The Witch's Tale
Robert Farrell
The Witch's Tale was a horror-fantasy radio series which aired from May 21, 1931, to June 13, 1938, on WOR, the Mutual Radio, and in syndication. The program was created, written, and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole (February 22, 1897, St. Paul, Minnesota - April 7, 1971). Cole's spooky show was hosted by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, who introduced a different terror tale each week. The role of Old Nancy was created by stage actress Adelaide Fitz-Allen, who died in 1935 at the age of 79. Cole replaced her with 13-year-old Miriam Wolfe, and Martha Wentworth was also heard as Old Nancy on occasion. Cole himself provided the sounds of Old Nancy's cat, Satan. Cole's wife, Marie O'Flynn, portrayed the lead female characters on the program, and the supporting cast included Mark Smith and Alan Devitte. For syndication, the shows were recorded live during broadcast and distributed to other stations. These recordings were destroyed by Cole in 1961, so few episodes survive. Cole was also the writer, producer, and director of the radio mystery-crime drama, Casey, Crime Photographer . In November 1936, Alonzo Deen Cole edited The Witch's Tales magazine with the lead story by Cole. It ran for only two issues.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.
Chapters
Reviews
Re: John Mayer
Eli L
First off, thanks to Robert Farrell for posting this show! To John Mayer: Perhaps you mean Nelson Olmsted's "Sleep No More" https://archive.org/details/Sleep_No_More or Paul Frees' "Studio X" aka "The Player" https://archive.org/details/Studio_X
Ancient Fears Still Have Power to Cause Disquiet
John Mayer
Thanks, Mr. Farrell, for providing these. They were broadcast before my time, but my father used to speak of a show like this he used to listen to in his childhood. I thought it might have been _The Witch's Tale_ or _The Hermit's Cave_, but he told me all the characters were played by a single person, and that, plainly, is not the case with this show. Nonetheless, it's a treat to find a show that frightened listeners some 20 years ago, an echo of fears felt long ago, yet still lingering in the air.