Newsletter July 2025

INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY 

by Carl Amari

Did you know that radio series have persisted into the age of podcast?

By the early 1960s, most listeners had turned to watching television. But in the 1970s, a few radio dramas returned — Rod Serling’s The Zero Hour and General Mills Radio Adventure Theater. National Public Radio produced radio treatments of Star Wars and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater originally aired from 1974 until 1982 and produced 1,399 episodes. Hosted by E.G. Marshall and Tammy Grimes, it was created by the legendary radio producer Himan Brown. Each episode opened and closed with the ominous sound of a creaking door slowly opening at the beginning of each broadcast and slowly closing at the conclusion. 

Brown first used this sound effect on his earlier horror series Inner Sanctum Mystery, which ran 511 episodes between 1941 and 1952. The squeaking, creaking door became the trademark for both shows, ushering radio listeners into a terrifying domain.  

CBS Radio Mystery Theater ran weeknights in 45-minute installments and was pitched originally as a bit of nostalgia for old-time radio buffs. The show soon attracted younger listeners caught up in the ’50s nostalgia fad inspired by the movie American Graffiti.

Years ago, I had the great pleasure of dining with Himan Brown in New York and we talked, at length, about both series.  “A door to a basement studio groaned and creaked whenever anyone opened it, so I decided to make that door a star,” Himan said.

Inner Sanctum Mystery gave its audience a weekly diet of thrills, chills and black humor.  Screen icons Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Lon Chaney, Jr. and many others with the necessary sepulchral tones appeared before the microphone, their creepy voices projected into listeners’ homes through a glowing radio speaker.

The celebrated boogeyman of Inner Sanctum Mystery was Raymond Edward Johnson, a horror host with a unique delivery that set him apart from other show hosts.  His standard introduction on every episode included ghoulish jokes with a sinister chuckle.  “We received hundreds of letters each week from listeners and soon learned that fans of the show were more drawn to the host than the creepy stories” said Brown.  

I asked Himan who the biggest star to appear on Inner Sanctum Mystery was.  He said that that he once cast Frank Sinatra in a 1949 Christmas broadcast.  The future Chairman of the Board portrayed Sir Benjamin, a mischievous Yuletide ghost.