition in the jungle, the hunters catch spider which has been silently staring at them since they arrived. |
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| 1943-05-25 |
Little Old Lady |
| In a treasure hunting expedition in the jungle, the hunters catch spider which has been silently staring at them since they arrived. |
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| 1943-06-05 |
Ugliest Man In The World |
| In a treasure hunting expedition in the jungle, the hunters catch spider which has been silently staring at them since they arrived. |
|
| 1943-06-08 |
The Organ |
| A couple excitedly spends summer with their son in a vacant home which is unoccupied for 20 years. An old man visits the and demands they leave, claiming that the house belongs to him. Eerie things begin to happen and the young boy seea a ghost who wants to entice him. They all eventually start to see other apparitions. |
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| 1943-06-15 |
Prelude To Murder |
| Listeners hear the thoughts of a Dracula-inspired man is jealous of his wife's new male friend. |
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| 1943-06-28 |
Nature Study |
| A group on study tour gets trapped by a rockslide in a canyon and panics. Some of them will die while others admit of being murderers themselves. |
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| 1943-06-29 |
Bathysphere |
| A motive-laden worker descends to record ocean depths with his unsuspecting superior. |
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| 1943-07-13 |
Visitor From Hades |
| A couple who is terminally ill suddenly receives a macabre visit from someone whom is invisible to others. Having no known way of getting rid of this visitor, the couple later recognizes him and realizes the real purpose of his visit. |
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| 1943-07-20 |
Profits Unlimited |
| An heiress is taken to an island where she inherits a factory from her grandfather. She soon finds out that the workers lived there for many generations and knew nothing else but work. |
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| 1943-07-27 |
The Little People |
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| 1943-08-03 |
Murder Castle |
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| 1943-08-10 |
Sakhalin |
| A megalomaniac murderer roams Russia. |
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| 1943-08-24 |
Sub Basement |
| The girlfriend always wondered what her boyfriend does inside his office building. He takes her on a tour of the building starting from the basement. Accidentally locked in, the couple entangles something horrid. |
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| 1943-08-38 |
Immortal Gentleman |
| A man is born to live a normal life from among the immortal and genius Adavars, so the gods wished the him to do something they themselves cannot. |
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| 1943-09-07 |
Lord Marleys Guest |
| A rich man is hooked on his mistress and leaves his wife. Their affair ends tragically in a boating accident. |
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| 1943-09-14 |
The Word |
| Two honeymooners climbs to the 100th floor of a tower to watch the city skyline and simply forget the looming war headlines. Seeing a storm lightning approaching, they go down only to find out that everyone in the city is gone or missing. |
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| 1943-09-21 |
Mirage |
| A couple notices that a silent old man on the beach can make people pass out by erasing their names etched on the sand. When he reappeared with the moon, he scribbles some dates instead. |
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| 1943-09-28 |
Author And The Thing |
| On the telephone, Obler tells someone he is staying late to write his next story about evil forms that take the thoughts of a man who had been hearing murmurs for seven days. When the man’s brother tries to wake him up from a nightmare, he thinks that his brother is still part of the nightmare’s evil murmer. |
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| 1945-07-21 |
Reunion After Death |
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| 1945-07-28 |
Rocket Ship |
| In the year 2000, a crewman returns from the moon and notes moon craters being similar to atom bomb craters in New Mexican test sites. |
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| 1945-08-25 |
Man In The Middle |
| A secretary and her boss are having an affair which is discovered by her brother. The brother threatens the boss to stay away from his sister and a big fight follows. |
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| 1945-09-01 |
The Day The Sun Exploded |
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