After I listened to this I actually dismissed it as not being all that scary. A few hours later I was alone in the middle of the night & I was proved quite wrong.
"The Thing on the Fourble Board" is my all time favorite old timey radio horror story! One night when my son was little I was listening to it on a CD in the car- I thought he was sleeping but he was just faking and had Fourble Board related insomnia for a couple weeks.
This has actually been regarded by many as "The greatest piece of radio horror to ever hit the airwaves!" It is absolutely brilliant! You don't think it's all that scary at first, but listen to it alone in a dark room, during a thunderstorm! AWESOME!
My parents, grandparents and great grandparents sang the praises of old time radio as i was growing up years and years ago. There really is something to giving the imagination a workout.
This is the most classic example of horror, fiction, and radio drama ever. Notice that you are drawn in by mundane details so that less than a half hour later you are absolutely terrified of the most insanely impossible monster imaginable as if it were in the next room. Spielberg getting people terrified of land sharks and 20th century raptors has nothing on this. Suspension of disbelief at it's finest.
In my opinion this is the scariest episode of old time radio ever. I get chills even before it begins. If anyone has another to top this one, please let me know.
I was doing sort of alright until that fucking SOUND started, and then tears started streaming down my face completely on reflex. That noise awakened some seriously primal fear deep inside me
This is scary in part because of the grounding in discussion of real science and geology and engineering techniques which make it seem real when the "Thing" is introduced. It doesn't sound like the kind of guy who would be involved in a crazy story.
Out-fucking standing! The set-up and denouement are first-class weird and are truly intended to give scares. Definitely surpasses the 'Lights Out' stories of the 1940's.
This is a really strong example of the genre. I enjoyed it immensely, but I don't think it's THE scariest episode ever broadcast. "Quiet, Please," was a lot of fun and very inventive, especially for the time. Some friend this guy is....
It’s so fun to ponder what she looks like, how she walks, how he knew it WAS a she LOL….. and I watched it last night after not hearing it for probably a year. I’ve prolly listened to it at least 12 times, but last night was the first time I thought UH OH, the person he’s telling the story to, was going to be Mike’s………….DINNER….!!!! 😳😬😵💫😵
i am getting chills oh god i might have nightmares tonight and this NEVER HAPPENS TO ME i'm NEVER affected by things i watch or listen to and it's even still light outside oh god why
One of the scariest things I've ever listened to. Finished the ep for the first time sitting in the kitchen on a warm spring day, room full of light, birds singing outside, all my hair standing on end. Walking home along the seafront that night was not fun. A question for Americans: what's the narrator's accent? (Planning to use this in an English teaching class and would like to know something more than, "Er... American?")
He has an accent like that guy on, "Mountain Men" which airs on the history channel on Thursday Nights. The one who bought a plot of land in the wilds of Alaska.
Doubt you still use this account, or still require the information but the accent is called a "Transatlantic accent". Sort of a mix between a New York accent and a British one.
One of the scariest things I've ever heard. Finished it for the first time sitting in the kitchen on a warm spring day, room full of light, birds singing outside, all my hair on end. Walking home along the seafront that night was not fun. A question for Americans: what's the narrator's accent? (Planning to use this in an English teaching class and would like to know something more than, "Er... American?")
+LongLiveHumour Sorry for the late reply but this is an artificial accent that was developed for radio broadcasting - sort of the early 20th century American equivalent of Received Pronunciation. It's not at all what a roughneck would actually use.
+LongLiveHumour It's a radio accent, but it's certainly got a bit of a Southern charm to it, which is why it's understandable that some may think Southern or Texan--and why us Southerners and Texans (geographically south, but not considered part of the American Southern cultural region) clearly say it's not Southern. Definately forced. It's what you'll hear from some radio, commercial and movie stars who aren't from the South as they get into a role.
+johnmburt1960 I'm also a Southerner and a Navy vet. We call it the cadence yelp and yeah, it's similar. But with much more of a drawl than this. This is more of a BEEF. IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER impersonation.
The narrator was born and grew up in Syracuse, NY. He graduated from Syracuse University and spent most of his life in New York State, working at radio stations in Syracuse and Rochester, New York.
Definitely not the scariest OTR program I have heard. The twist and the end made it good, but for sure not scary. Nightfall has some very creepy radio programs. Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theaters program, The Caller On Line One is one of the scariest to me. Sorry wrong number is another. And of course War Of The Worlds.
