Little Old Lady by Lights Out

The Horror! (Old Time Radio)

The Horror podcast presents a 1943 broadcast of Arch Obler's Lights Out series, featuring the radio drama 'Little Old Lady.' Two young women, Alice and Lona, take

Key takeaways

• The episode features a May 25, 1943 broadcast of Lights Out, originally hosted and written by Arch Obler.
• Protagonists Alice Preston and Lona Stevens drive to a secluded property expecting to surprise Aunt Harriet Saugus.
• The narrative builds tension through sensory dread, oppressive atmosphere, and ambiguous monstrous shadows in the dark house.
• Sheriff Joe arrives after locating the girls' abandoned vehicle in the woods to investigate their hysterical claims.
• Arch Obler's post-story monologue discusses lycanthropy as a psychological illusion rather than literal transformation.

Main topics

• Old-time radio drama
• Supernatural horror and psychological fear
• WWII home-front propaganda

Notable quotes

Lights Out brings you stories of the supernatural and the supernormal, dramatizing the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown.

Conclusion

The episode delivers a tightly crafted example of 1940s audio storytelling that blends

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:01) you Speaker 5 (0:39) This is the Macabre. Speaker 6 (0:44) Dramatized by Ben. Speaker 6 (0:47) We tell you this right, right, right. Sight-finding. Speaker 6 (0:53) I'm Speaker 1 (1:02) Welcome back to the horror 19 years of old-fashioned fear every Saturday at relicradio.com. Thanks for joining me this Saturday. If you'd like to help support this and all of the Relic Radio shows, visit donate.relicradio.com or click on the support link in the show notes. You make this possible and have since the beginning. Thanks to those who have helped out. Thanks for joining me today. We'll hear from Lights Out this week. A series that debuted in January of 1934 and ran until August of 1939. That was the primary run of the series. It returned in 1942 and was often on radio until 1947. Our story today is from May 25th, 1943. It's titled Little Old Lady. Speaker 6 (1:48) Baronized yeast presents... Lights out. Everybody. Speaker 6 (2:19) Lights Out brings you stories of the supernatural and the supernormal, dramatizing the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown. We tell you this frankly. So if you wish to avoid the excitement and tension of these imaginative plays, we urge you calmly but Speaker 5 (2:36) sincerely to Speaker 6 (2:37) turn off your radio now. Speaker 4 (2:45) This is Arch Obler. Tonight, a strange story about ordinary people. Two girls just like you or your daughter or the girl who works next to you in the office. But first, Frank Martin. Speaker 6 (2:58) Worried because you're underweight and frazzled out? Miserable because you lack the pep and strength and energy you need these busy days? Well, cheer up. Very possibly, you simply need more vitamin B1 and iron than you're getting from your food. And pleasant little ironized yeast tablets. supply both of these vital substances. They've been of amazing benefit to thousands with these deficiencies. Gains of glorious new pep and strength and needed pounds within just a few short weeks are nothing unusual. That's right. Speaker 4 (3:30) Ironized Speaker 6 (3:31) yeast tablets. Speaker 6 (3:34) And now? Lights out. Everybody. Speaker 3 (3:55) Do you think we're still in the United States? I'm beginning to doubt it. Are you sure you got the right address? Of course. Well, don't be so dogmatic. You have made mistakes. Sounds as if you're starting to get annoyed. Well, I am. You've been driving so long, my back feels as if somebody were doing a Big Apple on it. Oh, Speaker 2 (4:09) we'll Speaker 3 (4:09) be Speaker 2 (4:10) there soon enough. Speaker 3 (4:10) You know, Alice, sometimes that calm nature of yours makes me good and tired. You sound as if you want to crawl. Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that... Oh, I looked forward to this vacation for weeks, and now that it's happening, well, it isn't so much fun. Oh, wait till you get to my Aunt Harriet. You can curl up in the alfalfa and sleep for days. Sleep. Oh, that's a lovely word. Just imagine sleeping as long as you want without having to worry about making an 8 o'clock class. Perfect. But are you sure you know where your Aunt Harriet lives? I've run out of synonyms for her. Of course I do. I'd just like to reassure myself. I certainly hope she has off bed. Oh, and that reminds me. You did send her that letter that we're coming. No. Say that again. No, I didn't send the letter. You mean to say that she doesn't even know that we're coming to stay with her? Well, I decided it'd be more fun if we sort of surprised her. Well, of all the brainstorms, walking in on somebody you haven't seen for ten years and expecting her to welcome you. She's my only aunt, isn't she? But... But maybe she won't have room for us. Don't be silly. I told you Aunt Harriet lives alone and likes it. Well, maybe she won't like it if we barge in on her. Don't be silly. Of course we'll be welcome. From what I've heard, she's a little old darling. When you were eight, she was a darling. For all you know, she's taken the welcome mat in years ago. Wait a minute. Didn't you say we were supposed to go down Camden Road three miles? Yes. Then you are lost. That sign back there, this isn't Camden Road. You're silly. I saw it with my own eyes. It said Pig Snackle Road. There, see that? Pig Snackle Road. You are wrong. Pig Speaker 2 (5:36) Snackle Road. That's too good to be true. Speaker 3 (5:39) Are you crazy laughing at a name of a place when you haven't got any idea where you are in my back? Oh, don't be silly. I'm sure we'll find... Hey, there. There it is. There's what? The edge of the world? Oh, no, the crossroad. Speaker 2 (5:50) The entrance to Aunt Harriet's place ought to be just a little bit beyond it. That's what you say. Speaker 3 (5:54) Yes. There it Speaker 2 (5:55) is. Speaker 3 (5:55) Here, here we turn here. Turn. Hey, hey, wait a minute. What are you trying to do? Turn over? It won't be long now. You're... Telling me? This is no road. It's a cow pad. Aunt Harriet likes privacy. I remember Dad and Mother used to say that. Another hundred feet on this road and I won't need a bed. I'll need a stretcher. Come on, slow Speaker 2 (6:16) down. Speaker 3 (6:19) I knew it. What a road. Even the tires couldn't take it. What do we care? Aunt Harriet's place is just a little ways down. We'll walk. You mean leave the car right here Speaker 2 (6:27) in the middle of the road? It's Aunt Harriet's own private road. No one will bother it. Oh, come on. Take your bag. Let's get out of here. All right. I'm just astute. Come on. Let's go. We'll just be in time for dinner. That's what you think. What do Speaker 3 (6:39) you Speaker 2 (6:39) mean? I Speaker 3 (6:40) mean, maybe your Aunt Harriet doesn't like guests who walk in just like that. Hey, Alice, now what are Speaker 2 (6:45) you stopping Speaker 3 (6:45) for? Speaker 2 (6:46) All right. I just noticed. Speaker 3 (6:49) Noticed what? Speaker 2 (6:50) How dark it's getting. So Speaker 3 (6:52) what? Come on. When the sun starts setting, it gets dark. I learned that in Physical Science 101. Speaker 2 (6:57) Yeah, but back there on the road, it was so light, and here it's so dark and gloomy. What's Speaker 3 (7:04) the matter with you? Are you going to take your suitcase and come on, or are you going to stand there being afraid of the dark? I'm all right. Speaker 2 (7:10) So many Speaker 3 (7:10) trees around here. No wonder it's dark. That Aunt Harriet of yours wants privacy. She sure got it. And I hope when we get there, I'll have the same. Speaker 2 (7:17) Now Speaker 3 (7:18) what? Speaker 2 (7:19) Look at that mist coming up through the trees. Speaker 3 (7:22) Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:23) like long white curling fingers oh stop Speaker 3 (7:26) that will you it's just that it's getting late colder moisture's condensing oh will we ever get there riding and walking