Like anyone who grew up in the eighties I watched an absurd amount of Scooby Doo. Somehow I've managed to avoid buying all of it on DVD, which is probably a good thing since I don't have any kids to blame such a purchase on.

As I remember it, and I'm pretty sure I saw all of them at some point, this one was the creepiest of the lot. You more than likely remember it as well since it's hard to forget. This is the one with the sanitarium, the mad doctor, the organ playing with the dancing dogs etc. It is from, if you keep track of these types of things, The Scooby-Doo Show, Season 1 and aired in 1976. This was episode number 7.



You are probably not supposed to, but if you really want to you can download a small version of it as an .avi here from Ovi...for umm educational purposes.

Permalink    Labels: Lost Classics, Mystery

Adventures by Morse was originally broadcast during 1944-45 and was written and directed by it's namesake Carlton E. Morse. It comprised a total of 8 different stories with a varying number of episodes. In total there were 52 30-minute shows done.

Described on the Wikipedia page:

"Captain Bart Friday was a globe-trotting San Francisco-based private investigator portrayed on various shows by Elliott Lewis, David Ellis and Russell Thorson. Jack Edwards played Skip Turner, Bart's sidekick from Texas. The tales covered such areas as espionage, kidnapping, and murder, along with secret Nazi bases, snake worshipers and voodoo."

I think the one that truly stood out amongst the rest was the series titled "The City of the Dead" which was without a doubt the creepiest. It was the first to be broadcast, and one of the longest coming in at 10 episodes (5 hours). It involves a broken down car, a cemetery, a couple of criminals and a seriously elaborate plan that would have been fitting for Scooby Doo if it weren't so eerie.

You can download all of the different series, this one being the most highly recommended from Archive.org here:

Archive.org: Adventures By Morse (Complete)

Permalink    Labels: Audio Drama, Archive.org, Mystery

The Dark Island was originally produced as a 6 part television series by the BBC in 1962, from what I understand no copies of the show actually exist at this point. The BBC produced this radio version in 1969 - and the book to the right appeared a few years later. It was referred to as a "story of espionage in the remote islands of the Outer Hebrides".

The basic premise is described fantastically in the Wikipedia entry as this:

"The plot involves the discovery of a mysterious torpedo found on the shore of Benbecula. A Naval team descends on the area to deal with the torpedo accompanied by Nicolson, an intrigued security officer. Further investigation of the torpedo reveals an international spy kit, the contents of which include a Finnish passport, British and Swedish currency, and most intriguing of all, a fragment of sheet music.

This is an absolutely brilliant piece of radio drama and a great story. It's got everything: remoteness, islands, intrigue, mystery, murder...

You can download all 6 parts, roughly 3 hours total from TimesPast here:

The Dark Island - BBC Radio 1969

Permalink    Labels: Audio Drama, Mystery, The Ocean, Islands