Old-time radio horror: "The Thing on the Fourble Board"

self | 10/31/17 | NewJerseyJoe

[NewJerseyJoe]

Want to listen to something creepy tonight? I have the answer for you....

Back in 1948, radios in American homes outnumbered televisions by about 900 to 1. Radio programs were very popular and covered every genre ... including horror. In August 1948, the radio program "Quiet, Please" broadcast an episode titled "The Thing on the Fourble Board." Many people familiar with the history of radio describe this episode as one of the best radio horror programs ever broadcast; some cite it as one of the best examples of radio drama as a whole.

It isn't gory or explicitly violent -- or particularly scary by today's standards. But the quiet voice and dialogue delivery of the main performer, Ernest Chappell -- along with minimal musical accompaniment, some periods of silence, and one guest voice which I won't spoil here -- make for a very creepy, unsettling presentation, with a twist ending that you won't see coming. This is worth 23 minutes of your time.

You can listen through the player on this page (https://www.quietplease.org/index.php?section=episode&id=60), or download the MP3 from the link there.

[NewJerseyJoe]

Read more about this program at http://streetcarnage.com/blog/the-creepiest-radio-show-ever/ and http://www.escape-suspense.com/2007/10/quiet-please---.html

[mykroar]

ping

[vladimir998]

Bookmark. Old time radio is great stuff!

[sockmonkey]

Definition of fourble board

:a platform at a height of 80 feet or more above the floor of an oil derrick

[ClearCase_guy]

The Things That Would Not Fall Down!!!"

[Neidermeyer]

bkmk

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Want to hear something really scary?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svo5whrJ9hk

[T-Bird45]

“Old time radio is great stuff!”

Ditto!! When I was in W. Germany in the US Army, Armed Forces Radio used to run old-time radio shows of every kind around 1:30pm every afternoon. Nothing like a little Jack Benny to lighten up an afternoon.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[Chengdu54]

Save

[Texas resident]

When I was in high school, we listened to Orson Wells reading the War of the Worlds. Awesome.

[SES1066]

Of course, it goes well with what may be called the most FAMOUS Halloween broadcast, of any media, Orson Welles and "The Mercury Theatre on the Air" CBS Radio version of H.G.Wells' "War of the Worlds" on Sunday, October 30, 1938. While the scale of the actual public panic has probably been overly magnified, being broadcast at a time when radio was THE MEDIA for news, having insufficient (in hindsight) identification as a non-news event and at a time when Europe and Asia were in full war mode jitters, made for a 'perfect storm' and did Orson Welles to top billing.

[SES1066]

When I was in high school, we listened to Orson Wells reading the War of the Worlds. Awesome.

You beat me to the mention but I have got the link to the broadcast IF this is what you mean by 'reading'. I say that because it really was a ensemble radio-play by a very good group of voice and sound actors. Glad we both remembered it.

[Bshaw]

Creepy Stories Ping!

[super7man]

I acutally won a trivia contest by knowing what a fourble board was. And it was because I had listened to that old radio show. It was pretty scary at that time for a 12 year-old.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I had to look it up.

[BBB333]

One of my favorite episodes!

Old Time Radio Archive:

https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio

[Bob434]

thnaks Joe- will give a listen tonight- Radio was a tough medium- so were silent movies- but at least they could express emotions liek grief, fear, anger etc with their wonky makeup lol- they eyes have it lol- loved lon chaney=- old stone face buster keaton- harold loyd- Mary Pickford etc- but never really listened to radio shows-

[Portcall24]

Thanks. Never knew that was what the part of the derrick was called.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

When I was in high school, we listened to Orson Wells reading the War of the Worlds.

When I was in high school, I had a class where we would recreate classic radio show episodes...War of The Worlds too...and then we would write and produce our own show.

The school had an FCC licensed radio station on the premises so we had full use of the facilities and equipment. I caught the bug and almost went into radio engineering. But then the computer age came along and that interested me far more.