CBS Radio Mystery Theater - Dig Me Deadly - Episode 0037 - 1974

Old Time Radio Theater

In this 1974 CBS Radio Mystery Theater episode, Detective Claudia Trubshaw is summoned to an Arizona archaeological dig after a student named Edith Rogers goes missing. The

Key takeaways

• Detective Claudia Trubshaw investigates the disappearance of student Edith Rogers at a remote Arizona archaeological site run by Professor Julian Wilkerson.
• Archaeology students unearth a paradoxical corpse featuring living human hands grafted onto a skeleton carbon-dated to over two thousand years old.

Main topics

• Archaeological mystery and excavation
• Radiocarbon dating fraud and radioactive experimentation

Notable quotes

"A suicide may dig her own grave, but you'd hardly expect her to pull the dirt in after her."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a tightly plotted procedural mystery that blends

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) Please visit MysteryShows.com for over 50,000 old-time radio shows. Speaker 4 (0:33) Welcome to the world of terrifying imagination. Speaker 4 (0:37) It gives me a fiendish delight to invite you on a very unusual expedition. For in our tale to come, we are going to travel... Speaker 4 (0:51) to outer space, but instead, backwards in time. Time as the archaeologist knows it. The depths. Speaker 4 (1:04) thing about archaeology. It seeks to understand life. The study of Speaker 2 (1:11) Can we try to uncover the rest of the body, Professor? Of Speaker 6 (1:15) course. Jimmy, get the three or four fellows to help you, and do it carefully. There's no way of telling the body's position. Sure thing, Professor. Oh, this is awful. Speaker 2 (1:25) What are we going to do? Don't worry. Ancient bodies are your specialty. Fresh ones are mine. But how do you know it's murder? You surprise me. A suicide may dig her own grave, but you'd hardly expect her to pull the dirt in after her. Speaker 4 (1:51) Our mystery drama, Dig Me Deadly, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by S.J. Wilson. Stars Louise Larrabee. Speaker 4 (2:14) and I know that death is no respecter of time. Speaker 4 (2:19) It often comes unbidden. unexpectedly even fiercely and murderously. So, get your pith helmets, your sunglasses, your axes, shovels, and all the other paraphernalia you will need to join us. Speaker 4 (2:39) Dig me deadly. Speaker 2 (2:43) Young man, why aren't we on a road? Why do we have to cross the desert? Speaker 5 (2:47) Because it's the fastest way to where we're going, Detective Scrubshaw. Not Speaker 2 (2:51) Scrubshaw, Trubeshaw. Speaker 5 (2:52) Trubeshaw. Speaker 2 (2:53) Detective Claudia Trubeshaw. And I bet your last toothpick, which I wish you'd take out of your mouth, that we're really crossing the Rocky Mountains. They're in Colorado. This is Speaker 5 (3:02) Arizona. Speaker 2 (3:03) I know it's Arizona, Sheriff Wally. It's where I came to spend my vacation with my sister before you showed up with all your horn Speaker 5 (3:10) swaddling. Oh, ma'am, I did no such thing. Speaker 2 (3:13) Now, what else would you call it? I came here to get away from L.A. and all that smog and to breathe in the pure, fresh, clean air of Tucson. Now, thanks to you, I've got more sand in my mouth than the whole Sonora Desert. Speaker 5 (3:25) That's Mexico. This is Arizona. Speaker 2 (3:28) I've got news for you. It's left Mexico and settled in my lungs. Now, do you mean to tell me that in the entire state of Arizona there isn't a police officer, anybody who can cover this case, that you had to drag me into this no woman's land? Those are Speaker 5 (3:43) my orders, ma'am. Speaker 2 (3:44) But why would my boss in Los Angeles assign me