Suspense. And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, the master of mystery and adventure, William N. Robeson.
A small Midwestern town, lying asleep in the moonlight of midnight.
Could anything be more familiar, more peaceful, more safe? Certainly not.
Unless Ray Bradbury is writing about it. For his is a typewriter of terror.
And once again, it has pounded out a tale not only calculated to keep you in suspense, but likely to cost you a night or two of sleep.
Listen. Listen then as Miss Agnes Moorhead stars in The Whole Town Sleeping, which begins in just a moment.
How does our nation honor heroism? One way is to award the Soldier's Medal, a bronze octagon on which is displayed an eagle standing between two groups of stars.
The medal is suspended from a blue ribbon with 13 narrow stripes in the center, seven white and six red.
One of the newest and least known of all the American decorations, the Soldier's Medal, authorized in 1926, is bestowed for heroism not involving actual conflict with an armed enemy.
There are many forms of gallantry in addition to those demonstrated in battle.
The Soldier's Medal was conceived to honor those soldiers who in non-combat situations perform bravely and at great peril to themselves.
They serve as an inspiration to others.
The Soldier's Medal holds an important place among America's awards for heroism.
And now...
Bell rings
The Whole Town Sleeping starring Agnes Moorhead. A tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Music
It was a warm summer night in the middle of Illinois country.
The little town was deep far away from everything, kept to itself by a river and a forest and a ravine.
In the town the sidewalks were still scorched, the stores were closing and the streets were turning dark.
Screen doors whined their springs and banged and there was the sound of Grandma Hanlon's hammock creaking across the street.
On her solitary porch, Lavinia nems, age 37, very straight and slim, sat waiting.
Here I am, Lavinia.
Lavinia turned. There was Francine at the bottom porch step, all in snow white.
I won't be a minute, Francine. I just have to lock the door.
All right. I do like your dress, dear.
Why, thank you, Francine.
You look so well in that color. I'm afraid I can never wear it. It makes me look...sallow.
Oh, no, it doesn't. I'm sure it doesn't.
Of course I've always loved you in white.
Good evening, ladies.
Good evening, Mrs. Hanlon.
Good evening.
Well, where are you ladies going all dressed up so pretty?
To the movies, Mrs. Hanlon. It's William Holden tonight.
You won't catch me out on a night like this. Not with the lonely one strangling women.
Lock myself in with my gun. That's what I'm going to do.
I wouldn't worry, Mrs. Hanlon.
Oh, you wouldn't, wouldn't you?
What about Eliza Ramseau? You think she's not worrying?
Lock myself in with a gun. That's what you ladies should do.
Oh, he's so silly. Silly old woman.
Hasn't got anything better to do than scare herself with rumors and gossip.
Well, just the same.
Hattie MacDowell was killed a month ago.
And Roberta Ferry the month before.
And now Eliza Ramseau disappearing.
Eliza Ramseau walked off with a traveling salesman, if you ask me.
But the others...
Oh, Stank! Oh, Francine.
They reached the edge of the ravine that cut the town in two.
Stood there. Behind them were the lighted houses.
Ahead, deepness, moistness, fireflies and dark.
The ravine had to be crossed to reach the movies.
Deep and black as it cut through the hill.
Then a creaking bridge to cross over the stream.
And then 113 steps up the steep and brampled bank to the other side.
The ladies stood there looking down.
I just hate to think of you coming back alone tonight, Lavinia.
Oh, Vosh.
I do wish you didn't live on this side of town.
Don't you get lonely living by yourself in that house?
Homemates love to live alone.
Come on, we'll take the shortcut.
I'm afraid even in the dusk, the ravine scares me.
Oh, come on. Don't be so silly.
I'll hold your hand.
Lavinia, cool as mint ice cream, took her friend's arm and led her down the dark winding path.
Into the cricket warmth and frog sound and mosquito delicate silence.
Let's run. Lavinia, please.
No, no. Why should we?
If Lavinia hadn't turned her head just then, she wouldn't have seen it.
But she did turn her head and it was there.
Back among a clump of bushes half hidden but laid out as if she'd put herself there to enjoy the soft stars, lay Eliza Ramseul.
Her face moon-treckled, her eyes like white marble.
Then Francine saw it too and the women stood on the path for a frozen second not believing what they saw.
In a moment, we continue with the second act of suspense.
Another visit with Joe and Daphne Forsythe.
Joe?
Yeah, Daphne?
You think I should go on a diet?
No.
But I'm adding weight.
Only in the right places.
Flatterer.
Seriously, if I put on any more pounds, I'll be out of style.
What style?
The current one. It calls for that slim, chic look.
The beanpole look, you mean.
Boy, I don't get it. Here we are citizens of the healthiest country on earth with hundreds of different kinds of good food.
And what are Americans doing? They're starving themselves.
Well, it's fashionable. I don't want you to lose interest in my figure.
Don't worry, I won't.
Say, speaking of that, look at this. Here's a figure with real interest.
Oh?
Forty-five billion dollars. It says here in the paper that the investment in United States savings bonds has reached more than forty-five billion.
What do you think of that figure?
