The Hermit's Cave

The Hermit was a depraved, cackling old geezer who seemed to delight in the gruesome, the grisly, the ghoulish, and the ghastly—it's little wonder he was forced to go off and live in a cave. There he dwelt from 1940 to 1943 or '44, inviting the unwary in to hear his tales of the dark and the macabre. The stories often ended badly for the protagonists—much to the frenetic glee of our mentally unbalanced host. It's uncertain how many episodes were produced (one episode, "The Professor's Elixir", mentions it as #404!) but, as far as I have been able to discover, only about 30 survive. The series began as a 15 minute show, later evolving into a half hour format.

Recent information has been unearthed—no doubt from a cave somewhere—by the folks over at Digital Deli Too. According to them, The Hermit's Cave was more like a franchise than a single series, with at least 5 identifiable phases spanning 14 years and over 800 episodes:

• 1930-1936 - The Mummers, 15 minute sketches, featuring a character called The Hermit; WJR, Detroit
• 1936-1937 - Unsponsored, introductory run called In the Hermit's Cave; WJR, Detroit; 19 episodes
• 1937-1947 - Olga Coal sponsored run called The Hermit's Cave; WJR, Detroit; 539 episodes
• 1938-1939 - Don Lee-Mutual run called The Devil's Scrapbook; 37 episodes
• 1940-1944 - West Coast run called The Hermit's Cave; KMPC, LA; 217 esipsodes

Sources used to create my own log and double-check titles, dates and cast members: Digital Deli Too, RadioGOLDINdex, Radio Horror Hosts, Nightkey's OTR Errors and Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931-1952 (Richard J. Hand).

Currently this archive contains 31 of 31 plotlines and 19 reviews

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Author of Murder, The

A writer believes that the ghost of a character in his novel is jealous and wishes to kill his wife. He stays up each night until the stroke of midnight to prevent her from leaving his study and carrying out her plans.

Black Band, The

Time: the French Reign of Terror. A young, reclusive student returns to his lodgings by way of the Place de Grève, the square where public executions are performed, and beholds a beautiful, disconsolate, woman who has witnessed her father, mother, and two brothers guillotined. He realizes she is, literally, the woman of his dreams... the woman he has been dreaming of for months. He comforts her, takes her home, and marries her... with surprising results.

A tip-of-the-hat to alert listener/reader, Noelle, who noticed that The Hermit's Cave story "The Black Band" and the CBS Radio Mystery Theater story "The Guillotine" are both largely based on the Washington Irving story "The Adventure of the German Student", which was first published as part of a story arc called "Strange Stories by a Nervous Gentleman" in the collection: Tales of a Traveller, 1824. However, the story may also have been published as "The Lady with the Velvet Collar".

See also "Episode of the Terror" and "The Guillotine" (both from CBS Radio Mystery Theater)

Reading Link: "The Adventure of the German Student", by Washington Irving, available at Project Gutenberg Australia.

Blackness of Terror, The

A woman who has spent her entire life at her wealthy father's side, until her recent marriage, receives a telegram saying that her now semi-estranged father is seriously ill. She fears he is lonely and heartbroken, but his problem may have more supernatural origins.

Buried Alive

A man hires a nurse to watch over and care for his brother, who has been emotionally disturbed since the death of his wife... and to make sure he doesn't escape from his locked room!

Castle by the Sea

A couple of tourists set out to visit the ruins of a local castle. Despite warnings that the castle is haunted and a gathering storm with wind, lightning, and thunder, they press on to discover an old servant woman who has a tale to tell.

Conquest of David Rugg, The

A man driving home from the country at dusk is overtaken by a strange storm and suddenly finds himself on a narrow dirt road. When he stops to find out where he is, a farmer driving an old-fashioned horse and buggy and wearing clothes 40 years out of date, offers him a lift.

From The Devil's Scrapbook series.

Crimson Hand, The

Four months before the Nazis move into Paris, when everyone who has money is moving out, a writer and his painter wife rent an estate for a song. It's a great deal. Really. Until one night when they hear a tap, tap, tapping sound and see a hand, red with blood, pulling the drapes aside...

See also "Crimson Hand, The" (The Hermit's Cave), "Dead Hand, The" (Murder at Midnight), "Death by Whose Hands?" (CBS Radio Mystery Theater), "Gipsy's Hand, The" (The Witch's Tale), "Hand, The" (CBS Radio Mystery Theater), and "Hand of Botar" (Hall of Fantasy).

Dark House, The

"Night... when men sleep and evil wakes. A sedan pulls up in front of the foreboding house of the late Cyrus Dark. This creeping mansion of a crazed scientist has been for sale for several years." - from the intro. A you-are-there narrative of two men who venture into a spooky mansion and... well you'll just have to listen, won't you?

From The Mummers series in the early 30s.

Devil Dog    *LOST*

Fever

An old country miser is dying of a fever, while his daughter and scheming son await their inheritance. Not wanting to part with his hard earned money, he leaves them with another inheritance as well... a curse.

Footprints in the Snow    *LOST*

From Another World

An immigrant farmer counts his blessings when a falling meteor narrowly misses him, but worries that ill fortune will shortly follow. When Rita Haine, a geologist from the Brown Geological Society, arrives to retrieve the meteorite, the story... begins to heat up.

Guilty One, The    *LOST*

Gypsy's Curse, The

Peter the butcher (a strange and stocky husband) and his wife Clara (with her dark and beady eyes and round face) learn that Gypsies are stealing pigs from local farmers, but they don't seem too concerned about it.