to an Arizona case? Speaker 5 (3:49) Well, I guess he knew you were in the neighborhood. That Speaker 2 (3:52) makes as much sense as kissing one of those cactuses. Speaker 5 (3:55) They're called saguaros. Speaker 2 (3:57) Now stop changing the subject. Now, will you tell me where we are going? Speaker 5 (4:01) Like I said, West Dinaco. Good for you. Speaker 2 (4:04) You have advanced to the next plateau. And why are we going there? Because Speaker 5 (4:09) that's where they're digging. Speaker 2 (4:11) Superb. Now, who are they? Speaker 5 (4:14) The kids that are digging. Speaker 2 (4:15) Wiley, did you ever have your IQ tested? Speaker 5 (4:19) I says I don't. Speaker 2 (4:20) Well, don't. It's probably lower than Death Valley. And I know that's in California. Now, why are they digging? Speaker 5 (4:28) Poor dead bodies, I think. Speaker 2 (4:30) Stop this car at once. Speaker 5 (4:33) Well, what's wrong, Detective? Speaker 2 (4:36) Now, I'm not writing another minute until you tell me what this is all about. Well, what more do you want to know? Why I'm sitting in this rolling junk heap on my way to West Naco or wherever. Speaker 5 (4:45) Well, there are these kids there. Speaker 2 (4:47) What kids? Speaker 5 (4:48) These kids from some school near L.A. Every summer they come and they dig up things. They're supposed to be real old. Speaker 2 (4:54) In other words, students working on an archaeological dig. Speaker 5 (4:58) Never could pronounce that word. Speaker 2 (5:00) Forget the pronunciation. Just... Try and make some sense. Well, Speaker 5 (5:04) a few days ago, I'm sitting in the sheriff's office when this here girl comes by. Speaker 1 (5:13) Excuse me. Speaker 5 (5:13) Sure, miss. Come on in. Speaker 5 (5:18) Well, the truth is, there ain't no sheriff. Speaker 1 (5:19) Then who's in charge? Speaker 5 (5:21) Well, I guess I am. Sorry, deputy sheriff, you could say. And name, name is Wiley. Speaker 1 (5:27) I'm looking for help. Speaker 5 (5:28) That's why I'm here. Boy, what can I do for you? Speaker 1 (5:31) You're not a real sheriff. Speaker 5 (5:33) Well, I don't get paid for it, but they give me the badge. Why don't you try me? Speaker 1 (5:39) I'm one of the students working at the Broadfields. The dig? Speaker 5 (5:43) Why don't you sit down? Speaker 1 (5:44) And there's some trouble there. Speaker 5 (5:45) What kind of trouble? Speaker 1 (5:47) Well, that's just it. I can't tell exactly, but someone's following me. Wherever I go, I have the feeling someone's right behind me or hiding and waiting to do something to me. I'm terrible. Speaker 5 (5:59) Isn't there anyone in charge? Speaker 1 (6:01) Professor Wilkerson... He says I'm imagining things. Speaker 5 (6:06) Well, now, have you ever rarely seen anyone following you? Speaker 1 (6:09) No. Only the other day someone went through my bureau and my luggage. Speaker 5 (6:14) And is it massive? Speaker 1 (6:15) No, but things were all messed up. Speaker 5 (6:17) And what's your name? Speaker 1 (6:18) Rogers. Speaker 5 (6:19) Edith Rogers. Miss Rogers. Now, do you have any idea why somebody would be tailing you or looking through your things? Speaker 1 (6:27) I think someone's trying to kill me. Speaker 1 (6:31) Hey, that's Speaker 5 (6:32) serious. Why would anyone want to do that? Speaker 1 (6:34) Because they're afraid of me. Scared of what I could do. Speaker 5 (6:37) Well, you don't look like you could trouble a horned toad. What are they scared of? Speaker 1 (6:42) Well, you see... No. I can't tell you. If they found out I came here, they'd do it faster. Speaker 1 (6:51) You can't help me. Maybe nobody Speaker 5 (6:53) can. Hey, Speaker 1 (6:54) wait a Speaker 5 (6:55) minute. Wait a minute. Wait