That's a lot of money.
And just think, every three dollars invested in bonds pays back four. That's real interest for you.
I know. And every savings bond is guaranteed by the government.
Right.
Oh, Joe, I wish you cared about my figure the way you do about those bonds you buy every payday.
Honey, I've got great interest in both.
Well, you just see that you stay that way.
And now, starring Agnes Moorhead, act two of The Whole Town Sleeping.
And then the police came and dotted their flashlights around in the shadows of the ravine.
And Lavinia held on tightly to the shuddering Francine.
And the night grew to at eight-thirty.
You didn't move her, ladies?
No, no, of course not.
Oh, no, we didn't touch her. How could we?
And you didn't hear anything unusual?
No, no, nothing. It's the lonely one, isn't it?
No.
The lonely one did it, didn't he?
Oh, I couldn't say, ma'am.
We knew her, you know. She was a friend of ours.
I'm sorry, that's too bad. I'll have one of my men walk you across the ravine.
Oh, that won't be necessary. Thank you very much. We'll be all right.
Lavinia, come along, dear.
I've never seen a dead person before.
Come on, come on. It's only a little after eight-thirty. We'll pick up Helen and get on to the show.
The show? Lavinia, you know, Maiden.
Of course I do. We've got to forget about this. There's no good brooding about it.
Now, we hurry. We won't miss too much of the first feature.
Well, I thought you'd never come. You're an hour late.
Well, Helen, you see...
Someone found Eliza Ramseau dead in the ravine.
Oh, oh, no. Who found her?
Well, we don't know.
How awful. Oh, I don't think we'd better go to the show tonight.
Oh, of course we will.
The last showing today and I wouldn't miss William Holden for the world.
Besides, the lonely one can't kill three ladies all at once and...
Anyway, it's too soon. The murders come a month separated.
Come along, Helen.
Well, all right. I'll get a sweater. Wait for me.
Why didn't you tell her about us finding Eliza?
Why upset her? Time enough tomorrow.
Tonight we're going to the show, so let's not talk about it anymore.
Enough's enough.
The ladies walked downtown and stopped at the drugstore, which was a few doors from the theater.
Lavinia bought a quarter's worth of green mint chews,
and the druggers dropped the mints into a sack with a silver shovel.
You looked mighty cool this noon, Miss Lavinia, when you was in.
So cool and nice somebody asked after you.
Oh?
A man sitting at the counter.
He watched you walk out and he says to me,
Hey, who's that? Just like that, he says it.
Why, that's Lavinia Neb's prettiest maiden lady in town, I says.
Beautiful, so beautiful, he says.
Where she live?
You didn't give him her address.
Well, now I didn't give him the exact address.
I said over on Fox Street near the ravine. Hope you didn't mind.
Well, that settles it. We're going straight home.
That man asking for you, Lavinia, you're next.
You want to be dead in that ravine?
Oh, nonsense. I'm not going to miss the movie.
You two can do what you want. I'm going.
In the end, they all went to the show.
Lavinia was like that, cool, self-possessed and persuasive.
And when they came out of the show,
the streets were midnight clean and empty as they walked Francine home.
Lavinia, Helen, stay here with me tonight. It's late.
Mrs. Murdock has an extra room.
No, thanks. I don't sleep well away from my own bed.
Please, Lavinia, please.
I promise I'll call you the very minute I get home.
Will you? Will you really?
Yes, I promise.
Helen, you make a promise to call you too.
I will.
Good night.
Good night.
Please, be careful.
Now, I'll walk you home, Helen.
Well, I don't suppose it's any use asking you to stay with me, Lavinia.
There's no reason for me to.
You certainly acted strangely all evening.
I'm just not afraid, that's all.
In any way, the lonely one wouldn't be around.
Not now with the police discovering Eliza's body and all.
Oh, I feel so guilty.
I'll be drinking a cup of coffee just about the time you get to the ravine.
Oh, that awful bridge in the dark.
You will call us the minute you get home, won't you?
I won't sleep a wink if you don't.
I promise you I'll call.
Now, good night.
Good night.
Lavinia Nepp's walked down the midnight street, down the late summer silence.
She saw the houses with their dark windows, and far away she heard a dog barking.
She thought to herself, in five minutes, I'll be safe home.
In five minutes, I'll be phoning Francine and Helen.
They're so silly.
Like old hens.
Old, I'm older than either of them are.
She heard the voice singing away among the trees, and she walked a little faster.
And then coming down the street toward her in the dimming moonlight was a man.
Well, look who's here.
What a time of night for you to be out, Miss Nebbs.
Officer Kennedy.
Oh, I'm so glad it's you.
And thank you for coming.
I'm so glad it's you.
Anything wrong, Miss Nebbs?
No, no, nothing at all.
I'm just glad it's you.
You know, you shouldn't be out so late.
Yes, I know.
I've been to the movies, the late show.
Well, I'd better see you across the ravine.
No, no, thank you.
I can make it fine.
Moon's going to be behind the trees.
It'll be pretty dark.
Well, I'm not afraid of the dark, Mr. Kennedy.
Are you sure you'll be all right?