Hanson's Ghost

A couple seek to increase their chances of inheriting from their rich uncle by visiting him at his mansion. The uncle, who is rather disturbed and is obsessed with his cockamamie theories of achieving immortality through ghostly possession, has other ideas.

Haunted Theater, The    *LOST*

House of Madness    *LOST*

House of Murder, The

A few days after a researcher moves to a house in the boondocks to conduct his experiments in peace and quiet, his servant requests her wages and quits, citing strange noises in the night. The researcher thinks this is preposterous... until he hears the sounds too... and sees the pages of his ledger turn by themselves... and feels something brush against his shoulder... Apparently, something in the house doesn't want those experiments completed.

House of Purple Shadows, The

A man who hasn't visited his closed-up house since his wife died, returns and is trapped in a spectral form by a strange force inhabiting the house. When his niece and her husband move in, he tries to warn them away.

House on Lost Man's Bluff, The

Some folks have car trouble and get caught in a storm while traveling on a mountain back road. They take shelter in an abandoned old house, where an unpleasant stay is had by all. The house is not exactly unoccupied...

House with a Past, The

After buying a drugstore in a small jerkwater town, a couple rent a very nice old house for a very reasonable price. They become increasingly alarmed, however, when neighbors tell them the house is haunted and they wake, late at night, to the sound of footsteps in the attic.

Inheritance    *LOST*

It Happened on Sunday

A man (and his female cousin) become concerned when his best friend (her fiancé) becomes morose and obsessed with the death of his wife three years previously. The man retreats to his cottage in the country, has the housekeeper burn the painting of his ex-wife, and refuses to leave until after Sunday night.

Living or Dead    *LOST*

Lost Black Crow Mine, The

Two men and a woman hire a third man who says he can guide them to the legendary Black Crow Mine; a mine the woman learned about from her grandfather. "Across the parched sands of the desert, near the ghost town of Pepe, Arizona, a party of 3 men and a lone woman are groping their way through the blistering heat. All around them are bare rocky hills... and nothing else as far as the eye can see." - from the intro.

From the West Coast-KMPC run. See also "The Paralta Map" (Suspense). Also vaguely similar to "Behind the Locked Door" (The Mysterious Traveler).

Man with White Hair, The

An aggressively manipulative financier, riding a wave of euphoria after closing a recent deal, scoffs when accosted by a fortune teller who insists on telling him he will die within 3 days at the hands of a man with white hair.

From the West Coast-KMPC run.

Marked Hours    *LOST*

Mr Randall's Discovery

A banker pursues a nice, relaxing, science-oriented hobby at home... down in the basement... away from his wife and son... and inadvertently creates a microbial life-form, which begins to grow and grow and grow... Fascinated, he becomes obsessed and withdraws further from his family.

Some copies of this are actually from The Mystery Playhouse, hosted by Peter Lorre and re-broadcast overseas during WWII.

Mysterious Return    *LOST*

Mystery of the Thing, The

Dr. Foresteer discovered his future wife when she was wandering around the park near the hospital, lost, helpless, suffering from amnesia, and wearing an old-fashioned gown torn all to tatters. And today, months after becoming married, and several hours after Dr. Foresteer reported his wife missing, her clothes were found just inside the cemetery gate.

Nameless, The

A brilliant inventor, Stanley Crayton, invents a device that will cool the interior of an automobile, but his ruthless business partner, Harden Wilgen, poisons him and takes all the credit and subsequent riches for himself. The murdered, however, don't rest easy in the grave....

Notebook on Murder

A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown hears her bedroom door open slowly, followed by approaching footsteps—she screams, and the footsteps run away. But the fear and the expectation that the intruder might return wear on her nerves day-by-day, until...

Omen from The Sea, The    *LOST*

Plantation Mystery

A ruthless and demanding, miserly plantation owner refuses to honor a verbal agreement with his foreman to share half the profits. When he encounters strange goings-on he blames the foreman despite numerous rumors the plantation is haunted. Meanwhile, the natives are restless...

See also "The Walking Dead" (Creeps by Night).

Possessed, The    *LOST*

Professor's Elixir, The

An evil scientist creates an 'elixir of death' for a beautiful nightclub entertainer who wants to be rid of her wealthy husband, but her refusal to pay him for his efforts elicits an uncanny revenge.

Reflected Image

Two men lost in the desert and dying of thirst follow the vision of a beautiful woman to an old shack, where they listen to an old prospector tell an unusual tale of love and betrayal.

Sea Wolf    *LOST*

Search for Life, The

A lab assistant kills his career-oriented girlfriend so that his mad scientist boss can bring her back to life with a slightly altered personality.

See also "Death Robbery" (Lights Out)

Sound That Never Ends, The    *LOST*

Spirit Vengeance

An elderly couple get lost while going to meet their daughter on A Dark and Stormy Night. They end up staying the night at the isolated home of a mad scientist who, unbeknownst to them, has used their daughter for experiment stock.

Not to be confused with "Spirits of Vengeance".

Spirits of Vengeance

A woman and her son travel back to her childhood home, now owned by her mentally disturbed brother. He has become obsessed of late with the spirits of their dead parents, whom he says are haunting him constantly—watching, following him from room to room, and... waiting.

Not to be confused with "Spirit Vengeance".

Unseen Force, The    *LOST*

Vampire's Desire, The

Two men lost in a downpour attempt to take shelter in an old house. Despite being told they're not welcome, they barge in anyway and blunder about in the darkness scaring themselves silly.

Will in the Book, The    *LOST*

Without End

A supernatural love story about a soldier who is convinced that the sweetheart he left behind protects him in battle.

You Only Die Twice

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