there. Speaker 5 (7:03) I phoned that professor, Wilkerson. Say, Detective, can we get this thing going Speaker 2 (7:09) again? All right, but only as long as you tell me everything you know. Speaker 5 (7:13) Well, I called up that professor, and I told him about it. And he said that it was the girl's first summer there, and that working in the hot sun and seeing all those graves and skeletons was something she just wasn't used to. Then he said he'd take care of it, and for me not to worry. Well, now, at first I thought I'd better leave well enough alone, except the Speaker 6 (7:34) whole... thing just kept pecking at me. Speaker 5 (7:37) So, a couple days later, I dropped by the Broadfield spread and was told by a girl who roomed with this Edith Rogers that she, that is to say, this Edith Rogers here, she had left. Speaker 2 (7:48) Did she say when? Speaker 5 (7:50) I didn't ask. Speaker 2 (7:51) Did she say how or why? Dawn, I Speaker 5 (7:54) didn't ask that either. Were her clothes and Speaker 2 (7:57) luggage gone? Speaker 5 (7:59) Gosh, I didn't think to ask that neither. Speaker 2 (8:01) Then how come you thought to ask for me? Speaker 5 (8:03) Well, I called this friend of my father's who was assistant deputy chief of police. Speaker 2 (8:08) Say no more. You called my boss Morgan. In other words, this isn't an official assignment, is it? Speaker 5 (8:14) Well, he told me you were in Tucson and to speak to you. And Speaker 2 (8:18) dragging me through this sand heap is your idea of speaking to me. Speaker 2 (8:24) Wiley, if I admit something to you, will you promise never to tell anyone? Sure thing, detective. I know of only one person who's a bigger fool than you. Who would that be? Me. Speaker 6 (8:42) Detective Troopshawn, I'm Julian Wilkerson. One of the students tells me you'd like to see me. Speaker 2 (8:48) Only in an unofficial capacity, Professor. If you can be of assistance, fine. If not, I'll understand. Well, I'll try. Professor, this is Sheriff Wiley. Oh, Speaker 6 (8:57) yes. How do you do? Hi. Speaker 2 (8:59) Oh, what's it all about? The Rogers girl. I understand she's not here any longer. Speaker 6 (9:04) Yes. I knew that girl would be more trouble than it was worth to bring her out here. Speaker 2 (9:08) Then why was she Speaker 6 (9:09) here? Oh, she was thinking of archaeology as a major. You see, she apparently comes from a difficult home. She had nothing to occupy her this summer, and the dean asked me if... Try to make her feel she belongs to something. Speaker 2 (9:23) Apparently it didn't work out. Speaker 6 (9:25) No. She moped a lot. the press suspicious. Felt she wasn't wanted. I did everything I could. I got two of the nicest girls to room with her. Speaker 2 (9:35) Who were they? Speaker 6 (9:36) Eugénie Boulanger, a French exchange student, specializes in atomic physics. And Susan Lathrop, a straight-A student, very outgoing, very bright. Speaker 2 (9:47) Were there any young men? Speaker 6 (9:51) I didn't like doing it, but I got Jimmy Trumbull to spend some of his free time with her. prize. Speaker 6 (9:58) my Libby. Libby? Well, now Speaker 5 (10:00) that's a girl's name, eh? Speaker 2 (10:02) Wiley, you're famous for not asking questions. Why not live up to your reputation? Professor Libby developed the carbon-14 dating system. Speaker 6 (10:12) Oh, he did, did he? Yes. Anyway, Edith didn't take to the whip or to anyone. It's no surprise that she just dropped out. Speaker 2 (10:23) belongings still here? Speaker 6 (10:24) Well, I wouldn't know, but Susan would. She's in the specimen shed next door. Let me call her. Speaker 2 (10:31) See you later. Speaker 2 (10:33) Well, can you come to my office for a minute? Wally, why don't