Yes, yes, quite sure.
Thank you.
Well, I'll tell you what.
I'll wait here till you're across.
If you need help, just give a yell and I'll come a-running.
Thank you.
Good night.
Good night, Miss Nebbs.
As Lavinia walked on, she thought...
I won't walk in the ravine with any man.
How do I know who the lonely one is?
He could be anyone.
Then the ravine.
She stood at the top of the 113 steps that led down the steep,
brambled bank and across the creaking bridge.
Then 100 yards and up through the black shadows to Park Street and home.
Three minutes from now, I'll be putting my key in the house door.
Nothing can happen.
Nothing.
And she started down the dark, black steps into the deep ravine night,
counting as she went.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
In a moment, we continue with the third act of...
suspense.
We have together ample capacity in freedom to defend freedom.
This is NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
As in many other complex activities, in NATO too, it's the little things that count.
For instance, spare parts for the armed forces' equipment of NATO countries.
This complex problem is handled by the NATO Supply Center at Chateauneuf, France,
which assists NATO countries in providing a common system for supply of spare parts.
The United States of America is a part of NATO.
You should be aware of and alert to the programs and objectives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
And now, starring Agnes Moorhead, Act III of The Whole Town Sleeping.
Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty, twenty.
And Lavinia went down the steps, counting as she went.
The ravine was deep, and the world was gone, the safe world of people in a bed.
The locked doors of the town, the drug store, theater, lights, everything was gone.
Only the ravine existed and lived, black and huge about it.
Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four.
Nothing's happened, has it?
Is there no one around? Is there?
Forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five.
Remember, remember that old ghost story you told each other when you were children?
About the dark man coming into your house and you upstairs in bed?
And now he's at the first step coming up to your room.
Now he's at the second step.
He's at the third and fourth and the fifth step.
How you laugh and scream to that story.
And now the horrid man is at the twelfth step, opening your door.
And now he's standing by your bed.
You!
What?
What?
There at the bottom of the steps...
The man.
No.
No, no, now he's gone.
He was waiting there.
Oh, well, there's nothing.
It's empty.
Nothing?
There's nothing on the bridge.
You fool.
That story I told myself. How silly.
Shall I call Mr. Kennedy?
Did he hear me scream or did I scream?
Maybe I only thought I did.
He didn't hear me at all.
I'll go back up.
I'll go to Helen's and sleep there tonight.
No, it's near home now. Don't be silly.
Wait.
Wait.
Someone's following me.
Someone's on the steps behind me.
I don't dare turn around.
Every time I take a step...
He takes one.
He takes one.
Officer.
Officer Kennedy.
Is that you?
Is it?
The crickets were suddenly still.
The crickets were listening.
The night was listening to her.
Then there was a sound.
Only a woodchuck surely beating a hollow log.
No, it was Lavinian ebbs.
It was most surely the heart of Lavinian ebbs.
And she went down the steps faster, faster.
Running now down the steps.
Plunging faster and faster.
Down, down, under the pit of the ravine.
Go a little way.
Cross the bridge and run.
Don't turn.
If you see him, you'll not be able to move.
You just run.
Top of the path, the street.
And even with the light, the fear swirled about her closing and pressing.
Please, please.
Give me time to get inside them.
And lock the door.
And I'll be safe.
Home.
Oh, I'm safe.
I'm safe at home.
I'm safe. I'm safe.
Home.
I'll never go out again.
Oh, it's so good.
It's so safe inside.
I'm locked and safe inside.
I...
Wait, the window.
There's no one there at all.
There's nobody.
There was no one following me at all.
Nobody running after me.
How silly.
If a man had been following me, he'd have been dead.
If a man had been following me, he'd have caught me.
I can't run as fast as a man.
I wasn't running from anything.
Except me.
The ravine was safer than safe.
Oh, it's...
It's nice to be home, though.
Home's a really good, warm, safe place.
The only...
She had just put her hand out to the light switch when she heard it behind her in the blackness.
Just a movement.
What?
What?
Who...
Who is it?
Beautiful.
So beautiful.
Don't look at me like that.
Don't look at me like that.
Don't look at me like that.
I don't know.
How are your brakes?
Not the ones on your car.
We're sure you keep those in tip-top working order.
But how about your own brakes?
Are they in working shape?
When you're behind the wheel of your car and you feel that impulse to challenge the legal speed limit,
can you stop that impulse on a dime?
When a less courteous driver does something downright stupid that may inconvenience you,
are you likely to do something twice as foolish, just to show him he can't push you around?
Or can you say halt to your anger before it leads to an accident?
Students of human behavior have discovered that most of the accidents on our highways are the result of emotional immaturity.
An adult can control his feelings and concentrate on his goal.
Don't let childish attitudes keep you from reaching your destination.
When other drivers and traffic regulations annoy you, use the brakes in your head as quickly as you would the ones on your car.
Remember, accidents don't have to happen.
Supporting Agnes Moorhead and the whole town sleeping were William Conrad,
Lorraine Tuttle, Paula Winslow, Barney Phillips, and Charlie Lung.
Listen. Listen again next week when we return with another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.