The Shadow
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “the-shadow-1938-10-09-141-death-stalks-the-shadow”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
The run
- Network
- Mutual
- Years active
- 1940–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 49
- Genre
- horror
THE SEALED BOOK The Sealed Book was a radio series of mystery and terror tales, produced and directed by Jock MacGregor for the Mutual network. Between March 18 and September 9, 1945, the melodramatic anthology series was broadcast on Sundays from 10:30pm to 11:00pm. Each week, after "the sound of the great gong," host Philip Clarke observed that the mysteriously silent "keeper of the book has opened the ponderous door to the secret vault wherein is kept the great sealed book, in which is recorded all the secrets and mysteries of mankind through the ages, Here are tales of every kind, tales of murder, of madness, of dark deeds strange and terrible beyond all belief." After this introduction, the dramas began, occasionally interrupted by curiously extended organ solos. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Sealed_Book_Singles”; these recordings are in the public domain.
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Sealed_Book_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
4 dated broadcasts across 11 years on the air, with 10 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1945, in original transmission order.
- 1. TSB-45-03-18 ep01 The Hands of Death · 18 Mar 1945
- 2. Program \#2 - The King of the World · 25 Mar 1945
- 3. Program \#3 - Death Spins a Web · 1 Apr 1945
- 01
TSB-45-03-18 ep01 The Hands of Death
18 Mar 1945 · 27 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
Program \#2 - The King of the World
25 Mar 1945 · 30 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
Program \#3 - Death Spins a Web
1 Apr 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
Program \#4 - Devil Island
8 Apr 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 05
Program \#5 - Escape by Death
15 Apr 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Accusing Corpse
29 Apr 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
Program \#9 - Out of the Past
13 May 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 08
Program \#10 - Welcome Home
20 May 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
25 Mar 1945
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 25 Mar 1945.
Soldiers of the Press
Broadcast 25 March 1945. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Also on Mutual
Mutual in 1940–1950
Other series the network carried while Sealed Book was on the air.
Same seasons
horror on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The anthology of dread
A voice, a creaking door, and a self-contained story designed to frighten you in half an hour. Suspense and Lights Out built the grammar every horror anthology still uses.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Sealed Book
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
